Best dog for boat

[capnsensible]

A friend of ours has lived on board his contessa 32 for quite a few years with his Spanish Water Dog. It's like having the ends of five mops tied together. Hardly ever barks, well chilled, women love him. He is called Eric and is famous in our marina!

 

[Fr J Hackett]

A friend of ours has lived on board his contessa 32 for quite a few years with his Spanish Water Dog. It's like having the ends of five mops tied together. Hardly ever barks, well chilled, women love him. He is called Eric and is famous in our marina!

Dog or Skipper?

 

[capnsensible]

Dog or Skipper?

Eric is the dog. The human who accompanies him is called Angel. ?

That's actually a fairly common Spanish forename. Angel is from the Spanish enclave of Melilla and mangles his language like Geordies do to English. Our conversations are often quite long but don't say much....?

 

[bromleybysea]

This is Bosun. He’s a jackapoo- a cross between a JRT and poodle. He loves being on the boat, uses a square of AstroTurf for his ablutions, and didn’t need long walks every day. Our previous dog, a JRT, hated being on the boat. Some dogs just don’t take to it but it must help if you introduce it as a puppy.

 

[Koeketiene]

Also worth mentioning: get them used to the boat when they are young.

One of ours dogs has been with us since she was a puppy. She feels right at home on the boat.
The other one is a rescue. She was nearly 6 when she set paw aboard for the first time. To this day it's like watching 'Bambi on Ice'.

 

[C08]

Some important points about dogs on board. Anything small enough to put under your arm to climb a ladder in harbour or lift out of a dinghy onto deck. Very woolly dogs look cute but require a lot of grooming and are terrible to clean if the dog gets muddy, on the other hand a dog that does not shed hairs all over the boat is a bonus. All our dogs (5) have loved being on the boat and we loved having them there. We used a piece of artificial grass on the foredeck which most of our dogs, but not all adapted to quite well.

 

[Deleted member 478]

The best dog for a boat is actually a cat. The best boats are also cats - as the saying goes: If it's not a cat, it's a dog.

 

[dulls]

Chatting to a friend last night about dogs and boats.

She's got a wire fox terrier, which seems reasonably compact and well mannered for a terrier: not at all aggressive and yappy.

I've never owned a dog, more a cat person.

But my son would love one, so anyone got any thoughts on good breeds for boat life.

Something that could put up with passages, with a bit of astroturf to poop on.

Anything under 30 feet you need a St Bernard. About the size of the main sale bag on a 40 footer and can be pushed into the fore cabin. Also they are rescue dogs so might be good in an emergency. On second reading pf my post i find it is not funny. Just wait i may do a better one.

 

[ashtead]

Consider borrowing one from the dogs trust and try her out on the boat. Some dogs take to it very easily and some just hate it. It would be a terrible thing to find out that the dog that you have hates your boating life.

Sadly Clarissa and her crew at Dogs Trust are very choosy about rehoming location and I suspect a marine environment doesn’t pass their tests so probably not a good idea. They are currently overwhelmed by demand and with new hounds hitting 3k you can see why a yachtsman might not be regarded as a suitable adoptor

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

Get one of these

this is Lilly the friendly Rottweiler

 

[dulls]

Get one of these
View attachment 96759

The one on the left should be avoided at all costs on a boat. They need far more attention until you can get them to steer a compass course.

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

The one on the left should be avoided at all costs on a boat. They need far more attention until you can get them to steer a compass course.

I Totally agree

 

[dulls]

I Totally agree

Then scrubbing the decks. My Dad was RM and landing craft and ran his boat and us like we were stokers. Deck scrubbing every morning and by the age of 6 or 7 we could do an hour on the helm and steer a course. I think i liked it but am not sure.

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

Lab cross. 7 months, loves boats.

 

[greeny]

Get one of these
View attachment 96759
this is Lilly the friendly Rottweiler

Is the dog big or the child small? Can't seem to get the perspective right.

 

[NotBirdseye]

Is the dog big or the child small? Can't seem to get the perspective right.

Yep.

 

[davidpbo]

We got Monty a Patterdale/Border terrier cross from Lochgilpead whilst sailing in 2008. He tolearates the boat but doesn't like tippy sailing. Doesn't bark, doesn't pee on pontoons, loves children, with a lanyard and me behind him managed to climb a 12ft vertical ladder or of a fishing dog.

He has been a great companion but we rarely sail for more than 5 or 6 hours at a stretch and less when back on Windermere. We also like walking, and on this trip around the Clyde have stayed two nights in one place and had a day off the boat on several occasions (Loch Goilhead, Head of Loch Long and the Burnt Isles so far) so he gets to do what he likes as well.

It maybe depends on what type of sailing you do.

 

[Catalina36]

We have three and sail with them but only short distances whereas previously we did two-three weeks West Country/cross Channel. A dog will always try to please but that's not the same thing as really enjoying it. FWIW my advice is not to try to mix dogs and boats. The dogs won't thank you and you'll end up doing far less sailing than you used to do rather than make life hard for them.

 

[greeny]

Yep.

Did you mean to say Yap?

 

[Porthandbuoy]

Something small, doesn’t shed hair, doesn’t eat much, and consequently doesn’ t leave a lot of poop to pick up.