Surf’s up — and Buddy, a Jack Russell terrier, is stoked.
The wiry canine, who weighs about 6.5kg, has been surfing for 10 of his 12 years alongside owner Bruce Hooker, 53, from Ventura, California, usually hitting the waves three times a week and walking up to 9.5km daily to stay fit for the ocean.
Yesterday he was to compete with about 60 other dogs in the fifth annual Loews Coronado Bay Resort Surf Dog competition in Imperial Beach, which marks the start of the dog surfing season.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“He’s really passionate about it. He sees this as a game and he wants to play. I’m sure he’s ridden more waves than any other dogs,” said Hooker, a salesman and lifelong surfer who serves as Buddy’s coach and spotter.
“My job is to get him into the critical part of the wave,” said Hooker, proud that Buddy came first in his “heat,” or weight class, in last year’s contest.
The popular San Diego area contest, like many of the growing number of dog surfing events being held in southern California each year, is a fundraiser for pet-related charities, said Loews General Manager Kathleen Cochran.
This year proceeds will be donated to the San Diego Police Canine unit. The rules of the contest? Every canine has 10 minutes to catch his or her best wave and will be judged on confidence level, length of ride and overall ability to “grip it and rip it,” Cochran said.
“I personally look for attire, whether they come dressed seriously with board shorts on, what’s going on with their tails, whether they’re wagging them or sitting on them,” Cochran said. “For me that means they’re having fun and that’s what this is all about.”
While Loews was one of the original surf dog competition, several others have emerged in recent years, giving rise to dog surf clubs, lessons, and businesses that sell doggy surfing accessories such as custom boards, wet suits and life jackets.
Michael Uy, a 40-year-old software product manager, is a dedicated fan of dog surfing which he says is not only fun for the owners but also good for the soul.
He credits the sport with transforming his Australian Kelpie Abbie, a four-year-old rescue dog, from “traumatized mess” into a loving pet and champion surfer.
“Dog surfing requires the dog to trust you and you to participate in the sport which is unique to all other dog sports,” Uy said. “That type of team work helped build up this bond we’ve been working on since we first started rehabilitating her. As that bond grows stronger, dogs are amazing animals. They start to shine.”
Like Buddy, Abbie quickly took to surfing and has placed in every competition she has entered. She and Buddy each have sponsors, websites and Facebook fan pages.
Yet not everyone’s a champion, and that’s fine with librarian Nicole Tallent, 35, whose beloved English bulldog Betsy with her wide, squat body, doesn’t really care about good technique.
“She loves to bite the waves and loves the water,” Tallent said.
When placed on a board “she just stands there, she doesn’t fall off and she rides all the way to the shore. We do it for charity. And it’s a riot. People love to see bulldogs surf.”
‘SOURCE OF PRIDE’: Newspapers rushed out special editions and the government sent their congratulations as Shohei Ohtani became the first player to enter the 50-50 club Japan reacted with incredulity and pride yesterday after Shohei Ohtani became the first player in Major League Baseball to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. The Los Angeles Dodgers star from Japan made history with a seventh-inning homer in a 20-4 victory over the Marlins in Miami. “We would like to congratulate him from the bottom of our heart,” top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo. “We sincerely hope Mr Ohtani, who has already accomplished feat after feat and carved out a new era, will thrive further,” he added. The landmark achievement dominated Japanese morning news
When Wang Tao ran away from home aged 17 to become a professional wrestler, he knew it would be a hard slog to succeed in China’s passionate but underdeveloped scene. Years later, he has endured family disapproval, countless side gigs and thousands of hours of brutal training to become China’s “Belt and Road Champion” — but the struggle is far from over. Despite a promising potential domestic market, the Chinese pro wrestling community has been battling for recognition and financial stability for decades. “I have done all kinds of jobs [on the side]... Because in the end, it is very
No team in the CPBL can surpass the Taipei Dome attendance record set by the CTBC Brothers, except when the Brothers team up with Taiwanese rock band Mayday. A record-high 40,000 fans turned out at the indoor baseball venue on Saturday for Brothers veteran Chou Szu-chi’s first farewell game, which was followed by a mini post-game concert featuring Mayday. This broke the previous CPBL record of 34,506 set by the Brothers in early last month, when K-pop singer Hyuna performed after the game, and the dome’s overall record of 37,890 set in early March, which featured the Brothers and the
With a quivering finger, England Subbuteo veteran Rudi Peterschinigg conceded the free-kick that sent his country’s World Cup quarter-final into extra-time before smashing his plastic goalkeeper on the floor in frustration. In the genteel southern English town of Tunbridge Wells, 300 elite players have gathered to play the game they love. “I won’t say this is the best weekend I’ve ever had in my life, but it’s certainly in the top two,” said Hughie Best, 58, who flew in from Perth, Australia, to compete and commentate at the event. Tunbridge Wells is the “spiritual home” of Subbuteo, which was invented there in 1946