Tuesday, March 09, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Skateboarding dog takes owner for a ride

Sabrina taught herself to ride a skateboard. Her trick has gotten her on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and other TV shows. Photo by Ralph Fountain. Jeanette Chaidez walks with her dog, Sabrina, as the 38-pound English bulldog eyes a skateboard at Freedom Park in Las Vegas. Chaidez says Sabrina is so obsessed with riding the skateboard that she has to hide it when they're at home. Photo by Ralph Fountain.

Sabrina is a little bit nuts. Perhaps the fame has gone to her enormous head.

She is just a dog, after all, and kind of a goofy looking one at that. Sabrina is a 38-pound English bulldog, a rock-hard, stocky, squished-nose, tongue-dangling, single-minded nutcase.

But today, she might as well be a kid in a candy store.

"I just don't understand why she gets so thrilled about it," says Jeanette Chaidez, Sabrina's owner.

Sabrina rides a skateboard, a trick that Chaidez says the dog taught herself a year ago. But she doesn't so much ride the skateboard as attack it and ride the momentum.

The quirky trick has landed Sabrina spots on local TV news, NBC's "Today" show, "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," and the cable channel Animal Planet's "Pet Star," where a second-place finish got her owner a sweet check for $10,000.

Sabrina even has her own agent.

As Chaidez says all of this on a recent afternoon at Freedom Park in Las Vegas, Sabrina pays no mind. She has more important things to do. Like ride, attack, ride.

As soon as Chaidez puts Sabrina's custom-made skateboard on the pavement, the dog goes after it. She flips the board over with her nose, pushes it around the parking lot, and hops on when it gets to rolling.

Every now and then, Sabrina pushes with a leg or two, but mostly she just pounces on the board. Or chews on its wheels. Whichever is more convenient.

Chaidez, 30, got Sabrina almost two years ago for her daughters, ages 10 and 12. Chaidez was visiting her mom one day when Sabrina discovered skateboarding. A nephew was there with his board, and, without being prompted, Sabrina just hopped on.

Now, the dog is so obsessed with the skateboard that Chaidez has to hide it when they're at home.

"She'll just go and go until I take it away," Chaidez says. "I can't let her have it at home. She's banging it into everything."

Sabrina's rise to fame began last year when a local TV news cameraman happened to be driving by when Sabrina was outside riding her skateboard, Chaidez says.

That TV spot got the attention of Leno's people and the folks at "Today," which led to "Pet Star" and other TV appearances.

Soon, a talent agent was calling, as was a dog food company with an endorsement offer.

Chaidez won't say how much the endorsement is worth, but says it's even better than the prize money from "Pet Star."

"Oh yeah," she says. "It's good."