Another Question For Liveaboard Dog Owners

Mino

Mino

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Even though I grew up with Labradors, I'm thinking about buying a German Shepherd puppy (plenty of room aboard, so no probs in that sense) due to their personality and guarding abilities, but am wondering if it would like being an aquatic mutt.

What are your experiences with various breeds?
 
Interesting question. I've never seen a German Shep on a boat, but from what I know about dogs, provided they go on from a very young age they should be ok.
 
Mino said:
Even though I grew up with Labradors, I'm thinking about buying a German Shepherd puppy (plenty of room aboard, so no probs in that sense) due to their personality and guarding abilities, but am wondering if it would like being an aquatic mutt.

What are your experiences with various breeds?
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Having owned & bred them I think not. For sure they would like the water but they are not a breed that would take to being confined for long periods of time.
 
I have friends who even had a Great Dane on board. They winched him off and on board on to their tender and were absolutely devoted to him.

It worked for them, just.

We deliberated for years as my instincts say that life on a confined boat is not natural for a dog.

We eventually gave in an bought a JRT bitch.

She is marvelous, she took took the life brilliantly and loves the boat and scampers around all over the place. Her favourite spot is lying on the sprayhood where she can survey all around her. She loves the dinghy and going on other peoples boats.

We leave the washboards open at night and she goes and does her stuff on the foredeck when necessary (we have not trained her to do so, she just does it). Clearing up is not a big problem.

Having had this experience we would be reluctant to consider anything bigger.
 
Small is Good :-) We have a very well adjusted Jack Russell who's scheme when we go to sea is to simply go back to bed (gets up with the watch coming on and goes back to bed with the watch going off!)


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We have a german sheppard aboard and it is the only breed that I would take to a boat (but I'm biased, as there has been german sheppards always at home, since I was a child).

My reasoning is, that it's a good learner and if you can train it from puppy of being aboard, you wont have much difficulties with it. Of course that depends a lot on the dog's personality. Our dog destroyed everything at home till it was nearly 2 years old. At that time we thankfully didn't have a boat, otherwise I'm guessing it would have ate our boat too.

Of course it needs a lot of exercise and I wouldn't do several days long sailing trips with it. Overnight sailing, leave in the evening/late afternoon after heavy exercise and arrive to destination in the morning hours is the longest non-stop sailing that we've done with our dog. Usually she sleeps through the night sailing (and much better sleeper than we are).

I haven't reinforced the guarding abilities with our dog. I'm thinking that it's enough of possible thiefs seeing, that we have a german sheppard. Possible thiefs don't know, that our dog would probably kiss them to death :) She's so friendly to people.

But after this dog, I wont be taking another dog. This one has so great personality and quick learner, that I cannot hope to find a better dog after this.

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Kimmo said:
We have a german sheppard aboard and it is the only breed that I would take to a boat (but I'm biased, as there has been german sheppards always at home, since I was a child).

My reasoning is, that it's a good learner and if you can train it from puppy of being aboard, you wont have much difficulties with it. Of course that depends a lot on the dog's personality. Our dog destroyed everything at home till it was nearly 2 years old. At that time we thankfully didn't have a boat, otherwise I'm guessing it would have ate our boat too.

Of course it needs a lot of exercise and I wouldn't do several days long sailing trips with it. Overnight sailing, leave in the evening/late afternoon after heavy exercise and arrive to destination in the morning hours is the longest non-stop sailing that we've done with our dog. Usually she sleeps through the night sailing (and much better sleeper than we are).

I haven't reinforced the guarding abilities with our dog. I'm thinking that it's enough of possible thiefs seeing, that we have a german sheppard. Possible thiefs don't know, that our dog would probably kiss them to death :) She's so friendly to people.

But after this dog, I wont be taking another dog. This one has so great personality and quick learner, that I cannot hope to find a better dog after this.

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Lovely dog. :)
 
Having never seen a GSD on a boat before yesterday but having shared my life with one for some years I would have said that they were not suitable boat dogs.

However we were anchored in Grande Anse d'Arlet Martinique when a 40+ foot cat came passed with a good looking GSD sitting on top of the cabin. Looked like a happy dog to me.
 
