Running down West Wittering’s sandy beach, his blonde curls tousled by the salt spray, Scooter is in his happy place.
Glancing over at his young pupil, he sees that he’s feeling good too - which is remarkable, given that just a few lessons ago he wouldn’t leave the car, let alone step foot on the beach.
Together, they don their wetsuits. The youngster is nervous, but with his confidence, patience and outgoing personality, Scooter soon has him paddling out to sea and riding waves.
Afterwards, the boy’s mum is ecstatic. ‘Today has blown my mind!’ she says. ‘Since working with Scooter, my son has come on leaps and bounds. He already wants his own surfboard.’
What’s even more incredible is that Scooter isn’t a former surf champion or even a qualified instructor. He’s a ten-year-old rescue dog of indeterminate breed and the UK’s only surf therapy dog.
Kirstie Coy-Martin, 50, adopted Scooter when he was around 10 months old after he’d been found wandering the streets in his native Portugal and taken in by a local charity. ‘Something about his eyes just reached out to my soul and said that he was very special,’ she says.
It was only later that Kirstie would discover just how unique he was. After adopting Scooter and bringing him back to her Bracklesham Bay home as a pet, the former Met detective was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of years of working on child abuse cases.
‘I was a Met Police Officer for just under 27 years and I did seven years in the child abuse investigation team,’ says Kirstie. ‘I didn't realise it at the time, but it was slowly breaking me. And then in 2019, a very innocuous incident triggered some horrific flashbacks and memories that eventually led to a massive breakdown. I was diagnosed with complex PTSD, anxiety and depression, which meant I lost my independence and wasn’t really leaving the house very much.’
A local dog trainer recommended the charity Darwin Dogs, which trains assistance dogs, and Scooter passed their initial tests. After 18 months of training, he was certified an Assistance Dog International, which is the highest qualification.
‘We go everywhere together,’ Kirstie says. ‘He knows when I’m having a bad day. He sleeps on my pillow at night and wakes me up if I’m suffering from nightmares. My condition means I sometimes disassociate and go into a trance-like state if I’m overwhelmed. When that happens, I sit on the floor to ground myself, and he lies across my lap. He will touch or lick my face to bring me back to myself. If I'm very anxious, I start picking my eyebrows, and he nudges my hand to get me to stop. And finally, he is trained to stop people getting too close to me in busy places.’
But he doesn’t just help his owner. He is a Pets as Therapy dog, visiting adult and children patients at St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester, care homes, schools, police stations and prisons. He also helps children with their reading and confidence as part of the Read2Dogs scheme and has his own beach school for one to 16-year-olds at West Wittering, which is also where he and Kirstie run surf therapy for children and young people with additional needs.
Kirstie, a lifelong surfer, initially taught Scooter to surf in 2020 so they could spend even more time together. ‘I found that going in the sea, especially surfing or paddleboarding, was my safe place,’ she explains. ‘Everything seemed better while I was in the water.
‘I read about these Californian surf therapy dogs, which triggered a lightbulb moment. I thought we could combine Scooter’s existing skills as a therapy dog with my love of surfing. When I looked into it, I found that there wasn't such a thing in the UK. I reached out to the owner of the most famous surf therapy dog in California and she kindly sent me her training plan.’
It took eight months for Scooter to learn to surf, starting by learning to balance on a surfboard in the garden. When he was ready to progress to the water, they started out in a local canine hydrotherapy pool before taking to the waves.
Now, they run their adapted surf sessions. Scooter also works with The Wave Project, a nationwide charity supporting children and young people with a range of physical and mental health issues, social deprivation or social isolation, and they have a specially adapted surfboard and beach wheelchair for kids with physical disabilities.
The children and young people Kirstie and Scooter work with may be experiencing anxiety, bullying, bereavement and loneliness. Some are on the autistic spectrum, have ADHD or dyspraxia. Spending time outdoors is scientifically proven to aid mental health and Kirstie says that this is particularly true of being on the water. ‘It reduces blood pressure, heart rate and stress levels,’ she explains. ‘Saltwater therapy boosts our serotonin levels, confidence and resilience too - it’s helped me so much and now I want to share the benefits with others.’
Scooter now loves surfing as much as Kirstie – and he’s easy to spot thanks to his distinctive hair style.
‘Scooter’s quite unusual in that he has a blue mohawk,’ says Kirstie. ‘And the reason for that is to make people smile, relax and start conversations. He has it professionally coloured at the doggy salon with special pet-friendly vegan dye.’ He even has his own wetsuit and dryrobe!
‘Scooter doesn’t actually like swimming all that much,’ she says. ‘Which is what makes him so good at surfing - he wants to stay on the board so he doesn’t get wet!’
Scooter has even published his own children’s book: Scooter the Surfing Dog Finds His Forever Home, which Kirstie co-wrote with a friend. It tells the (mostly) true story of how the friends found each other and aims to share the message that it’s okay not to be okay.
Kirstie was medically discharged from the police last year. Now spreading the word about mental health, surf therapy and the value of kindness is her full-time mission.
As well as being able to draw on her own experiences, she’s undertaken training in mental health and autism. ‘I was a detective. I dealt in evidence and proof,” she says. ‘But with mental illness, you can't see it.
‘That’s one of the reasons Scooter is so amazing. He’s so empathetic, he knows intuitively when someone needs cheering up. In the hospital he’ll make a beeline for a particular patient’s bed and snuggle up to them. It’s amazing to see the difference it makes.’
He’s become a bit of a local celebrity and his fame is growing - Scooter has more than 7,000 Instagram followers and has appeared on ITV’s The Pet Show, Quest’s Kings of the Wood, BBC News and Paw Patrol Heroic Hounds.
In 2022, he won Carer of the Year in the Naturo Superdog Awards at a black tie event packed with celebs. Now the pair hope to use the buzz to inspire more youngsters, while training a second surf therapy dog - Brody, an Australian Labradoodle puppy.
But for Kirste, Scooter is still very much number one. ’Scooter is a very special boy,’ she says. ‘I rescued him, but he rescued me too.’
To find out more about Scooter and Kirstie and their work, including visits to schools and groups and assisted surf sessions, visit their website. You can also buy copies of their book there and donate to Scooter’s charity. The not-for-profit relies on donations and grants to keep the cost of bespoke sessions low, at just £20 per person.
