Anyone sail with a large dog

Our dachshunds were pretty good on the whole with one really getting the hang of burying himself amongst the blankets in the quarter berth when things got bumpy or tippy. Given that, perhaps a beanbag bed might help as a place for a big pooch to get comfy and feel secure?
Getting nostalgic seeing a lurcher. We don't get those lovely guys over here...
 
We started slowly and worked him up to a fully fledged sea dog.

First we just brought him down to the boat in harbour and let him chill out.
We identified two safe places for him.
One in the cockpit (under the tiller) and one down below on a qtr berth.
In both places we placed either a blanket he'd used before or his dog bed base.
After a couple of trips down he was very happy and took himself away to "his" place when he wanted.

Next I had to modify the steps in and out of the main cabin so he could manage it himself.
Took a bit of work but it's really helped and has given us more storage in the process.

Then we took him out on day sails and then a few weekends which were essentially days sails from one pontoon to another as far as he was concerned.
This avoided dinghies which we've yet to introduce.

Then he was with us for a biggish trip to London from Southwold but we did it in sections, Southwold>Harwich>Chatham>Limehouse.
Again this is so we could walk him before and after sailing each day.

The great thing about Lurchers is they will blast around madly for 15 minutes and then sleep for four or five hours :)

The one thing we have to really wary about is him overheating, especially in harbour.
So this year he was with us for three weeks sailing in Holland and we had to rig up shade for him almost every day.

The trick with Holland is swmbo brought him over in the car and met me with the boat in Zierikzee. (swmbo was quite keen on crossing this way as well)
We both left pretty much the same time, me in the boat and swmbo and dog in the car and Swmbo was waiting for me to arrive when I got there.
"Been here long?" I asked after the 13hr crossing.
"About 25 minutes" She said.
 
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my advice

take the dog to the boat hungry - feed it on board

I know mine is a labrador and does not care what the heck is going on as long as the food is withing sniffing range

we also take the dog basket with us - it is pain to have around the boat but the bog knows where it can sit and not fall out or slide around

that aside - dogs on boats are pain

they force you to go ashore in the rain in the dinghy when you would rather stay aboard

and as a labrador owner - the hairs, the hairs, the hairs

aaagh!

if she has been on the boat for a day then six weeks later I will still find the odd hair in my tea

I love the dog... but dogs and boats.....bad mix

best thing is to find an easily bribable lanlubbering neighbour

having said that I have seen some pretty successful little dog, big boat combinations.

While stormbound in Plockton this summer there was a bloke there with a big three story mobo

each morning and evening he would don his waterpoofs and with both terriers on leads and wearing life jackets would take them for a walk around the foredeck and then pick up the poo in a plastic bag.

it was a boring three days but I was really glad that the labrador was at home and not on board.

D
 
This is him waiting for me to come home

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It might be that your dog really disliked the RIB/power-boat experience (fast, slammy, noisy, whatever), and has negative associations with all things watery, boaty and pontoon-like as a result.

It takes years of patience, consistency and close, reassuring communication to undo quickly-acquired negative experiences in a dog. (Ours was puppy-farmed in Ireland. He was caged, beaten and finally abandoned by his first owner, then rescued by a family over here who thought dogs should be fed from the table and allowed to sleep on their owner's bed.)

You'll need to take things very slowly and re-assuringly, lots of treats, etc, etc.
 
we have always sailed with dogs, when we have boats obvs. Agree feeding hungry on boat, lots of bribery, stuffed kongs.

as for getting them on and off - get some sort of body thingy - Ruffwear do some that can be used to assist them in getting on and off. We have a dalmation who we used to get on and off our 30 footer on a mid river pile mooring and it can be done.

going to the loo isn't an issue - it's what the foredeck is for - we have a young un now who is happy with a bit of astro.
 
nice to have a positive dog thread on here rather than the usual grumblers who have found somewhere to grumble :). This is the next generation of dog for us - chosen for size, lack of hair distribution - compared to a dalmation he's a doddle

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Years ago, I had a 24ft Listang 1/4 Tonner.

My then-current dog was a Border/Welsh cross Collie reveled in sailing with us (including racing) knowing instinctively when to stay out of the way in a 1/4 berth. When we dinghied ashore, he often preferred to swim alongside.

When he died (@18) I replaced him with what grew to be a 15-stone St Bernard :eek-new: long haired, of course :eek:

Because he had the same colouring - thought he was a Jack Russell & behaved like one. He had no trouble clambering on board - even from a dinghy. He'd sleep on deck/in the cockpit, rain or shine, his snoring vibrating the whole boat. One night I awoke to what sounded like water flooding into the boat, causing some panic. It was Wilhelm cocking his leg against the (deck-stepped) mast. :highly_amused:
 
Its the canal that runs up to Goes, Southern delta in Holland.

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On the ferry trip over Worzel got a nice big cage.

ferry.jpg


And swmbo found a seat next to the cage CCTV screen so she could keep an eye on him

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Paul_S123 said:
OK, my dog Noggins is a big German Shepard......he hates coming out on my power boat. He didn't like...but tolerated it when I had a rib.

How I am going to get him on the Moody 31 is beyond me, I am hoping for some tips here.