GSD's will adapt and be better than most at anything. However the question was on Liveaboard, therefore I still answer NO to a GSD as a boat dog. Too restrictive, confined & boring. However if all you are talking about is day sailing then that is another matter. Getting a heavy dog on & off the boat is yet another consideration. A young fit Shepherd should have no trouble but in a few years as agility wanes you must be prepared to 'lift' a dog that can weigh anything between 35 - 50kg.
 
ZigmundoVanDog said:
GSD's will adapt and be better than most at anything. However the question was on Liveaboard, therefore I still answer NO to a GSD as a boat dog. Too restrictive, confined & boring. However if all you are talking about is day sailing then that is another matter. Getting a heavy dog on & off the boat is yet another consideration. A young fit Shepherd should have no trouble but in a few years as agility wanes you must be prepared to 'lift' a dog that can weigh anything between 35 - 50kg.
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I agree on the fact, that staying inside the boat, can get boring for a GSD and I would think that for any dog for that matter.

We've approached the issue probably a bit similary than with children. You have to "arrange" things to do for the dog. Comparing our current dog to the previous dogs, this seems the most "intelligent" of them all, probably because it learns fast and thus it has to have things to do.

We hide things in the boat for the dog to search (similar thing as in home), stuff pieces of dog candy inside a cardboard boxes, which the dog rips open (loves still to rip open stuff even after being six), let it be on the deck and watch the marina life, which it seems to love, etc. You just have to be imaginative and above all, put some energy into it so that the dog loves being aboard too.

Wouldn't recommend GSD aboard if you are not willing to see the trouble that it works. But the same goes, even if living on land. If you are not willing to train the dog and do stuff with it, then there is bound to be trouble somewhere along the line.

And like said, wouldn't do anything else than coastal cruising with GSD, there's just not a boat big enough to fulfill the need of exercise in a boat sailing non-stop for days end.
 
My dad always had GSDs. The dogs were good on the boat and dad did around Britain with one of them, this was on a 30ft. The dogs went on from being pups and never knew anything different.
 
We have one, if your future one is like ours be prepared to have to leave the comfort of your boat and spend considerable time outside. Wolf produces the smelliest farts known to man and he does so often.
 
Kimmo said:
We have a german sheppard aboard and it is the only breed that I would take to a boat (but I'm biased, as there has been german sheppards always at home, since I was a child).

My reasoning is, that it's a good learner and if you can train it from puppy of being aboard, you wont have much difficulties with it. Of course that depends a lot on the dog's personality. Our dog destroyed everything at home till it was nearly 2 years old. At that time we thankfully didn't have a boat, otherwise I'm guessing it would have ate our boat too.

Of course it needs a lot of exercise and I wouldn't do several days long sailing trips with it. Overnight sailing, leave in the evening/late afternoon after heavy exercise and arrive to destination in the morning hours is the longest non-stop sailing that we've done with our dog. Usually she sleeps through the night sailing (and much better sleeper than we are).

I haven't reinforced the guarding abilities with our dog. I'm thinking that it's enough of possible thiefs seeing, that we have a german sheppard. Possible thiefs don't know, that our dog would probably kiss them to death :) She's so friendly to people.

But after this dog, I wont be taking another dog. This one has so great personality and quick learner, that I cannot hope to find a better dog after this.
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Lovely photos. I shared a house with a German Shepherd for a while which is why I considered one. You're comments confirmed what I had thought.

Noticed that you're in Finland, which is on my list of countries to visit. After reading about the increase of boat related crime in the Mediterranean, what is the situation like there?
 
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Mino said:
Noticed that you're in Finland, which is on my list of countries to visit. After reading about the increase of boat related crime in the Mediterranean, what is the situation like in there?
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Actually we are currently in Mediterranea, in Barcelona. Heading back to home this year.

The boat related crime in Finland is very low in my opinion. It's outboards that get stoled most often. Vandalism is also very low at least during summer months, as most if not all marinas are somewhat guarded and at least the other boaters are around to watch suspicious activities.

