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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.

Grandpa Ayers and Doodle Ayers on a recent visit.           Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

Grandpa Ayers and Doodle Ayers on a recent visit.           Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

Dear Grandpa, I love you - from your grand dog.

Barbara Ayers March 13, 2022

We're Family. I'm yours. You're mine.

My mom and you and me and Grandma and the kids and creatures roaming our backyards.

I look up to you, Grandpa. We all do.

You taught us how to live - you gave us our last name - Ayers.

You showed us all how to rock and roll and ride through life.

Even now, that you don't feel so well.

no one has patience dad does ball chaser_edited-1.jpg

It's Grandpa Grrrrrrrr time!!!!

Whether you're having a good day or bad - nothing perks us all up, like a good grrrrrr.

Grandpa, you understand, without words, just what I need.

You get my priorities! First project upon visiting: creating total mayhem.

When it comes to play time - you can really last all day! No one is as patient as you, grandpa.

And you get my 2nd priority after play time: toy box inventory.

You're a rad dad.

You taught your girl to be a rad mom. My mom.

Thank you.

Here you and my mom are, camping and riding bikes in the desert. I love camping! 

You taught us all, the whole family, the love of play time, love of nature, love of life.

And you've had the same grrrr friend for 67 years. Grandma Ayers. That's awesome. She's a lucky gal.

Here you are, horsing around on an anniversary, acting like kids. Yeah! That's the stuff!

grand dog, dad passing on good mechanic tips to Doodle_edited-1.jpg

I try to give back, Grandpa.

Here, I'm helping you with a brake job.  On thanksgiving day. When I'd REALLY rather eat turkey.

What I wouldn't give for a good brake job right now. With turkey and mashers. I miss you. We live too far away...

For you, I jump into a carry-on bag, Grandpa.

Put up with all that airplane travel...  just for you.

And do my carry-on bag dog thing.

You're totally worth it, Grandpa.

Because at the end of the bag - is your lap.

I can't imagine a day without you in it, Grandpa.

I love you, big guy. We all do.

Cutest couple ever. Of all time. Love you, Grandpa/dad, Grandma/mom.    Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org                                 

Cutest couple ever. Of all time. Love you, Grandpa/dad, Grandma/mom.    Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org                                 

 

Here was our family 16 years ago, on your 50th wedding anniversary.

I wasn't even born yet, but my fellow grandkids made the picture. And mom's on the left, the one that writes Surf Dog Diaries with me.

 

Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

 

 

 

And then, life changed.

We came back.  I did the carry on bag thing. But it wasn't a happy visit - we came to see you in the hospital.

I did my best Therapy Dog thing. So did the rest of the family.

 

We tried to help you get your memory back after the stroke. By looking at old photos.

Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

Good times.

Bad times.

The ride.

The ups and downs of life.

 

 

 

Whatever life brings, we're in it together.

When you were sick, we were trying to act normal. So, we went out on the deck and had a little fun.

We were cheating at cards. You know, like the famous painting?

Last month, here we are on the deck at the care place - playing cards. Or should I say, cheating?  My mom is shooting pictures - she's not that great at cards anyway.    Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

Here we are on the deck at the care place - playing cards. Or should I say, cheating?  My mom is shooting pictures - she's not that great at cards anyway.    Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

My advice to grandma: don't over think it.

 Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

 Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

Just deal with the cards you're dealt.

We're all working on that. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

 

Yeah!! That's it, grandma!!  GO girl!       

 

 

 

 

Now it's my turn.... 

Here's my best card shark look:

My best Card Shark look.                                           Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org          &n…

My best Card Shark look.                                           Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org           

Doodle, top dog, of the Ayers family card game.            Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

Doodle, top dog, of the Ayers family card game.            Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

Super Jack - the hand. How fitting!       Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

Super Jack - the hand. How fitting!       Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

Woo hoooo! I'm top dog in the Ayers family card game!

Here's my winning hand, grandpa. Can you believe it?

I call it "Super Jack."

Cuz that's your name.

 

 Grandpa Jack Ayers!

Who knows what lies ahead?

All that matters is today.

And love.

Any good dog could tell you that....

SuperJack!!!

 

 

With love from your grand dog - your dinky doxie BFF - your Pen Pal.....

