The “kewl” humans call skateboarding “skating.” Don’t ask me why. I guess they just got bored with the “board” part and shortened the name. When my owner told me we were going skating for the first time, I thought he meant I would have to put on special shoes and slip around on that frozen stuff called ice. I‘ve seen that on TV, and it looks goofy.
But, heck no, there is no ice where we live by the beach. And they call skating on the sidewalk “blading,” as in roller-blading. Also, we do not use a board for skating; we use a “deck.” You got to get the lingo correct if you want to hang with the homies. Otherwise, you will be considered lame and not invited to get “gnar gnar,” which means doing something gnarly or very risky and dangerous.
Like when there is a sign that says, “No skateboarders allowed.” That, of course, does not apply to me because I am a skater, not a skateboarder. No cop in their right mind would give a ticket to a skating dog. Plus, the cops would have to catch me first, which is not easy.
As I zip past humans on my daily trips with my best buddy in the world, who taught me skating, I make it look easy. It wasn’t always like this.
I remember when I first started. I lost control, and my deck went flying out into the street, where a car drove over it, breaking it into many pieces. I thought my owner would be mad, but instead, he just hugged me and said, “We can get another deck.” He was happy I did not try to chase it and get hit by that car.
It did not take me long to learn how to keep my new deck under control when we went down the bike path. I quickly got the hang of it. There was no chance I could lose my deck again into the street.
I enjoy watching my owner, who is too shy to be on camera when we are hanging out at the skate park. He can do some awesome tricks and makes most of them without looking too sketchy. Tricks are fun. I can do a backflip. My owner wants me to practice doing it from my deck. I can do it OK while my deck is standing still, but I haven’t got up the nerve yet to try it while skating.
There is a girl dog that I saw sometimes walking on the beach that I would like to impress. I wonder what she would think if she saw me go whizzing by and do a perfect backflip in the air and land back on my deck? Of course, if I fell on my butt, she wouldn’t. That’s the risk of skating tricks. You can look awesome or like a fool if you blow it.
