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  • The ride of life with a dog
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Dog Diary

The ride of life with a dog
  • Surf Dog Diaries - dog blog
  • The ride of life with a dog
  • HANG 20 - DOG BEACH, CA
  • HANG 20 - DOG RIVER, OR
  • ABOUT US
  • BarbAyers.com
  • GIVING BACK
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Dogs ride the ups and downs with us. Real life Surf Dog Diaries

Meet writer dogs. Rider dogs. Best dog friends. Surf the couch, the www, or a wave. Wave back at us!

It's all about the ride. The ride of life with a dog.

Our Surf Dog Diaries crew in a previous parade. Photo: Richard Hallman, Freelance Imaging

Our Surf Dog Diaries crew in a previous parade. Photo: Richard Hallman, Freelance Imaging

Dear Dude and Doodle: I totally blew it. I'm sorry, Christmas is cancelled.

Barbara Ayers December 1, 2016
It's a 3 dog night at the Hood River holiday parade with Elvis the nose rider, Dude in the middle next to Snoopy and Doodle on the tail. Photo (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

It's a 3 dog night at the Hood River holiday parade with Elvis the nose rider, Dude in the middle next to Snoopy and Doodle on the tail. Photo (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

I am sorry kiddos, but for the first time in more than 20 years, we are not surfing down the street in the Christmas parade Friday night.

I am so bummed.

We'll miss all those amazing kids on Oak Street in Hood River as we roll by.

And miss singing carols as they light the tree.

Cowabunga Christmas! Making friends, hanging out, hanging 20 toes on a surfboard - now that's what it's all about. Photo (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

Cowabunga Christmas! Making friends, hanging out, hanging 20 toes on a surfboard - now that's what it's all about. Photo (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

The parade rig is packed, parked and ready to go – I know you’re up for it - but I have a week-long work commitment and I’m stuck on the east coast. There are no flights to get me back in time.

Elvis, Doodle, Dude - and a couple of BFF's. Photo: (c) Barb Ayers DogDiary.org

Elvis, Doodle, Dude - and a couple of BFF's. Photo: (c) Barb Ayers DogDiary.org

I am SORRY! We have to make it up to the kids! I have to make it up to you!

Elvis never met a kid he didn't immediately fall in love with.

Elvis never met a kid he didn't immediately fall in love with.

Think of all those years of memories...

Here in Oregon - one year it snowed, one year it was icy. One year it rained and a couple of years it was oh, so cold.

One year Dude could see, and the next he could not.

And still, we surfed. 

And still, we had a blast with the kids.

Back in California, in the Ocean Beach Christmas Parade, we used to roll with the OB Geriatric Precision Surfboard Drill Team and Gidget Patrol - boy, was that a hoot! 

Elvis and Dude started their land board- and water surfing - career at (where else) Dog Beach in Ocean Beach, San Diego, CA. There, we chaired the Dog Beach Committee of the Ocean Beach Town Council and marched with the OB Geriatric Surf Club. Photo…

Elvis and Dude started their land board- and water surfing - career at (where else) Dog Beach in Ocean Beach, San Diego, CA. There, we chaired the Dog Beach Committee of the Ocean Beach Town Council and marched with the OB Geriatric Surf Club. Photo (c) Barb Ayers DogDiary.org

Whether we drove our fully loaded surf dog float, or I hauled you by hand down the street in the surf wagon express, every single moment was magical. More to come.

I wouldn't miss it, unless I really had to. Dog-gone it! My bad.

Miss you boys; (and I miss you more Elvis, it’s our first parade without you.)

Mom

Tags Christmas parade, surf dog diaries, dogdiary.org, surfing dogs, surfing doxie, surf basset, dog lover, dog blog, dog friends, Dog Beach in Ocean Beach, dog river, Hood River OR, Visit Hood River, Columbia River Gorge, basset hound, secret life of pets, secret diary of a dog, my secret diaries, dog mom, Barb Ayers, Barbara Ayers, writer dog, hang 20, holiday story
← Dear Dude and Doodle: Another airport, another delay, trying to get home. Sorry, but I cheated on you with another dog.A dinky doxie's tips for surfing through Thanksgiving →

Surf Dog Diaries.com

Featured
The smell of the river at sunrise will change your life
Jul 15, 2023
The smell of the river at sunrise will change your life
Jul 15, 2023

Dogs and people on the river. At dusk, coyote swims by as you zig jag turns through river glass, reflecting earth and man and sky. River bamboo swallows your wake - as if nothing ever happened.

