"Dog Watch"

[Gary Wyngarden]

We brought home an eight-week-old Golden Retriever puppy on Sunday. Cutest puppy on the planet! I REALLY want this dog to go sailing and cruising with us. I'm anticipating problems such as late night and early morning trips to shore in our hard shell dinghy, heeling, up and down the companionway. We already have a PFD for her.I'm intersted to know how others have introduced their dogs to sailing and how they got their dogs comfortable with it.Thanks for your help.Gary WyngardenS/V Wanderlust h37.5

 

[Alex]

Sailing Golden

He used to go sailing with us. Need to build a folding gang plank so he can get into the ding. Too heavy, (>80lb) when dry. Add another 20lb when wet.Use half of the gang plank for the companionway.I have seen a plastic gang plank somewhere. Just can't remember.Sorry he passed away this spring.

 

[John R.]

Our dogs

We have two dogs, one of which is a black lab mix - similar in temperament to the golden retrievers I think. The other is a little hound dog. We take the both of them sailing. The lab is perfectly happy on the boat. Part of the time, he's up looking round as if the boat were one huge car window. The rest of the time, he's just lying around sleeping. He's not bothered if it gets rough and the boat starts heeling. So I think your golden will do just fine on the boat - as long as you have a good dust rag to pick up all her hair. I've been meaning to buy a piece of astro turf and train the dogs to do their business on it and then bungee cord it down on the foredeck for them to use. Also, if you go to petsmart.com, you will find dog ramps and also a boarding ladder for them to climb up when they're swimming. (Our dogs have no problem climbing up and down the ladder in the companionway, though.)Finally, completely apart from boating, I highly, highly recommend the series available on DVD from Cesar Millan called "The Dog Whisperer." His motto is that he rehabilitates dogs and trains people. His take on the relationships between people and dogs is fascinating and I've learned a lot about psychology - both dog and human - from his shows.

 

[Drew13440]

No worries

I've a 20lb. terrier mix - she hates sailing but would rather go than be left behind Retrievers generally love the water - you should have no troubles at all.And as for that Cesar Millan Whisperer guy, I used to watch his shows until someone told me he uses collar-mounted, remote control electric shock to subdue the dogs. If I ever meet him there is going to be a fight - I will beat hell out of him or he will beat hell out of me, but there will be a fight.Dogs rule.

 

[nebo]

Hounds Rule

My 35# hound and his cat had spent so much time hanging out on the boat while I was restoring it they already has their own bunks picked out. When the boat moves, they want to GO! The cat is no problem with his littler box, and the dog will explode before he messes up onboard. As soon as we hit land he sometimes needs the newspaper, or short-stories, or maybe the new Defender catqlogue before he's done, but NEVER on the boat. Not even on the astroturf.I remember somewhere reading about a family that trailed a cargo net for their cats to climb back aboard from the water.Nebo

 

[MoonSailer]

Large Dog Doesn't Work for Us

We have a beautiful Chocolate Lab who is well behaved. "ralph" just doesn't work out on the boat. Lake or Bay sailing he does fine until teh wind picks up and then he slides around. Getting him on and off the boat even at teh dock is an effort. He can't go up and down the companionway ladder without assistence meaning that I pick him up and lift him up and down. He sheds hair and gets bored. We bought him a PFD mostly so that we would have a handle to lift him back aboard if he fell overboard. He did fall overboard once while trying to get off of the boat and he then swam to shore...a little bit hazardous because both sharks and alligators have been seen in Watson's Bayou. I thought that I was going to have to go into the water at first. He swam around the boat several times trying to get back on board. Finally he listened and followed me along the dock to shore. He got a few cuts from oysters growing on the dock.  We really love our dog and consider him a member of the family. BUT when it comes to boating he usually stays at home. WE do take him to a local lake and river so that he can swim. I made him a fetch toy out of an 18" piece of 1.5" plastic pipe with end caps. He will fetch it out of the water as long as my arm lasts throwing it for him. Don't worry we only play fetch in the water where we know there are no gators. The few gators at wheeler lake stay back in the small creeks. When in Florida we only let him swim when the water is cold..the gators stop feeding when the water gets to be about 68 degrees.

 

[MoonSailer]

Dog Overboard How do You Manage

One of the reasons we leave our lab at home is fear for his safety. He can swim really well but we have no good ideal on how to get a 100# dog back on board if he ever fell off the boat. His PFD offers some hope of rescue via a boat hook and then hooking him to a line and winching him aboard. In the lake on a calm day this could work. But out in the ocean with any wave action it would be hard!!!! Even on a lake attaching a line to his PFD without getting into the water myself would be difficult. I don't think that I am strong enough or have a good enough sense of balance to haul him into our 8' Walker Bay dinghy.  In Practice in the ocean we tether him on a short line so that he can't go overboard. He really doesn't like this because he likes to look around and to be able to move out of the sun. He did test our dodger!!!! For whatever reason known only to him he climbed on top of the dodger. He scratched the plastic windows but the dodger was able to support his 100#s.

 

[Capt. Kermie]

Some breeds are better sailors than others

I don't have a dog today, but many years ago I had a beautiful Golden Retriever.Very well behaved, loved children and was also very intelligent and somewhat docile - docile meaning not hyper. This dog knew instinctively to lay low while in the canoe and not move around excessively and knew when it was safe to stand and leap out. Ditto for riding in the back of the pick-up. The Retriever knew to lay flat right at the cab where motion was least while at the same time a Shepard X was standing and constanly sliding around on it's claws. On another occassion my Retriever crossed a very high and intimidating foot passenger suspension bridge with no qualms what so ever while the previous mentioned Shepard X barked and whined at the starting end instinctively afraid to make the first step. Finally the Retriever went back and escorted this Shepard to the half way point at which time he ran ahead to have the Shepard cross the remainder on his own. You had to witness this to believe it. Golden Retrievers are easily one of the more intelligent breeds out there and despite their size make a good boating companion. They are also a marshland game dog by breed which is why they have pseudo webbed feet, feel between their claws and you will discover what I mean, they were bred to traverse boggy wetlands and marshes and make good swimmers. Golden retrievers seem to be instinctively logical and rational and much less hyper than other dogs that don't seem to know when to lay down and keep their weight low. Get your dog on the boat at a young age and it will adapt to boating life very readily.

 

[Rich (P303)]

walk thru transom?

You mentioned an inflateable. I hope you have a walk thru transom! Those little 10lb. dogs with life vests on... are like carrying luggage. Those 60 ponders and up are like struggling with an outboard engine with legs. This is the only instance when small is good!