About

Tag: ‘Imperial Beach’



Loews Surf Dog Competition 2013 – Imperial Beach, San Diego, CA

Monday, June 24th, 2013

What an incredible day at the beach! Sun, sand, and surfing dogs – add in a few doggles and you can’t beat that combination! Saturday was the 8th Annual Loews Surf Dog Competition, and let me tell you, if you weren’t there, you missed out! The streets of Imperial Beach were jam-packed with cars for miles in every direction; I was shocked at how many people & dogs were there. Then again, this was my first-ever dog surfing competition, so I didn’t know what I was getting myself into… still, I think anyone would have said “wow” upon seeing thousands of human & canine spectators in one place! It was awesome to see everyone supporting the dogs out there in the water; there were huge rounds of applause and cheers for any dog that successfully rode in to shore! And of course plenty of “oooh”s and laughs at the wipeouts! Check out a few of my favorite photos from the event!

 

  This is Abbie Girl, an Australian kelpie & the champion of the small dog category! She was a total pro.

san diego surfing dog

small surfing dog

san diego surfing dog

 

Sometimes I found the people’s faces just as amusing as the dogs’! Heehee!

surfing golden retriever

surfing bulldog

And let’s give a little credit to the people out there! I think the dogs may have actually had a pretty easy time, just standing on those boards… their human helpers were always in prime position to get smacked by the waves!

people and dogs surfing

This guy was such a goofball – and a great surfer, too!

surfing bulldog

dog surfing in san diego

bulldog jumping surfboard

 

These dogs are smart, they know when to jump off & save themselves! Haha! There were lots of funny wipeouts!

dog wiping out

dog surfing wipeout

boxer funny wipeout

huge wipeout dog surfing

surfing dog action

dachshund surfing dog

surfing dog wipeout

 

Yay! Doggles!!

doggles surfing dogs

I was SO impressed by the dogs that actually shared surfboards!! These two worked the board like it was nothing.

two dogs one surfboard

two surfing dogs together

Uhhh… bird costumes?? What? Haha, these three definitely had an extra challenge out there.

costumed surfing dogs

Some dogs preferred to have human partners.

awesome dog surfing action

man surfing with dog

 

people and dogs surfing together

dogs people surfing together

… and I think some dogs wished they had partners! This dog was so cute; he kept looking back to his people for reassurance!

scared surfing dog

dogs surfing

san diego surf dog

surfing westie

dogs at surfing competition

Here’s another reason the event was so exciting: we were in the presence of celebrities!  This is Ricochet, a service dog that surfs with people with disabilities! She’s an incredible surfer and a beautiful spirit. Check out her website here, and if the videos there don’t make you cry or at least tear up, well, you’re stronger than me. She also has a super-active Facebook page!

Ricochet surfing dog

 

And here’s the one-and-only Tillman! He’s mostly famous for skateboarding (check out the video that made him famous; it has 20 million hits, no big deal) but he was out there on a surfboard on Saturday! He won the large dog competition!

Tillman surfing bulldog

 

Dogs of all different shapes & sizes were out there..

surfing dogs

surf dog happy

 This one was sooooo excited!

happy golden retriever

Here’s Ricochet again. taking a shake break.

shaking surfing dog

 

There was some pretty intense shaking

boxer dog shaking water

funny shaking face

dog shaking on the beach

The day was gorgeous, of course – it’s San Diego! (gorgeous enough to give me a bit of a sunburn, unfortunately. haha oh well.)

surf dog competition view

 

I found it fascinating that there were photographers out there, in the waves, with waterproof casings for their cameras! That is DEFINITELY where I want to be next year!!

surfing photography

 

This photo sums up the spirit of the day, I think – goooo surf dogs! The cheers were so loud! :)

san diego surfing dog

 

Whew, that was a lot of photos! And believe it or not, these were just my favorite images from the whole event! If you’d like to see more, or if your dog surfed and you’d like to purchase a print or digital image, visit the event gallery here: http://proofs.allisonshamrell.com.

 

Oh, and here’s something fun: my photos from the competition were internationally published! Here’s the story from the UK Daily Mail, which asked for my photos to include in their article! I thought I’d left the world of journalism photography behind a few years ago… apparently not! :)

 

I hope you enjoyed seeing all the photos of these talented dogs! If you’ve never been here before, welcome! You’re visitng my blog, which is where I post about recent events (like this one) and sessions. My website is different; it’s where you can check out my whole portfolio and find info about a session with your dogs! Last but not least, my Facebook page is a pretty fun place too! :) Take a look, click “like”, and you’ll get to see more fun photos like these in your newsfeed!

 

Thanks for visiting!  :)

 

 

All Images Copyright | Blog Theme Created by LJP & SLR Lounge