Newquay Surfing Dog Video Goes Viral – Here’s The Backstory

A video recently went viral online of a beautiful black Labrador taking to the waves on a surfboard. Since then, the dog’s owner has opened up about how his dog became a surfing sensation. In fact, the dog was only adopted a few months ago but has obviously settled in well.

Owner of surfing dog tells his story

A few months ago, Jeroen Kuling from Haarlem in the Netherlands adopted Jip, a beautiful black Labrador. He took his new canine pal on vacation with him to Newquay in Cornwall, England. Meanwhile, after a video of Jip went viral online, Jeroen says he wasn’t expecting such a huge response.

Kuling told Cornwall Live that he has loved the sport of surfing since the age of 13. At that age, his parents took him to Newquay where he tried his hand at the sport on Fistral Beach for the first time. Jeroen noted that it was his birthday at the time and that the event always happens during the holidays. He explained:

They gave me a body board and it was my first time in the ocean playing with the waves. I then started surfing here in the Netherlands. I was planning to go to Spain or Italy, but then I wanted to go back to Cornwall to see how it is now.

Jip the black Labrador tries surfing

While visiting Cornwall, Jeroen found out that some friends wanted to find a home for their one-and-a-half-year-old dog, Jip (pron. “yip”) Apparently, they had issues with the black Labrador’s behavior.

According to Jeroen, they wanted to put him in a kennel, but he said no, he will take care of the dog. He then took Jip away with him in his camper van. Kuling added:

I was just on my board at Fistral Beach, and Jip was there too. He really likes to swim which is lucky. He was swimming with me and coming towards me, then he kept sitting on my board.

Jeroen said Jip was basically taking over the board and when he jumped off to cool down, the Lab jumped onto it. He then waited for the next wave and gave the board a little push and that was the beginning. He said Jip “surfed away” while sitting on the board. Meanwhile, the beach was busy with other surfers and the dog stood up once or twice, surfing the whole time.

Readers can watch the video of Jip surfing here:

Videos of Jip go viral online

Apparently, many beachgoers found the sight amusing, but he had no idea how many people were filming what he admits must have been a bizarre sight. “It’s really funny to see a dog surfing, but all these people put videos online of it,” Jeroen added.

Meanwhile, Kuling was unaware that his dog had gone viral online. Apparently, a video of Jip was even shown on the big board at the surfing festival. Jeroen said he now calls him Jip the surfing dog and the name has also gone viral. He added that people recognize them on the beach.

Will Jip continue to be the surfing dog?

Jeroen said he is planning to get Jip surfing often and will maybe return to Fistral Beach next summer. Meanwhile, he will continue the trend and see what happens.

Maybe he’ll ride bigger waves. I don’t want to push anything, keep it with him. It’s hard to explain why Jip has become such a star. It’s not the first dog has surfed.

Kuling added that people must just see the dog comfortably surfing like a pro and wonder where he came from. In fact, at one stage, a surfer paddled out and joined Jip on the wave, but he didn’t notice until he went past.

While the story sounds unique, a quick search on Twitter reveals other surfing dogs, like this one:

And then there’s this one on TikTok: