Over the holidays if you saw a cute dog skateboarding around the parking lot at Walnut Green pool, you were not imagining things!
Henny, a 13-year-old English Bulldog, and her dad, Ryan Lynch, were visiting Ryan’s parents, Michele and Mark Lynch, and the home he grew up in just off Arbolado Dr., across from the park.
The Lynch family moved to the Northgate neighborhood in 1986, when Ryan was just two years old. He and his brother Tysan grew up playing at Arbolado Park, swimming at the Walnut Green Pool and both graduated from Northgate High School. The Lynch family always had a pet dog. Ryan moved to Long Beach in 2005.
In 2011 Ryan, on a whim, answered an ad for bulldog puppies. He had been dating a girl who loved bulldogs. He visited the litter of 10 and one female came right over to him, climbed on him. “She basically chose me,” says Ryan. After taking the night to sleep on the decision, be returned the next day, and only that one girl pup was left. The other 9 had been adopted in a single day. “It was meant to be.” Since Ryan liked drinking Hennessey Cognac at the time, a friend suggested he call her “Henny.”
When Henny was only 10 weeks old, Ryan was walking her at Venice Beach. A skateboarder whizzed by and lost control of the board. Henny ran up to it and jumped on. She seemed to know what to do. She could even propel the board with her paw, stop the board, and pick it up in her mouth. She was a natural. Ryan is not a skateboarder himself, so he had to get Henny her own board. Her skills have grown over the years, and she loves nothing more than to be out on her board.
Since those early days Henny has become a bit of a celebrity. Ryan started teaching his friends’ dogs to skate; it eventually led the entrepreneur to start K9 Skate Academy. He is planning the first ever World K9 Skate Competition, an X-games style competition with dogs from all over the US and UK. At this event they will attempt to set a Guinness Book of World Records event: a four-dog skateboard relay in under 30 seconds. Each dog will skate for 10 meters. Henny is already in Ripley’s Believe It or Not, has been in movies, music videos, and has been a spokesdog for many products. Some of her sponsors are big names in the skate and dog worlds, and she’s been on Good Morning America, the Ellen DeGeneres Show and TMZ.
Ryan plans to make a movie of her life and also has a dream one day to eliminate animal shelters and create foster cities for abandoned pets.
Henny’s grandparents, Michele and Mark, are very proud of her and Ryan. “We are so blessed to have her in our lives,” said Michele. Watch out for skateboarding Henny next time Ryan comes home to Northgate. Or you can see her in action online at:
YouTube: Skateboard Henny
Instagram: @skateboardhenny, @k9skateacademy@worldk9sk8competition
TikTok: Skateboard Henny
Website: worldk9sk8competition
By Kara Navolio, Resident since 1991