Posts tagged "SurfingDogs"

Ever since the skateboarding dog pedaled its way to YouTube fame, pooches everywhere have been in training to become America's next big athletic sensation. That's the only way to explain why 65 dogs mounted surfboards and tacked the West Coast waves this weekend.

The dogs competed in the fifth annual Loews Coronado Bay Resort Surf Dog Competition in California on Saturday, an event to benefit the San Diego Police Canine Unit.

The competitors -- ranging in size from an 85-pound Bernese mountain dog to a 5-pound Pomeranian -- hit the shores of Imperial Beach, braving stormy weather to ride the waves on human-sized surfboards. Each life-vest adorned dog was placed on a surfboard and released onto the shallow waves to see how long they'd last on the board. They were judged not only on the length of their ride, but also their confidence and overall ability.

Of course, this isn't the first canine surfing event, and many of the competitors are veterans of the sport. Tonic.com reports that many of the pups competing Saturday have websites, Facebook fan pages and even sponsors.

Among the 2,000 fans in attendance was another famous dog; the Great Dane starring in the new Twentieth Century Fox Film, "Marmaduke" was present along with the film's two-legged stars, Owen Wilson and George Lopez.

The trophy was taken by Abbie, a 3-year-old rescued Australian Kelpie.

We all knew squirrels could water ski, but who knew there were surfing dogs? Nearly 5000 people came out to witness pooches riding two-to-three foot waves last Sunday at San Diego county's North Beach, as canines in three different weight divisions duked it out in the world's largest dog-surfing competition. (Yes, there are many.) Sponsored by the Helen Woodward Animal Center, the event raised around $50,000 for the Rancho Santa Fe shelter.

A Jack Russell Terrier carried the lightweight division and a Golden Retriever mix dominated the middleweight proceedings, but the crowd favorite was a 3-year-old Bulldog named Dozer, who took the heavyweight crown. Clocking in at 75 pounds, Dozer had the perfect physique for a canine wave-rider. "Putting Dozer on there was like setting a square bowling ball on a surfboard," John Van Zante, the Center's spokesman, told Paw Nation. "Short and compact, with very low center of gravity, as long as he's got a smooth wave, that dog is not getting knocked off of the board."

A five pound Pomeranian named Bobby Gorgeous got some serious style points for his sunglasses, lei, surfer shorts and coconut bra -- "His mom said he was a cross-dressing surfer dude," Van Zante adds -- but a Chihuahua dressed like a lobster ultimately won the event's costume contest. (The crowd was a bit taken aback, however, when the pet's guardian, who was wearing an apron and a chef's hat, dipped her into a ersatz lobster boiler.)

As odd as a dog on a board sounds, Van Zante insists that these dogs will do anything for their human companions – so long as there's trust involved. "Their eyes look into your soul and say, 'Tell me everything's going to be okay,'" he says. "But it's important that we don't make them do it if they don't enjoy it. I like to say, 'You can lead a dog to water, but you can't make him surf.'"

If you think crisping your bod in the warm sun is an exclusively human experience come summertime, then consider yourself mistaken. Plenty of our canine friends love to hit the beach, too (when legally allowed, of course). And while most pooches will jump right into the water, ready to fetch or show off their doggy paddling abilities, some of our furry friends prefer to go all-out, choosing instead to hop on a surfboard and ride the tide, doggystyle.

Maybe it's a West Coast thing, but there are plenty of videos featuring dogs catching waves and hanging ten in the California sun (and beyond). Cowabunga, dudes! (Or we should we say "Dog-abunga!" Zing!)