Anyone Know The Etymology Of ‘Pigdogging’?

A one-foot slob-grab backside pigdog. 

Tricky pigdog. Actually, does anyone know why pigdogging is called pigdogging? 

A brief google search revealed the answers in a Surfline interview with Nick Carroll originally published in 2001.

“The expression “pigdogging” was born from the Australian hunting slang term for that rather frightening breed of dog known as a bull terrier or pit bull. Pit bulls are called “pigdogs” in Oz because they’re used to flush out wild boar from dense brush. This activity calls on all of the pit bull’s renowned death-defying ability to bite mercilessly, crouch and hang on until it or its victim has deceased.

This ability was also exactly what was being called upon by the first pigdog backside tuberiders. The stance is as follows: crouched, head forward and down; body balanced on hands and knees; death-grip on the rails, making up for any lack of subtle maneuvering with sheer mad tenacity. Finest practitioners of the style as it first emerged through the early to mid-’80s included Dane Kealoha, Johnny Boy Gomes, Gary Elkerton, Marvin Foster (at Sunset) and numerous others, mainly it seemed in Hawaiian conditions.

The pigdog altered through the late ’80s until it developed into the subtler, rubbery form of backside tuberiding practiced by guys like Shane Beschen, Kelly Slater, etc.: the open front hand extended onto the face; the body turned and fully opened to the tube exit; the “bumdrag” stalling method. This form is remarkably similar to that used by hot kneeboarders through the ’70s in Oz and San Diego. But it can’t really be called a “pigdog.”

Now, of course, that style has been superseded by the dramatic standing body twist, in which the surfer (Bruce and Andy Irons, Shane Dorian and quite a few other exceptional tuberiders) doesn’t deign to touch the board with his hands, instead simply twisting the shoulders open for a better view and adjusting with slight shifts of body torque through knees and hips. If that shit keeps up, the pigdog days are indeed numbered.”

The more you know.