Just to set the scene...he hates the marina pontoons...I am often seen carrying this 50 kilo dog down to the boat, with his big dufus ears pinned behind his head. He goes into full Scooby Doo mode and can not be taken down by lead.

Help.......



Here's a few from back when I had a rib



If you have any dog boating pics, please share them.
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different methods for teaching pontoon walking.
1: click and reward and treat the pontoon as an exercise area, not just to go to and from the boat.
2: don't use a lead to drag the dog but get him to follow you because you're the master.
3: find another dog that is comfortable with the pontoon to lead the way. Dogs work in packs. if they see other dogs managing a scary thing, then they soon get over it.

if all of the above fail, then a decent bit of carpet in the bottom of a marina trolley can do the job as a temporary thing until you've had a chance to fully acclimatise the hound with pontoon walking.

you could fashion a ramp on the pontoon up to gunnel level that would assist getting the dog on and off of the boat. Either by his own choice or with assistance from you. It will need to be fastened down to the pontoon, or safely slipped to the boat to be safe to use.

rubber backed carpet is a good way to get dogs to feel safer around the boat. the floor is very slippery for them, mine struggles to walk on the plain interior flooring even when moored, never mind healed over.

for every place you want your dog to move, be prepared to put some securely backed carpet down.
If your dog is amenable, you could try rubber dog shoes to help with the grip.

once a dog is sure footed, then you're happy days all the way.
make sure there is a very secure place for the dog to lay down below for times when you need space in the cockpit to get through some tricky weather. My dog as a crate strapped to the table leg.

a tethered harness rather than life jacket is better around the boat. acts as a way to grab and lift the dog, but also a safer retrieval method too if you need to hook a dog that's gone overboard. try pulling a dog back on board with lifejacket alone. they don't make dog lifejackets very secure for lifting bigger dogs.

my dog hates engine noises even to this day after 10 years of living on a boat.


I do confess though, he is tiny, but with a big heart and even bigger character. (but the same principles apply for big dogs.)

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Sugar Kane said:
different methods for teaching pontoon walking.
1: click and reward and treat the pontoon as an exercise area, not just to go to and from the boat.
2: don't use a lead to drag the dog but get him to follow you because you're the master.
3: find another dog that is comfortable with the pontoon to lead the way. Dogs work in packs. if they see other dogs managing a scary thing, then they soon get over it.
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My dog is also very small, and he has no concerns about walking on pontoons, even expanded metal ones. But everyone I've met with medium to large size dogs says they hate the expanded metal. I think it's to do with bearing pressure on the dog's pads. A small dog is light, so doesn't have too much pressure on its pads, even though it is balancing on a small number of the "ridges" in the pontoon surface. A very large dog can spread the pressure over a large enough area that it isn't uncomfortable; its weight is borne by many of the "ridges". But a medium - large (say Labrador size) dog has few of the "ridges" of the pontoon surface and a relatively high weight on them, so it's uncomfortable. I guess it's the difference between having the sole of a shoe between you and the pontoon surface and kneeling on it!

My (very small) dog has only one fear - he won't climb stairs without risers. I have to carry him up to the harbourmaster's office at Titchmarsh! He'll happily do down the same stairs, so I guess it's because to him it looks as if there's nothing in front of him.
 
It is interesting to read the comments re the pontoons. Once he is on the boat...he's not too frightened, I always associated his apprehension to go down the pontoons as fear of going boating. Perhaps it is more to do with the feeling of the pontoon.

I need to get the guys at Pt Bannatyne to carpet the pontoons ;)
 
Does your Moody have the transom scoop? which does make life a little easier. However, lifting 40kgs of Labradoodle from the wobbly dinghy into the boat is an interesting operation, one day it will end in tears and a big splash.


Angus_zpsvecmcyld.jpg
 
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Pete7 said:
Does your Moody have the transom scoop? which does make life a little easier. However, lifting 40kgs of Labradoodle from the wobbly dinghy into the boat is an interesting operation, one day it will end in tears and a big splash.
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Yes it does
 
You might also consider fitting gates to the guard rails rather than have to lift him over. We find Angus has no problem crawling under them when he wants to get off. Indeed on arriving in Jersey as we tied up he jumped off and ran along the pontoon to be met with by a very large chap in a spotless and heavily starched white shirt and black trousers. He was from Jersey Customs. Angus jumped up and put his paws on the white shirt leaving two paw prints. The customs chap didn't hold back with his advice on what I should do with this wayward dog and the need to do it quickly or we wouldn't be entering Jersey. He eventually left and we thought better of hanging around so slipped the lines and quietly slipped out of the harbour.
 
Pete7 said:
You might also consider fitting gates to the guard rails rather than have to lift him over. We find Angus has no problem crawling under them when he wants to get off. Indeed on arriving in Jersey as we tied up he jumped off and ran along the pontoon to be met with by a very large chap in a spotless and heavily starched white shirt and black trousers. He was from Jersey Customs. Angus jumped up and put his paws on the white shirt leaving two paw prints. The customs chap didn't hold back with his advice on what I should do with this wayward dog and the need to do it quickly or we wouldn't be entering Jersey. He eventually left and we thought better of hanging around so slipped the lines and quietly slipped out of the harbour.
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LOL, that sounds like Noggins, he needs his delicate butt lifted onto the boat, but when we get back to the dock...he can leap over the gunwale in a single bound.
 
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