sailing with dogs update....

[Paul H]

I am pleased to say that my golden retriever did amazingly well on our 10 day trip...there were times when you could see her saying..."you'd better get me to land or else...", but other than that she was great...loved the wind in her face. I even tried diving in while at anchor to see if she would follow...nope! She just stood with paws on the gunwales barking at my stupidity (the water was bloody cold!!!). She's great for a lookout, as she would bark at all of the powerboats and deadheads in the water... Even when it got rough...she had the sense to just lay on the deck in the cockpit. I think that we've found a full time sailing mate!! Thanks for the input...all of you.

 

[John R.]

doggy doo

We've had a sailboat for a little over a year now and have taken our two dogs out in it for half-day sails. I'm curious what you did as far as your dog's "calls of nature". I was thinking of trying to train our dogs to use a kitty litter pan. What did you do for this? Let her just go on the deck and then clean up after her?John R.

 

[Paul H]

John...

Whenever she had to go...we would either pull close to shore and let her swim in...or we would just put her on the dinghy, and row ashore. She's accustomed to holding it for a little longer than most dogs, as she stays at home while my wife and I are at work...we trained her this way; and when we're sailing...it comes in handy.

 

[John R.]

another question

Paul,I have another question: You may have noticed that I posted a question on Porta Botes. I am considering getting one of these for a tender. What do you use - an inflatible or what? If it's an inflatible, is there any problem with punctures? Thanks.JohnPS. As far as calls of nature - we spent the night on our boat the other week, along with our dogs. One of them had to go and left a pile on the foredeck, exactly where we would have wanter him (or her) to do so. Now if I can only get them to use a kitty litter tray, and I can strap it down on the foredeck, then we'll be in business!

 

[RichH]

Astroturf !!!!!

I use a 3x3 sheet of astro-turf on the foredeck. Its not slippery for 'dog paws', has a hole cut into one corner so I can just dump the whole mess overboard tied to a small rope and let it drag along the side until cleaned. For the liquid stuff ... a bucket of water sloshing 'it' overboard cleans that up well.My dog will 'hold it' about 8-10 hours but then if I cant get her to shore in a dinghy ... out comes the astro turf. I usually heave-to when the dog is 'going' on the foredeck. If the weather is rough I will tie the dog's harness into a small lanyard/leash that attaches to my deck jacklines to prevent surprise overboard problems. Dogs are 'air-cooled' so they need to drink a lot of water to keep cool by rapid breathing. I keep a deep bowl of water in the cockpit (and also down below) at all times to let the dog drink at any time to prevent dehydration. If the dog seems to be 'laboring' because of high heat ... she get a shower from the cockpit shower ... me too.

 

[Shippy]

Dogs on board

we just goy back from a two week Chesapeake bay outing with the Dog (Pug) on board. He does quite well. We keep water readily available for him too and deploy the transom shower trick as Rich described. He can go 10-12 hours with no problem. I haven't tried the astro-turf idea yet (mainly because the admiral keeping failing to pick one up) and I deploy the inflatable to run him ashore several times a day. He does very well with the inflateable (to the point we have renamed the inflatable "Tug's Boat" - Tug is the dog's name).

 

[Paul H]

John...our dinghy is an inflatable

and no...we haven't had any trouble with punctures at all. Annie (the dog) jumps right into the bottom of the dinghy, then goes foward and acts like a "figure head" with the wind blowing in her face.I, too, have a piece of astro turf on board tied to a piece of line (like Rich H), but she has yet to use it. I even went so far as to get one of those "pee sticks" and lashed it to the astro turf...she prefers to hold it until she gets to land...and like the others posted here...she will go 10 - 12 hours before she gets her whine on....I was quite surprised how well she took to the boat...she absolutely loves it.

 

[Seattle Scott]

Paul how do you get the dog in and out of dingy

I have a 65 pound lab,no walk thru transom, and an inflatable. I am just not picturing the dog jumping into the dingy or me lifting the dog out and back in the boat. I can see anchoring close to the beach and the dog jumping in and following the dingy 50 yards to shore and the dog getting in the dingy from the beach, just not the last transfer to the boat. Any hints? Loading the dog like cargo with a flotation vest/harness and a halyard seems like trouble/injury in the works.

 

[CharlieCobra]

Scott, not if ya rig a bridle.

Damani's PFD has two handles so you can snatch her out the water or if she was larger, winch her aboard. The PFD is by "Fido".

 

[Paul H]

Scott...I have two ways...

