Remembering Sugar the Surfing Dog, world champion dog surfer
The surfing dog, a silly pet trick that has delighted us for decades because dogs don’t belong on surfboards, is a timeless classic of nightly news sign-offs and wacky, low-stakes YouTube video compilations. It makes sense why. To see them standing on a board riding the crest of a gnarly wave, either bound together in utter panic or so relaxed that they seem like the reincarnated spirit of a beach bum, is delightful to say the least because, I repeat, dogs do not belong on surfboards – and yet!
Of all the dogs that have ever surfed, there is one dog in the Huntington Beach area that rode the waves right into the Surfer’s Hall of Fame. Sugar The Surfing Dog has sadly passed away from cancer at the age of 14, according to a post on her Instagram account.
Sugar, Beloved Champion Surfing Dog, Dies at 14
Sugar was no ordinary dog, as you might have guessed from the whole surfing thing. She was actually pretty good at it, considering she’s once again a dog on a surfboard on top of a wave, a place where dogs don’t normally exist. She was much more than some mildly entertaining viral video clips. She was a five-time dog surfing world champion because there is a long-running dog surfing championship.
Her legacy eventually earned her a place in surfing immortality. She was inducted into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame in 2024, becoming the first dog to be inducted.
Sugar’s owner, Ryan Rustan, found her as a stray in Oakland. Rustan put her on a board one day for the heck of it, and it quickly spun into big crowds, contests, and a solid reputation for being a good girl that will essentially make her immortal. And it’s not just because she was a kitschy surfer dog. In her free hours, she was also a therapy dog and spent time with veterans.
Earlier in March, Rustan had shared her cancer diagnosis and asked for help with medical bills through a fundraiser that later transitioned to covering cremation costs and preserving her legacy.