Winter months when the boats are on yard is another matter. If the area is not guarded properly, I wouldn't leave anything valuable into the boat. It's just too easy to steal something from the boats, when there's hundreds of boats standing in the snowy and dark yard during winter months. I've also heard of homeless (winos) people squatting in the boats.

But generally speaking, boat related crime or vandalism is not what I would worry in Finland and if such a thing would happen, the police would take it seriously even thought it might be impossible to get stolen things back.

In Finland, nobody hasn't ever stolen anything from us or damaged our boat in anyway. Perhaps we were too blue eyed, as in Barcelona shortly after arriving, someone stole the marina key card from me, while I was in the shower. It doesn't have any other value, other than the 30 euro collateral for the key. After that happened, we now take the key to the shower with us, which feels a bit stupid.
 
Kimmo said:
Actually we are currently in Mediterranea, in Barcelona. Heading back to home this year.

The boat related crime in Finland is very low in my opinion. It's outboards that get stoled most often. Vandalism is also very low at least during summer months, as most if not all marinas are somewhat guarded and at least the other boaters are around to watch suspicious activities.

Winter months when the boats are on yard is another matter. If the area is not guarded properly, I wouldn't leave anything valuable into the boat. It's just too easy to steal something from the boats, when there's hundreds of boats standing in the snowy and dark yard during winter months. I've also heard of homeless (winos) people squatting in the boats.

But generally speaking, boat related crime or vandalism is not what I would worry in Finland and if such a thing would happen, the police would take it seriously even thought it might be impossible to get stolen things back.

In Finland, nobody hasn't ever stolen anything from us or damaged our boat in anyway. Perhaps we were too blue eyed, as in Barcelona shortly after arriving, someone stole the marina key card from me, while I was in the shower. It doesn't have any other value, other than the 30 euro collateral for the key. After that happened, we now take the key to the shower with us, which feels a bit stupid.
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Thanks for the reply. Yup, can imagine that it must feel silly, but that's the price of protecting your things, huh.
 
sailing with 2 weiner dogs

We sail with a pair of weiner dogs (aka - dachshunds)..Great boat dogs and great companions. Their size makes it easy to transfer to the dink and back on board. Having a stern swim platform makes life much less stressful for both man and beasts. However, we are coastal cruisers not ocean crossing types. We have a pee pad aft that takes care of nature's call when not close enough for a dink run.

We have a pair of float coats but they don't quite work with the very short legs. We have a practice once or twice a year and they sort of spiral through the water. I really must catch it on video and share the post. How ever, it keeps their heads above the water. Other than that, if the water becomes choppy, we attach their harness to a stout lanyard of short scope. We don't want them to be washed overboard in the first place.

Opinion: Don't put your dogs in float coats/jackets unless the weather calls for it; you are surrounding their chest with closed cell foam. Dogs need to pant for temp control. Use a harness and leash/lanyard. The dog harness is also a good place for the boat hook to snag should the dog wind up in the water.

Give them water and shade and maybe they won't spend all day in your lap......

Half Moon, on the hard till spring.....
 
Dead Funny.....

Our 'Big' dog isn't happy at all,, on the boat, she just sits downstairs all day, doesn't come out unless I'm taking them for a walk, but the 'little' one's a totally different kettle of fish, so to speak. She loves it to bits....can't explain why except there's a lot of a Terrier in her, amongst others...!

Anyway's, as your all dog lover's, I thought I'd post this Vid clip.....it's the funniest thing you've ever seen.....:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGeKSiCQkPw

Regards.
 
Cariadco said:
Our 'Big' dog isn't happy at all,, on the boat, she just sits downstairs all day, doesn't come out unless I'm taking them for a walk, but the 'little' one's a totally different kettle of fish, so to speak. She loves it to bits....can't explain why except there's a lot of a Terrier in her, amongst others...!

Anyway's, as your all dog lover's, I thought I'd post this Vid clip.....it's the funniest thing you've ever seen.....:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGeKSiCQkPw

Regards.
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Have that on my YT faves list. Being an Akita, mine talks back in Japanese. Can't understand a damn word.
 
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