The VetShopAustralia.com.au Surfing Dog Championships will
be back on the shores of Laguna Bay Noosa for a seventh consecutive year in 2018.
A firm favourite for not just locals, but also national
and international visitors to Noosa, images and film of the dogs are shared
across the world to hundreds of thousands of viewers. The surfing dogs will
once more be donning their rash vests, zinc-ing up their noses and taking to
the waves, but this time with a couple of new tricks up their furry sleeves!
VetShopAustralia will be running free workshops in
the lead-up to next year’s event, perennial competitor Paul Jones sharing tips
and skills for surfing dogs and their two-legged co-pilots. All are invited to
these unique workshops, helping owners to better connect with their dogs
through standup paddling, as well as back on dry land, assisting and improving
training and bonding skills.
After a busy year, ‘Mr DogSurf’, Chris De Aboitiz, and
his SupDogOz team are looking forward to returning to Noosa next March:
“The Noosa Festival with the VetShopAustralia team
was such a good vibe this year,” says Chris. “We loved the massive turn out of
people at Noosa for the Dog Spectacular.
“SupDogOz kicked off the year with a great dog
workshop tour. It was awesome to capture the key dog training tips to share in
our upcoming training videos. We even taught
‘Bondi Vet’, Dr Chris Brown how to surf with Gypsy the dog.”
As if hosting workshops across the country and
presenting the Noosa Festival’s Surfing Dog Championship wasn’t enough, Chris
has been teaching his old dogs new tricks, elevating above the waves with his
canine companions on SUPs and kiteboards mounted with hydrofoils. The
relatively new phenomenon of foil surfing is taking the world by storm, and
Chris and his four-legged friends weren’t going to be left behind. With the
right conditions and a little luck, Chris will be demonstrating this
gravity-defying new talent to the ever-appreciative Noosa crowd in 2018.
To top off his jam-packed 2017, De Aboitiz and his dog
team set a new world record:
“So stoked we did it,” Chris enthuses. “It took
25 dogs, a former world
champion tandem surfer and an oversize standup paddleboard to break the rather peculiar world record. We trained and prepared
to get the dogs onto a 17ft SUP to set the record for the most dogs surfing on
a board, and the whole thing was recorded by the Queensland Weekender TV show!”
The Surfing Dog Championships have always had a strong focus on
promoting pet health and care, and this year VetShopAustralia is excited to
announce Simparica as its co-sponsor. Providing water-resistant flea and tick
protection for all sizes of hydro hounds in a convenient and tasty chew, Simparica
is the perfect partner for the aquatic antics of our canine counterparts.
With SupDogOz launching a video series of dog training solutions later
this year and De Aboitiz once more hosting a ‘SUP with Your Pup’ workshop prior
to the main event on Sunday 11 March next year, there is plenty of opportunity
for everyone to get involved and excited for the 2018 VetShopAustralia.com.au Surfing
Dog Championships.
