25 Pet People of 2011

Judy Fridono transformed her dog Ricochet from service dog to SURFice dog. And this year the American Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) named Ricochet ‘Dog of the Year.’

This skilled canine was trained as a service dog to help people with disabilities, but it was soon found that she had a greater talent: surfing the waves. Fridono worked closely with her pet and seeing her innate abilities, transformed her into a dog that surfs with special needs children and adults.

This fearless almost four-year-old golden retriever—known as Rip Curl Ricki—also surfs to raise money for children and animals in need and in July 2011 raised her 100,000th dollar.

All this comes naturally to Ricochet.

“She instinctively knew how to surf and I didn’t do any training with her beyond balance and coordination when she was a puppy,” Fridono says.

Ricochet builds confidence and gives many people the ability to surf by acting as a counterbalance—for example, for one woman who has just one leg, and another who has no arms.