SURF DOG RICOCHET SURFS TANDEM WITH SPECIAL NEEDS KIDS AT
BEST DAY FOUNDATION'S "BEST DAY AT THE BEACH" EVENT!
DANA POINT NOVEMBER 13TH & 14TH!

View Press Release

DANA POINT, CA, November 10, 2010... Surf dog Ricochet, the SURFice dog who surfs for fun, wins dog surfing contests, and most notably surfs tandem with disabled adaptive surfers while raising funds and awareness for human/animal causes will be at the Best Day Foundation's "Day at the Beach" event at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point on November 13th & 14th.

Best Day Foundation, which helps kids with special needs build confidence and self esteem through safe, fun-filled adventure activities, will be hosting two half-day events which include surfing, bodyboarding and kayaking.  The "Best Day at the Beach" event is free for kids with special needs including Autism, Downs Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Blindness, Cancer, Spinal Cord injuries, and other physical and developmental challenges.

When Max Montgomery, Best Day Co-Founder and Executive Director heard that Ricochet surfs tandem with disabled kids, he invited her to participate.  "We're stoked to see Ricochet surf at Doheny State Beach after watching her all over the internet. The kids are thrilled to meet Ricochet, and we're grateful to her for helping bring more awareness to Best Day's first events in Orange County."

Ricochet will be surfing with Ian McFarland, a six year old boy who suffered a brain injury in a horrific car accident that claimed the lives of his parents. Ian used to surf with his father, but was fearful of getting back on a board after the accident. That all changed when he surfed with Ricochet the first time.  His fears were replaced with excitement, and now Ian says "I want to wipe out with Ricochet!" See for your self!... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iIv5t2qKL4.

Patrick Ivison, a 16 year old quadriplegic surfer, the first to ever surf tandem with Ricochet will also be hitting the waves with her on a tandem surfboard generously provided by Surftech Surfboards

In addition, Ricochet will surf solo as a demonstration to further promote confidence building... "if a dog can do it, so can you!"  She will offer encouragement, and help kids who show any apprehension of getting on a board. She will be busy with meet & greets, and of course offer lots of cuddling on the beach too! 

Trained volunteers are paired with each kid, and they begin their Best Day with fun exercises before hitting the water.  The safe, fun activities are designed to expand their potential, create excitement, and connect them with new friends. After an exciting day at the beach and a warm lunch, each participant is individually honored for their achievements during an award ceremony.  All the children are gold medal winners at Best Day's events!

For more information, contact Judy Fridono at 707-228-0679 or , or visit http://www.SurfDogRicochet.com

About Ricochet
Ricochet was slated to be a service dog for a person with a disability, but, due to her interest in chasing prey, she had to be released from that role.  She went from service dog to SURFice dog, and is now raising funds and awareness for human and animal causes.  She has raised over $51,000 this past year, and continues to inspire people all over the world with her positive energy, and charitable, paw it forwawrd lifestyle.  She has an inspirational video on YouTube that went viral "From Service dog to SURFice dog" and has almost 3 million views. Most people are brought to tears as it touches them on many different levels.  For more information, visit: http://www.SurfDogRicochet.com or on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/SurfDogRicochet

About Best Day
Best Day is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit (Tax-ID: 26-2223078) based in Santa Cruz, CA. Best Day helps kids with special needs build confidence and self-esteem through safe, fun-filled adventure activities including surfing, body boarding, kayaking, snow-tubing and more. It was founded in 2008 by Max Montgomery and Brooks Lambert, two long-time Ride a Wave volunteers who wished to bring similar services to other communities. A 100% volunteer organization, the experienced team is supported by generous sponsors who help keep the programs free for all. Best Day chapters make a big impact in their communities. For more information, visit: http://www.bestdayfoundation.org.

This is the link to visit to VOTE for Anthony's photo of a little dog named DUMA that likes to water ski. 

Anthony took the photo a while back, but it is such a great shot!! 

Please go to the link and vote for his photo to win.  FACEBOOK and Twitter it too.  Thanks.

http://wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/73407/voteable_entries/10405783?ogn=website&order=recency

or you can just click on the picture

Faith loves her new kitten!  We adopted little Buble (named after the great jazz singer Michael Buble) just last week when it was discovered that he was going to be put down for being - - can you believe it -- unadoptable!  Buble is 6 weeks old, and was found as a stray in our city; which has a great shelter.  The shelter however has overcrowding and they deem animals unfit for adoption when they have birth defects to make room for the more, shall we say, standard animal.  Buble is blind in his right eye.  It probably happened as he was coming down  the birth canal.  His mother was a ferrel cat, so there's no telling what the situation may or may not be. He falls under the category of being unadoptable and therefore he was on death row. 

Because we foster a lot of animals and have a great rapport with the shelter, the manager was willing to overlook a rule or two and allow us to foster Buble for a little while and then adopt him properly after our family was found to be a home wherein he could expect to thrive.  Being unadoptable never stopped Buble! 

From the second he came home he decided he was going to be the new ruler of the house - - well, cats do that. He began with Faith of course, as she is the Queen, and believe me, she is 100% smitten.  They are best of friends.  The bed is no longer lonely for Faith, who has been sleeping under it by herself lately since the other dogs have decided to be on top of the bed.  Now she has a buddy to play with and playing all day is on both of their agendas.  Buble thinks the world of Faith, and she's excited he's a part of her life too.  When I explained to Buble that Faith was famous he didn't seem to care one bit -- not one to be star struck I suppose.  She looks and smells like a good friend to him, and that's all that matters.  Buble even shares his food with Faith from time to time.  We gave him June 1 for a birthday; he's already making plans to celebrate. (Cats do that too)

Anthony Tortoriello literally put his hand out and Faith was completely taken by him. She has always (from the first second they met) loved "Tort" as we call him.  Anthony contacted me a couple of years ago about photographing Faith when we visited his native city of Chicago.  Since October 2007 he has been Faith's official photographer.  We hope to work with him several more times in the future. 

Take a look at Anthony's extraordinary work with nature, objects, and some of the most unusual subjects for his work. He sees things I could never see. He feels the art rather than seeing it. I believe he is one of the best I've ever seen at capturing the beauty in this world.  

www.atortphotography.com and/or www.perfectpetphotos.com

To purchase individual works from Anthony go to www.atort.etsy.com and/or contact him personally at 

  I'm a fan of Atort Photography on Facebook

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