Salty Snouts: Surf Dog Classes

Learn to paddleboard with your pooch, in Del Mar.

A BEVY OF CANINE COURSES: Finding something instructional and life-enhancing to do with your furry BFF isn't too difficult. There are the classic training classes, the kind that help your pup know when to sit and know when to heel. There are dog-themed yoga seminars, which make sense, since every dog pretty much knows the downward dog pose like the back of their own paw. And dog dancing? It is definitely a delightful trend, one that is here to stay. But dog surfing just might be one of the more unusual pursuits to co-do alongside your barker, and finding someone to instruct you both isn't the easiest bone to wrestle from the toy box. Still, you only need look to one of the most famous surfing dog festivals in the world, the Surf Dog Surf-A-Thon, which takes place in Del Mar each September. The Boston Terriers and Bearded Collies don't simply take to the boards for the first time that day. There are...

LESSONS THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER, both of the surfing kind and those taking on stand-up paddleboarding. The GromMUTT Surf Dog Lessons begin with an on-the-land group class, and then a Fido-sweet foray into the waves with an instructor. The final class ahead of the big event is Aug. 28, and then, on Sunday, Sept. 11, the dogs'll be out, in their floaty vests, raising money for pets who need homes. The organization behind it all? The Helen Woodward Animal Center of Rancho Santa Fe. The chance to paddleboard with your ocean-loving pup? It doesn't come around all that often. This might just be the kind of bucket-list-y thing you've both been looking for, along the lines of dog yoga and dog dancing. Any recreation with your little lovey is time well spent, and spending it in service to other pooches? Yeah, that's way gnarly.

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