This Dog Trainer Goes Around Australia Teaching Dogs How To Surf

Chris de Aboitiz is an Australian former surfing champion whotrains dogs to surf as a way tocreate harmony and understanding between humans and their pets.

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The 53-year-old launchedNatural Balance Dogin 2006, a dog training centre which helps dog parents understand their pets better and also deals with behavioural problems.

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Thanks to this "surf therapy", many dogs have learned how to be better-behaved, become less anxious and trust their humans. It teaches themto be disciplined, focused, as well as beingable to follow commands.

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Chris de Aboitiz explainedhis concept to Reuters:

Surfing is not just about training dogs, it is about understanding them and their behaviour. When you are surfing with the dogs they are allowed to look around but they have to sit on the board and not move, or we fall off and get wet. Training dogs for everyday life is the same.

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The dogs stand or sit on the boards with their humans. When there are big waves, they learn to ride along them, protected by their loyal humans. If it's not too wavy, they can accompany Chris on the paddle-board which ismore gentle.Chris' three rescue dogs,Lani, Rama and Murphy, have even learned to perform tricks on the board. They often jump up onto Chris!

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This style of teaching seems a lot more fun for both parent and pet alike. However, the technique relies on the ocean, so currently Chris only works in Australia...