Today I was doing my usual look-through of www.cuteoverload.com and although all of the pictures are extremely cute, a video of a dog on a surf board especially caught my attention. I clicked on the link and eagerly watched. Some depressing music started playing and it said that Ricochet was born into the “Puppy Prodigies Neo-natal & Early Learning Program.” Now, confused at why the dog was on a surfboard and skeptical at what I was going to see, I kept watching.
As soon as I saw Ricochet, I was hooked. The cutest puppy I’d ever seen. She was going to help people with disabilities and her training began the moment she was born with obsticle courses and intense obedience drills. As she got older her training progressed, but when she started to prefer chasing birds over opening doors, her trainer sadly had to take her out of the program. This behavior could be dangerous when helping disabled people and they can’t take that risk.
After that training stopped, Ricochet suprisingly showed interest in surfing. This sparked the trainer’s imagination and she quickly utilized this new talent to again help disabled people. Her first fundraiser was for 15 year old quadriplegic surfer Patrick Ivison. They tandem surfed together and if Patrick fell off, Ricochet was right there to pull him back on the board.
Looks like dogs aren’t only man’s best friend, but life savers as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGODurRfVv4
January 31, 2010 at 6:19 am |
Thank you for posting Ricochet’s video! We invite you to join her on her facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Surf-Dog-Ricochet/178108649370?ref=ts
I update it daily, so come on over!
Judy