Top dogs ride waves at annual World Dog Surfing Championships

PACIFICA, Calif. (AP) — Top dogs were riding waves Saturday at the annual World Dog Surfing Championships as hundreds of spectators cheered -- and barked -- from the Northern California beach.

From small spaniels to large labs, the canines were judged on factors including how long they could stay on their board, the size of the wave and their confidence. In its 10th year, the contest in Pacifica, about 14 miles (22 kilometers) south of San Francisco, includes a pet adoption event and fundraising for local animal charities.

The dogs, sporting their colorful life vests, stood ready on their surfboards and were assisted by human participants, who spotted the best wave to carry the board to the beach. Spectators erupted in applause and cheered with each successful ride.

Sophia Sadlowski first put her Miniature Pinscher, Rusty, on her surfboard to capture fun photos when he was just a puppy.

"And then ... he didn’t want to get off,” said Sadlowski, of Huntington Beach, California. “I walk over to the beach, and I put him on a wave, and he surfed it.”

Small-, medium- and large- sized dogs competed in heats and then the highest scoring dogs in each heat faced off for the top prize. The day also included tandem contests, where multiple dogs, as well as dogs and humans, shared the surfboard.

Rusty's life jacket was green with animal print and a shark fin sticking up out of his back and his goggles gave the impression he was a fierce competitor for the small-sized and tandem dog competitions. Sadlowski said Rusty was in his first surf competition at four months old, and she and her pup are now both cancer-free.

“He was four months old, and he took third place. So we've been surfing since," Sadlowski said. “We got hooked.”

A dog catches a wave during the World Dog Surfing Championships, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Pacifica, Calif. (AP Photo/Haven Daley)

Spectators watch the surfing dogs during the World Dog Surfing Championships, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Pacifica, Calif. (AP Photo/Haven Daley)

A dog catches a wave during the World Dog Surfing Championships, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Pacifica, Calif. (AP Photo/Haven Daley)

A dog catches a wave during the World Dog Surfing Championships, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Pacifica, Calif. (AP Photo/Haven Daley)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Saturday sharply criticized U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro's assessment that damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was the result of shoddy construction and not the work of vandals, as he claims.

Pirro’s office, in a court filing on Friday, moved to drop criminal charges against a former Olympian, David Hearn, who had been accused of deliberately damaging the pool after it underwent a renovation ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday celebration last month.

Trump, in a posting on social media, acknowledged that there “may have been some contractor difficulty” in the installation of a new pool liner. But he continues to insist “the major damage was caused by VANDALS!”

“I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, on the Reflecting Pool,” Trump added in his post.

The dismissal was an embarrassing setback for a Justice Department that had previously echoed Trump's claims and billed the prosecution as accountability for damage at a Washington landmark, a pet project of Trump. The president, without providing any clear new evidence, continued to allege on Saturday that the majority of the damage to the pool was caused by vandals.

Government lawyers in their 20-page court filing on Friday said that additional documents provided by the Interior Department since the indictment of Hearn show that the damage was the result of a botched installation by a contractor as well as “the rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration in the weeks surrounding Independence Day 2026.”

In addition, a recent visual inspection revealed damage throughout the pool, including in the middle — where prosecutors say a vandal would not likely have attempted to peel the lining.

Hearn, a former Olympic canoeist, was accused of pulling up a two-foot square piece of the pool’s lining.

“Given all of this newly discovered information, it is difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism, let alone to establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt,” Pirro, a Trump appointee, said in her filing, which asked a judge to formally dismiss the case.

Pirro in the court filing also blamed the Interior Department for providing “less than fulsome information at the outset of the case.”

The filing added that had “DOI been forthcoming with the information clearly in its possession, the government would not have sought a grand jury indictment.” It was a jarring turn in position from Pirro, who claimed the government's case was built on “tremendous evidence” when she announced the indictment against Hearn last month.

Hearn's legal team on Saturday criticized both Trump and Pirro and said it was weighing "legal remedies” on behalf of their client.

“Trump is mad at Pirro because she finally admitted what we made clear in our legal filings all along: Trump’s botched renovation was responsible for the damage — not Davey Hearn," the legal team said in a statement. “However, her claim that she and her office were previously duped by Interior is nonsense. Starting immediately after the arraignment, our motions repeatedly proved that the administration was to blame for the Reflecting Pool failures, not Davey.”

Interior Department officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Trump on Saturday also posted a nearly four-minute video that appears to have been taken from a security camera, in which three individuals can be seen with their hands in the pool, including one for an extended period.

The president claimed the video shows “material is being cut with a knife or a box cutter, for all to see!”

It's not clear from the video, which appears to be shot from some distance, that any vandalism occurred. Workers can also be seen standing nearby and don’t appear to notice the people sticking their hands in the water.

In May, Trump announced plans to beautify the Reflecting Pool this spring. Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings was awarded a $14.7 million no-bid contract to repaint and waterproof the pool’s concrete floor.

Atlantic Industrial Coatings did not respond to requests for comment.

Water was drained and Trump directed that the bottom be painted with what he called “American flag blue.”

But problems emerged within days of the project's completion, with chunks of the new liner peeling off.

Trump was quick to blame vandals. And the National Park Service reported to the U.S. Park Police a June 9 incident in which it claimed a sharp knife or razor cut the pool’s new liner.

The work on the Reflecting Pool is just one of a number of projects Trump has spearheaded across the nation’s capital. Most prominently, he demolished the White House’s East Wing to build a $400 million ballroom and plans to build a towering arch between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.

Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.

Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro listens as Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the press on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers Meeting, in Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines, Thursday, July 23, 2026. (Brendan Smialowski/Pool Photo via AP)

The Washington Monument is seen in the background of the now drained Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

The Washington Monument is seen in the background of the now drained Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)