On the back of my dog's PFD, there is a strap handle, I get on the boat first, and reach over and grab the handle and lift her on...My wife didn't like me doing that (she always feared that the handle would break)...I have since taken a 5' piece of 2x8 lumber and cut in half. I put hinges on the back side, and now it just folds up. When she wants to get on board, I disconnect the guard rail to the cockpit, fold out the board, and she walks right on like a gang plank. when she's on...I fold up the board and bungee cord it back in the dinghy. We keep in in the dinghy only, as Annie jumps right in from the boat.The tricky part was teaching her to use it...she hated it at first. A friend of ours is a dog trainer, and she told us to take Annie to a playground, and take her on the slides etc...and get her to trust you first...so she can make sure that you are there if anything happens. We did it...and let me tell you...it worked wonders. One of us will stay in the dinghy, and the other on the cockpit. The one in the cockpit calls her up, and she runs up the board...pretty simple now. Dog's are pretty smart critters...you can teach them just about anything...

 

[John R.]

dog ramps

If you go to www.dogramp.com, you will find all sorts of ramps for dogs, even including one designed to allow a dog to climb up out of the water.As for the question on the dinks - I'm getting the impression that there is some difference of views on the porta botes. I was thinking of getting a ten footer, which I think would not be overly large for our 36' Catalina, even tied up along the life line.john

 

[Seattle Scott]

Charlie and Paul thanks for the responses

Now, about the dog hair issue?

 

[Paul H]

Scott...when you sail with your pooch

you have to sail prepared...so...I carry a small vacuum on board (the dustbuster type). As long as you keep on top of it (I usually give the salon a once over at the end of every day...right after supper) you'll have no problems. You can pick up the vacuums at any big box store relatively inexpensively...but get one with decent power.

 

[John R.]

Hair of the Dog

As far as dog hair on a boat: It's the same as dog hair in your home. If it bothers you a lot, then you shouldn't get a dog. You can clean up all you like, but there will be some hair around, unless you have a poodle or a "labradoodle" (half lab, half poodle) as poodles don't shed.By the way, I went out with a friend and my two dogs today. Basically, while we sail along the shore, the respond like a dog does to an open car window. The boat is like one huge window to them and they love looking out. Once we got out on the open bay, one got a little nervous and the other... simply lay down and went to sleep. This is to say, I had been concerned that these two great sources of enjoyment in my life (our dogs and our sailboat) would not be compatible, but this seems not to be true, at least depending on the dog. I think dogs that aren't naturally water-type dogs don't take to it as well.John

 

[Steve Dion]

it depends on the breed!

Certain breeds of dogs shed a lot more than others. Breeds like poodles, schnauzers, bichon, italian greyhound, bouvier, airedales shed very little (more like humans).No one is going to get rid of their dog because they shed, but you may want to consider one of the "low" shedding breeds if you are a sailor and looking for a sailing buddy.The advantage of many of these low shedding breeds is that they are really not that fond of the water either. Our Standard Schnauzer (Phoebe) will go in the water but it is really not her favorite thing unless we are on the beach. She spends every weekend on the boat and there is no excessive hair. Being that we are both grey I may not be able to tell who's hair is whos.

 

[Tricia]

dealing with dog hair

I have a litlle dirt devil vacuum that has a beater bar or whatever you call it - the revolving cylinder with a brush on it. That helps a lot with getting the hair up. When I don't have access to 120v, I put on a pair of rubber gloves and stroke the cushions, which gathers up the hair and makes it easy to pick up and throw in the trash.

 

[Tim R.]

Lint rollers

Are great cleaning tools for boats. They will pickup most anything including dog hair.Tim R.

 

[48dodge]

Furminator

Prevent the shedding. Pick up a Furminator. I had a greyhound until just recently and used a furminator for the last few months. Worked much better than anything else. It actually looks like the head of a set of electric shears. I found a cheaper version at Bed, Bath and Beyond. The head looks the same, just a different handle. Don't remember the brand of that one, though.

 

[Shippy]

Dog hair

We have a pug that sails with us and man does he shed. We have a rechargeable vac mounted in the V that works great (it has the rotating brush attachment). We also carry a lint roller and when in port we have the dry vac. This year I bought one of the expensive "Furminators". It killed me to pay that much, but they really work. It gets the fur out from the undercoat so when we brush him, we have a pile of fur as big as he is. So, by brushing him regularily, the cordless vac and the lint brush, it isn't too bad.Btw, we were told/read that pugs hate water....well not this one. he likes the boat; he loves the dinghy and is he great to have aboard with us.