In what may be her final time catching waves, Ricochet the surf dog enjoyed the beautiful surf at La Jolla Shores on Saturday, Aug. 13 alongside Army veteran and purple heart recipient Jose Martinez, who lost both his legs and one arm after stepping on a land mine in 2012 while serving in Afghanistan.
The golden retriever, who has spent years assisting special needs children and wounded veterans get out in the surf as therapy, will be hanging up her board after suffering some recent health challenges.
“I was pretty much told that I would be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life,” said Martinez. “For me to be able to help out the dog that helped me kick-start my surfing career and my surfing life, it’s just as if I’m filling her cup up as she filled mine up.”
Ricochet, who recently had a fast-growing tissue sarcoma, a type of cancer that can appear anywhere in the body, also suffers from arthritis in her spine. She was born on Jan. 25, 2008, taking part in her first assisted surf in August of 2009 as she counterbalanced the surfboard of 14-year-old quadriplegic Patrick Ivision.
Ricochet was only 15 months old when she started her competitive dog surfing career at the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge Surf Dog competition, where she won third place going on to win additional Purina Surf Dog contests as well as contests held by the Helen Woodward Animal Center’s Surf Dog Surf-a-thon, Loews Coronado Bay Resort Surf Dog Contests (now known as Unleashed By Petco’s Surf Dog Contests), and Surf City Surf Dog surf contests.
Ricochet has also been involved in dog-human communication research with Dr. Brian Hare at the Duke University Canine Cognition Center. In May 2015, she appeared in Nat Geo Wild’s “Is Your Dog A Genius” hosted by Hare where he explained canine cognition and how Ricochet uses empathy (the ability to understand and share the feelings of others) while identifying, responding, and communicating with veterans who have PTSD, and was featured on ABC for her ability to take commands from a synthesized voice on an iPad from children with autism.
Martinez and Ricochet’s goal on Saturday was to raise awareness and funds for The Guardian Project, which is an initiative of the White Heart Foundation, a nonprofit organization that assists veterans, in order to provide 10 veterans a free remote outdoor excursion with the goal of improving mental and physical well-being.
“It was her way of saying goodbye to the ocean in a sense,” Martinez added.
