World Dog Surfing Championships Ban Small Dog Winner Because of Owner

A dog who is a two-time surfing champion won't be able to defend her title and it's apparently the owner's fault. According to TMZ, Gidget The Pug, who came in first in two categories in the World Dog Surfing Championships last year, was not invited back this year because of the owner. It was reported the owner was not happy with the lack of attention Gidget was getting for being a champion. The owner wanted Gidget to be featured in press releases and social media campaigns, but instead, the Word Dog Surfing Championships went with a dog named Derby who is bigger than Gidget.

That led to the owner reportedly blowing up the WDSC staff demanding that Gidget earns more face time. And when that didn't work, the owner decided to talk bad about WDSC within the community.

So it looks like they had no choice but to cut ties with Gidget and the owner. However, the owner had a response, saying she asked the WDSC to have Gidget's photo in the press release and it was the staff that attacked her. That led to her fighting the WDSC to get her dog more attention because she felt like it was similar to what happened last year when Gidget did not receive a lot of attention after winning big in the 2017 World Dog Surfing Championships.

Gidget has apparently earned a lot of attention outside the WDSC as she has over 86,000 followers on Instagram. In the most recent post, the owner explained her side of the story.

"Gidget won the 2018 World Dog Surfing Championship title, (plus other medals), and for whatever reason (perhaps because they didn't like being beaten by girls?), WDSC chose to promote the runner up. That's simply not right," she said.

"As for riling anyone up, pish tosh!! Surf Gidget has her own international community of friends and fans that avidly follow her surfing adventures online. If they happen to be disappointed that Gidget's hard-won victory is overshadowed by the runner up, who can blame them?"

The 2019 World Dog Surfing Championships takes place on Aug. 3 in the San Francisco area.