Animals on board......

[gary]

Do any of you sail with your pets on board? I would like to hear pros and cons.
If it is a cat do you have a "cat box?" If a dog you must take him/her ashore for exercise and the necessities. Any problems?
thanx
garyg

 

[stephen Penny]

We have a 62 lb greyhound that we take sailing regularly. We put on her a west marine life vest that is slightly modified to fit her. The vest keeps her warm and is soft to lie on the cockpit floor. She also likes the quarter berth during overnights and settee during the day. She can jump and off and into the cabin but we need to help her out of the cabin. We time her doggie litter visits to twice daily.

 

[Scott B]

Sure do....

We typically anchor out overnight most weekends. The area we are in we can go ashore anytime and let her run and do her thing.

Also helps that she loves to swim ....

 

[timvg]

Our beagle has forbidden us to be on the boat without her. She is definitely the captain of the dinghy.

 

[cephius (Dave)]

Interesting the size of boats that responded "Yes"

I've owned several pets, both cats and dogs. I've always considered them animals that need tending to co-exist. While I took comfort in them, they were not family members. I have never wanted to tend to them while sailing, so none of them have come aboard.

 

[Bill Roosa]

Hair

Prepare for hair everywhere. In the bilge, in the head, in the electronics, in the sink, in the reefer, on deck, down below, EVERYWHERE.
It does force you to keep the plumbing clean however.
FWIW

 

[Bobbi Ullinger]

Our yorkie, Diogee, is quite comfortable on board. The marina we were in last year had a nice park to walk him in. Half way through the season, his first on board, he was able to navigate his way from the cabin to the cockpit and back, and while at dock, was able to jump from the pier to the boat, and back. The only incident we had was his first time on board, he through up in Cathy's hat, which was easily laundered.

 

[Manny]

No choice

Interesting the size of boats that responded "Yes"

I've owned several pets, both cats and dogs. I've always considered them animals that need tending to co-exist. While I took comfort in them, they were not family members. I have never wanted to tend to them while sailing, so none of them have come aboard.

Since our boat is two hours away, we have to bring our dogs with us, otherwise we can only be there for 3 or 4 hours max. The alternative is boarding but that gets really expensive, and we've had some real issues with that in the past. We get to spend the weekends if they are with us and we go out for day sails. I don't have to tend to them when sailing, the husky hides in her quarter berth and the little mutt lies in one of the "t" sections of the cockpit floor (he always goes to the leeward side after a tack) :dance:. Hair gets everywhere but to deal with that I bought a little black & decker rechargeable dust buster (it's capable of vacuuming liquids also) that is indispensable - works great for sucking up spiders in the cockpit!

Manny

 

[Bob 04 H260]

we are weather bound in North Lake Worth at present. We trailered our boat from Canada to Stuart FL and are trying to get down the ICW to the Keys. We have a Westie, he is quite used to the boat, has been on many cruises. He does have to go in to shore twice a day. This can present two problems, one is weather, second is finding a place to land a dinghy and that allows you to walk a dog if you are anchored out. Also we had to provision two cases of canned dog food for him as it is hard to buy, so extra weight and space. We found we need to use marinas more frequently than if we were travelling alone, but he is more than worth it !
Bob

 

[Harvey18647]

We find that one dog at a time is enough!

This is Bugsy, checking out that things are OK in the winter.

His esteemed colleague, Drake, has been on the boat a few times, but somehow herding the both of them onboard gets to be a bit too much work!

 

[ksetchfield]

What about cats??

We have two awesome adventure cats that we take everywhere. We've taken them out canoeing with us, but not on our sailboat yet. We'll see how it goes this spring. I think we'll need a good-sized cat cage that'll hold both of them for getting on & off the boat, but other than that, they'll probably just hang out below deck most of the time as they don't like strong winds. Other than that they are fine on water.

Kristopher Setchfield

 

[JerryA]

Cat's OK

Cats can be ok on a boat, although I have a couple that would probably not do so well. We have taken our late cat Gavin out with us a few times. He didn't seem to mind at all. Then again he didn't mind being on a leash either, so I think it depends on the cat. We have a new Siamese, Bo, that will be going with us this year. We've been getting him used to his PFD by letting him wear it around the house. I have a cat box that sets under the v-berth, next to the porti-potti. Good clumping litter helps. I've seen gavin use it when we were heeled over pretty good.

JerryA

Bo is in the green sweater.

 

[Don3098]

Cooper is a good sailor!

My wife and I cruised our H-26 in the Canadian Gulf Islands for 3 weeks last fall with Cooper, our Bichon Frise, aboard. Hair was not a problem, as he does not shed. We trained him to potty on a grated containment tray known as a "UGODOG", and this worked fine. After the first couple of days, Cooper really got the idea, and we never had to dinghy ashore for potty breaks. The tray is carried at the rear of the cockpit under the tiller, where it fits perfectly.

Problems arose at night when Cooper got cold - the boat's cabin often went below 50 degrees. We solved the problem by letting him sleep with us. No more getting up in the middle of the night!

Overall, we were amazed at how well Cooper adapted to life aboard. He really enjoyed the experience, particularly the shore excursions. For a little guy, he has great endurance, as kept up with us on some long hikes - up to 12 miles.

 

[gary]

I started this thread, and I must say you have restored my faith. What a cool bunch of people and their animals..

Thanx,
garyg