If you’ve spent any time on Instagram and haven’t stumbled across Rosie Drottar mid-barrel, ears flapping and tail wagging at full speed, then consider this your intervention. @rippinrosiedog is the Santa Cruz, CA-based Labrador Retriever who’s racked up over 317,000 followers — and honestly, every single one of them is deserved.
She’s not just a cute dog on a surfboard. She’s a world champion. And she’s got the salt water in her fur to prove it.
How It All Began: A Pool, a Ball, and a Dog Who Was Born for the Ocean
Rosie’s surf origin story starts, as all the best ones do, at the beach. Her dad Stephen got her down to Pleasure Point at low tide as soon as her puppy shots cleared — and that was all it took. She started out splashing in the small tidal pools, then graduated to retrieving balls in the shallows. Within a couple of weeks, she was charging straight through the waves like she’d been doing it her whole life.
“I absolutely cannot keep her out of the water,” says Stephen.
That, right there, is the whole story. Some dogs tolerate the ocean. Rosie craves it.
Dawn Patrol, Life Jacket On, Let’s Go
A typical day for Rosie reads like the dream schedule of a professional athlete — if that athlete also required belly rubs and treats after every session.
Stephen and Rosie surf four or five days a week, and when conditions align, they’re out at dawn patrol before most of us have had our first coffee. Rosie eats breakfast while Stephen gets his wetsuit on, and then she waits — patiently, intensely — by the door. The moment Stephen says the word? She’s already heading to the truck.
At the beach, she wears her life jacket and gets some playtime in before the session. Then Stephen paddles out, Rosie holds down the fort, and when he’s about 6 metres from shore on the way back in? He says “OK” — and Rosie launches herself into the water, swims out, grabs her toy off the cliff, and they go again.
After surfing: treats in the back of the truck. Towel off. Head home. Possibly go back for another session.
This is not a dog living a small life.
A World Champion With a Soft Spot for Socks
Rosie’s competition record is genuinely impressive. She’s taken first-place finishes in human-dog tandem and multiple dog divisions at the World Dog Surfing Championship, the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge in Huntington Beach, and the Helen Woodward Centre Surf-Dog-a-thon. She’s been featured in People magazine, on The Dodo, and even on an Australian morning show.
But ask Stephen about his most memorable contest moment, and he doesn’t reach for a trophy — he goes back to the very first one.
It was their debut at the Dog Surfing World Championships in Pacifica. Rosie and Stephen were in the same heat as Homer Henard and his dog Skyler, trading waves back and forth while the crowd went absolutely wild. They came in second. And yet, says Stephen, that battle — their first contest together — is the one that sticks.
That’s the kind of thing that reminds you what this is really all about.
Quirks of a Legend
No profile of Rosie would be complete without addressing The Mouth Thing. This dog will not greet you empty-handed (empty-mouthed?). When Stephen comes home, Rosie has to have something in her mouth — a shoe, a towel, a sock, a toy, anything. It is non-negotiable. It is her signature move and it’s perfect.
As for food? Rosie has no preferences, no enemies, and zero pickiness. She eats everything.
A true champion in all areas of life.
Why We’re Obsessed
At the Top Dog Film Festival, we’ve spent 10 years celebrating the special relationship between dogs and the humans who love them — on screen and off. Rosie and Stephen are exactly that kind of story. A dog who needed no convincing to love the ocean. A surfer who always wanted a partner in the water. A bond built wave by wave, dawn patrol by dawn patrol.
“Rosie makes people smile all over the world,” Stephen has said. And if her 317K followers are anything to go by, he’s not wrong.
Follow the rippin’, the tail-waggin’, and the ear-flappin’ at @rippinrosiedog on Instagram. You won’t regret it.
This post is part of our 10th Anniversary Series celebrating the coolest dogs to follow on Instagram. Stay tuned for more four-legged fame — and grab your tickets to Top Dog Film Festival while you’re at it!
All images are courtesy of Stephen Drottar, Rosie’s Dad- thanks guys!
