A man surfs with his dog during the Surf City Surf Dog competition in Huntington Beach, California, on Sunday.[Photo/Agencies]

Dogs big and small, and some in tandem with their owners, braved large swells at a surfing competition with a difference in California.

Some dogs fell off their boards in spectacular wipeouts as waves pounded the shore, but that didn't prevent many of the pups from wagging their tails at the Surf City Surf Dog event in Huntington Beach on Sunday.

Dogs and their owners came from as far away as Florida, Australia and Brazil for the eighth edition of the annual event to benefit animal charities.

The doggy rides were the last and most popular phase of a three-day event.

Canine and human competitors had 12 minutes to catch their top five waves, with judges evaluating them on their confidence level, length of ride and overall ability to ride the wave.

"We got some small, but mighty SurFurs out there," organizers wrote on Facebook.

The winner of the dog-only Shredder division was Bono, a Labrador owned by Ivan Moreira of Brazil.