Doodle Ayers

Surf Dog Diaries

Tags grand dog, Father's Day, Doodle, Surf Dog Diaries, DogDiary.org, dog diary, Barb Ayers, dog blog, life with dogs, grand dog diaries, must love dogs, dogs are family, dog kid, dog friend, fur kid, grandpa, grandma, boomer, granddog, I luv dogs, I love my dog, Surf Dog Blog, dog friends, diaries by dogs, dogdiary.org, day in life of, dogs n friends, small town dog, small town diary, my best friend, my secret diary, writer dog, stray dog books, rescue dog, coping with loss, the ups and downs of life, dad had a stroke, surf dog diaries, Dogdiary.org, Barbara Ayers, doxie Doodle
Click on photos for links to related stories. Dude, Ayers family surf basset #3 and Elvis, surf basset #2, were taught by #1 Howdy Doody, to surf on land and sea.  Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org, Surf Dog Diaries  

Click on photos for links to related stories. Dude, Ayers family surf basset #3 and Elvis, surf basset #2, were taught by #1 Howdy Doody, to surf on land and sea.  Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org, Surf Dog Diaries  

The Dog Beach ride of life, Part 2 – dog's eye view of surfing

Barbara Ayers March 17, 2018

Based on a true story by Howdy the surf basset with dog mom Barb Ayers

Excerpt from the secret Surf Dog Diaries book in progress

Recap from part 1:

Warm sand. Bare feet. Bare paws. Bare back. A sea of umbrellas and beach chairs, towels and tattoos. I smell a warm meatball sandwich by a dude in the sand.

Dogs dart around in circles, this way and that - chasing freedom and Frisbees and dog butts and fuzzy yellow-green balls.

Blue skies and ocean smelling breeze and all those brilliant rays of light and life. A smile grows wide from deep inside.

Click on photos for links to related stories.   Elvis, first step son of Howdy, of Surf Dog Diaries.     Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

Click on photos for links to related stories.   Elvis, first step son of Howdy, of Surf Dog Diaries.     Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

I'm a surf dog. Surf basset Howdy Doody, more specifically. I’m rolling up on all fours at my home turf, Dog Beach, in OB - Ocean Beach, San Diego. The first leash-free beach in the US.

I’m thinking, I’m going for it.

We wade into the ocean, my mom and I. We jump on a board and head out, toward the magic and the mystery of the surf break.

I’m standing up, hanging twenty toes on the nose of the surfboard, all basset hound manliness in front. A surf dog hood ornament.

Click on photos for links to related stories.  Surf doxie Doodle, named after Howdy Doody, is Surf Dog Diaries' Gen-x, 4th generation Ayers family surf dog. Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

Click on photos for links to related stories.  Surf doxie Doodle, named after Howdy Doody, is Surf Dog Diaries' Gen-x, 4th generation Ayers family surf dog. Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

Mom’s in back, paddling out. She’s a person, not nearly as efficient as us surf dogs. She paddles lying down, with hands, not paws. Giggling and making all those funny sounds. Words so cute, but I’ve no idea what she’s talking about.

Bright sun warms your back. Dog hairs swirl around, weightless, like dancing kelp as we go deeper.

I'm thinking.... Here she comes - a big, gnarly wave, barreling right at you.

And whoa- next thing you know, we’re up, and riding.

Surfing the ups and downs of life.

Part 2:

Looking up, looking over – I’m thinking…

Wooo HOOOOO! Surf dog Howdy Doody here! The Big Kahuna.

And right over there, down the wave, were two of my very best buds – a bulldog and a golden retriever. Both standing up with me, at the very same time, at the very same beach on their very own boards. And it was magic. There's no greater gift in life than sharing this moment with friends.

I’d never had real friends before, never really belonged.

Rescue dogs roll that way.

It was an incredibly long ride – ocean curls just kept coming up behind and chasing me, changing me. Waves pushing a little bit left, up toward where the San Diego River empties into the ocean, and the sea wall between OB and Mission Beach.

Then the surf changed and pushed back to the right – toward the OB pier. Ocean was playin’ with me. Teasing and testing me. Could I stay on when she tried to throw me off? I’d been thrown off before so many times. Mostly on land, with humans.