Secret spot. Shhh! Don't tell....

 

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Jul 15, 2023
Celebrate your indy spirit on Independence Day with Doodle!
Jul 9, 2023
Celebrate your indy spirit on Independence Day with Doodle!
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Jul 7, 2023
From Cat House to dog house. Cat takes over the dog blog (Part 4 - last in a series)
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So there I was, living at Cat House, surrounded by 25 felines of every size, sense and sensibility. Waiting to be rescued. Elvis stopped by. In 13 seconds, my life forever changed. I was picked out - picked up - by the basset alpha of Surf Dog Diaries. In no time, I was in the car in a box, on my way to my new home with my new surf dog family.

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Jul 7, 2023
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Jun 24, 2023
I met Elvis at Cat House and he took me home. Based on a true story.
Jun 24, 2023
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Jun 24, 2023
Doxie Doodle's ear flapping windsurf ride. (GoPro video)
Jun 17, 2023
Doxie Doodle's ear flapping windsurf ride. (GoPro video)
Jun 17, 2023
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Cat takes over the dog blog (part 2)  Based on a true story. By me, elegant tabby cat.
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Cat takes over the dog blog (part 2) Based on a true story. By me, elegant tabby cat.
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Dear Dog Diary - In the Beginning - 1991… I remember the day She first picked me up. It was in the Cattery at the jail with all those other kitties.

Actually, it wasn’t bad, it was San Diego Humane Society – but it was still jail. That place in between. For homeless kitties.

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Jun 10, 2023
The secret surf dog handshake! Our new rescue pup steps on board!
May 29, 2023
The secret surf dog handshake! Our new rescue pup steps on board!
May 29, 2023

A new rescue pup, a chiweenie, adopts us on Mother's Day.. He mastered a surf board faster than all four generations of low rider rescue dogs before him.

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May 29, 2023
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May 12, 2023
Mod Squad of cat’s 'n dogs - based on a true story. By the tabby cat. (Cat takes over the dog blog, part 1)
May 12, 2023

Elvis, the big ol’ droopy eyed saggy basset hound, swayed around the house, scraping against the walls of the dinky beach cottage. Walking for any length of time ate up his one-big-energy-surge-of-the-whole-day, and he used it to find just the right spot in the sun to plop down for his daily nap. I guess if I carried 70 pounds and a massive square head with neck flaps bearing down on two inch legs, I’d be a super mellow stoner dude too. 

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May 12, 2023
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Jan 12, 2023
Christmas spirit is inside us - every day - we crazy dog people!
Jan 12, 2023
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Jan 12, 2023
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Mar 13, 2022
Dear Grandpa, I love you - from your grand dog.
Mar 13, 2022
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Mar 13, 2022
Boomers - remember the Flying Nun? Doxie Doodle's ear flapping windsurf ride. (Surf board GoPro video)
Aug 20, 2021
Boomers - remember the Flying Nun? Doxie Doodle's ear flapping windsurf ride. (Surf board GoPro video)
Aug 20, 2021
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Aug 20, 2021
I love my dog. You do, too. Together, we go - surf dog summers are here!
Jul 29, 2021
I love my dog. You do, too. Together, we go - surf dog summers are here!
Jul 29, 2021

Windsurfing is our first passion as surf dogs. We love to sail the Columbia River, right in our Oregon front yard.  My three dogs sons - Elvis, Dude and Doodle sail with me in Hood River, Oregon, the windsurfing capital of the world.

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Jul 29, 2021
OB Law license plate in the bookshelf-small.jpg
Apr 24, 2021
O.B. Law - throwback to another surf dog place and time
Apr 24, 2021
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Apr 24, 2021
Mar 28, 2021
First day of spring. In spite of COVID.
Mar 28, 2021
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Mar 28, 2021
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Feb 14, 2021
Hi, my name is snow. Remember me? Snowmeggadon, in words and pictures
Feb 14, 2021
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Feb 14, 2021
Feb 7, 2021
Snow dog day - Snowmeggadon in Oregon's front yard 2017
Feb 7, 2021

Snow day in the Columbia River Gorge - a DogDiary photo essay

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Feb 7, 2021

Surf Dog Diaries  |  Barb Ayers, San Diego, CA and Mosier OR.  |   All content and images (c) Barb Ayers, copyrighted, all rights reserved