Sugar, the surfing dog, retires after cancer diagnosis

A champion surfer is retiring after receiving a cancer diagnosis.

Sugar, the surfing dog, is hanging up her surfboard.

Sugar’s owner, Ryan Rustan, said the 16-year-old rescue therapy dog made the announcement, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Crowds gathered at Huntington Beach over the weekend to watch Sugar surf, KABC reported. The television station called it her last wave.

“We’ve been fighting her cancer together — vet visits, special food, medicines, and all the little things I’ve bought to keep her comfortable and happy on the waves,” he wrote on a GoFundMe.

“Every donation helps cover what I’ve already spent and helps me prepare for whatever comes next,” the fundraiser says. “Sugar has brought so much joy to so many. If his story has touched your heart, any support means the world.”

The fundraiser raised more than $12,400 by Tuesday morning and was only a few hundred dollars away from its $13,000 goal.

Sugar has won 19 surf titles over her years, as well as being the five-time World Dog Surf champion and the first animal inducted into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame, the Los Angeles Times said.

Before she found fame on the waves, Rustan found Sugar living on the streets of Oakland, California. KTTV said she had been abused and starved. Rustin had his own challenges with mental health and substance abuse. KTTV said they rescued each other and that he is in recovery.

She is also a therapy dog at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Long Beach, People magazine reported.