And with a light step, that wasn’t normally my way, and that basset hound dogged determination, we’d made it to this place and the wave was there – the test – and I rode it with everything I had. Everything I’d learned. From the rescue dog ride of life.

And Mom had been there, helping, every step of the way. Together, we were one.

            Number One!

Click on photos for links to related stories.   Surf bassets Elvis n Dude n friends.  Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

Click on photos for links to related stories.   Surf bassets Elvis n Dude n friends.  Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

Normally when Howdy ran away, his mom frantically followed, trying to bring him back home.

But this time, she’d let him go – in a good way.

Into the wave, on his own, riding the wave like one of the big boyz.

She’d paddled him out through the break, picked out the wave, paddled him into it, then slipped off behind and gave the board a huge shove at the critical moment, to launch him into the curl.

She got him his wave, his moment - and then she knew enough to let him go it alone. How’d she know that?

Seemed like hours and days passed - surfing suspended all time, all rational thought and all other feelings. That one-with-nature moment lasted forever.

That same wave that threatened to drown you, gave you pride and hope and peace and joy - the thrill of a lifetime – all, in under a minute.

It makes you want to race right back out after wave #1, for one more who-knows-what’s-gonna-happen-next Dog Beach ride of life.

It’s been said that the average surf ride is about ten seconds, but this ride lasted way longer.

The board with the dog took its time heading in – heading home.

All the way from outside the surf zone, back through breaking waves toward the beach, through indigo, to blue water and white water, to ankle biters, to bubbles, to shore. The fin of the board dragged up in sand. Howdy stepped off in ankle deep water.

Top dog style.

He smiled a big, toothy grin. Maybe it was there the whole time, for the whole ride. Who knows.

He felt like a king. King of the beach.

And together as one breed, dog and man - surf dogs all - we say or howl, bark

 or sing...  

Waaa-Roooooooooo.

Surf is UP!

Howdy rode solo in surf  - here, with a cool dude at the Dog Beach Sandy Claws fundraiser.   Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org   Click on photos for links to related stories

Howdy rode solo in surf  - here, with a cool dude at the Dog Beach Sandy Claws fundraiser.   Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org   Click on photos for links to related stories

Howdy could see their mouths hanging open on shore - the sense that something amazing had happened.

He felt like, for once in his life, he got noticed. He was a throwaway dog in a former life. Many lifetimes ago.

They were clapping, laughing, running towards him.

And the surf dog shook it all off – the time and the tides and cold water and heavy thoughts he used to drag around - with a full-body side-swiper back-n-forth salt- water-in-flight slow-motion of the ocean notion.

He trotted off down the beach. 

Dog Beach - his home beach. Cross roads of all breeds and all creeds. Dogs and their people and surfers and seniors and families with kids and lawn chairs and floating umbrellas and Frisbees and lots of dog-butt sniffing, too. Tattoo viewing. Yes, he knew what tats were, even though a dog shouldn’t.

His new mom finally swam in from the ocean, walking back up the beach to join him. She was panting, exhausted, dog-tired. He’d surfed; she’d swam. She’d paddled the two of them together out past the break, then hung back when he took off on board.

Now she was laughing and running toward him. She scooped him up and held him upside down, on his back, cradling him in her arms like a tiny puppy. Even though he was a big, manly surf dog, he didn’t try to wriggle out, or break free. Like old Howdy would have.

Because this was their most secret, sacred moment - her giving him the gift and him, stepping up. Believing.

He was big and small, young and old, man and dog, crazy and chillin,’ happy-sad, all at the same time.

He'd never needed anyone in his whole life before that moment.

He just let her coo and kiss him.

He totally deserved it!

Right then and there - he was King of Dog Beach.

And then hoards of people came running up, laughing and chatting and cheering them on.

“Whoa- what a good dog!”

"How’d he learn to do that?"

"How long did it take to teach him?"

"His wetsuit says Howdy – is that his name?"

His dog friends that rode the same wave he did, were just swimming in. Sopping wet dogs. Dragging, drowny dogs. They’d fallen off that beast of a wave. The one he rode all the way in.

Big Rich, the overweight boxer with a big, loud bark and this whole. I’m the Big Man body language. Even though he wasn't.

And Hookipa, the hot-babe golden retriever with a white, bright smile. And a big fancy pedigree. Born and bred for water, not like land-hunting low-rider basset hounds.

Not like him – not like Howdy.

He was so not your typical water dog.

With a low-man physique – short basset hound legs.

A long-board basset hound back.

And extra-wide UGG-boot feet. Toes splayed out in the sand. On a surfboard.

Grip it and rip it.

So maybe basset hounds were really bred for surfing after all – not just for hunting.

Maybe the whole low-rider-surf-dog-custom-basset-hound-specialty- package wasn’t just an accident.

And somehow this dog - adopted, rejected, returned to the pound, the 3-time rescue mutt, least likely to succeed - had shown everyone else, all water dogs and would-be surfers and gnarly surf dudes and beach breeds, how to get ‘er done. How surf dogs roll.

A stray, a mongrel, a runaway, an “incorrigible pet,” according to those judgey people he used to know.

A basset, a born “sinker" – like short boards that sink into water. 

But here, now, a “floater” - a long boarder, riding with style and pizazz. 

And with a whole lot of genetically engineered basset hound pride and stubbornness.

Which, when you think about it, is the most important secret to surfing waves of any kind.

He was maybe three years old, still in his first year of surfing. After riding out a couple of lifetimes already, all former failures.

Surf dogs on vacation. Elvis n Dude apres surfing in Baja.  Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

Surf dogs on vacation. Elvis n Dude apres surfing in Baja.  Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

Before he found Her, the surfer, Mom #3.

Third time’s a charm.

Howdy and me, surfing on the Colorado River, circa 2002.  Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

Howdy and me, surfing on the Colorado River, circa 2002.  Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

 

She wasn’t really #3, She was the Only One.

And he was Her One and Only.

 

Finally, they'd brought each other home.

Tags Dog Beach in Ocean Beach, surf dog diaries, Surf dog diaries, Surf Dog Blog, Howdy the surfing dog, Elvis the basset, Dude the dog, Doodle the surf doxie, dog mom Barb Ayers, Barbara Ayers, dog diary, dogdiary.org, secret diary of a dog, secret life of dogs, I love my dog, stray dog books, hang 20 dog tales, my diaries, diaries by dogs, San Diego dog beach, writer dogs, dogs n friends, best friend dog, my surf dogs, surfing dogs, windsurfing dogs, SUP dogs, memoir story, small town dog, small town diary, dog book, secrets of dogs, 4 paws 20 toes, author dog
Howdy Doody and my mom, Bartb Ayers, windsurf San Diego's Mission Bay, 1991-2003.                 Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

Howdy Doody and my mom, Bartb Ayers, windsurf San Diego's Mission Bay, 1991-2003.                 Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, DogDiary.org

4 generations of rescue dogs turned surf dogs - doxie Doodle & the basset boyz of Dog Beach and the Columbia Gorge

Barbara Ayers January 12, 2018

Howdy Doody, a runaway rescue dog finds himself through surfing - becomes Chair Dog of Dog Beach in San Diego - and "Windsurfing's Top Dog." His surf dog legacy lives on at Dog Beach,  through the Surf Dog Diaries and 4 generations of surfing rescue dogs.

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Tags windsurfing dog, windsurfing, Mission Bay, San Diego, Howdy, Barb Ayers, Barbara Ayers, Surf dog diaries, surfing dogs, dog blog, bassador, basset hound, San Diego Humane Society, Dog Beach in Ocean Beach, Dog Beach, Ocean Beach CA, surf dog, surf dog mom, dog diaries, Surf Dog Diaries, Doodle, dinky doxie, surf dog diary, dog mom Barb Ayers, dogdiary.org, dog diary, Surf Dog Blog, I love dogs, giving back, the rescue dog, Dog beach in Ocean Beach, Dog Beach Improvement Project, Howdy the windsurfing dog, Doodle the doxie, Dog Beach Committee, Columbia River Gorge, Columbia Gorge Windsurfing Assn.
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Surf Dog Diaries  |  Barb Ayers, San Diego, CA and Mosier OR.  |   All content and images (c) Barb Ayers, copyrighted, all rights reserved