Dog on board - dos and don'ts please

prv said:
How recent is that information? As of a month or two ago, I read that they no longer did. There's a guy with a small campaign to get them to reconsider - he used to send the missus on the ferry with the dog while he sailed the boat across, and he says that the other routes allowing dogs with foot passengers are too far for him to sail the boat on his own.

Pete
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Just asked him, apologies as is old information, he found that out when battling with Condor ferries to get me and pooch from St.Marlow back to the UK. As soon as I left Brest he and crew sailed towards Plymouth so I was well and truly stuck, happy days!!
 
Stooriefit said:
Thoughts very welcome.

Thanks
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Dont do it. Been there and had the T shirt. Its not good for you, the dog, your boat or your temper. Just imagine a day pi55ing with rain. You are on a mooring and the dog wants a pee. Into the dinghy by which time both of you are wet and you are grumpy. Off ashore - dog leaps out of tender onto muddy foreshore. Dog does his business - you pick it up still warm and squidgy then toddle off half a mile to find a bin . You get back into the boat with a wet dog which by now stinks and is covered in foreshore mud. Get back to the boat and you lift the dog back on board covering yourself with some of the dogs mud in the going. The dog shakes off the muddy water as dogs do - but no one told it not to do that in the cabin. You give way to temptation and give the dog a nudge in the peculiars with your boot, spotted instantly by SWMBO who threatens to tell the RSPCA and makes perfectly clear to you that a/ the dog is preferred to you and b/ if you were thinking of anything tonight, forget it. You go down below to find the wet dog curled up on your bunk.

I love dogs but both swmbo and I agree - we wont get another until we swallow the anchor.
 
We have a Westie who was introduced to sailing when he was 7. He loves being on board. Doesn't jump in and is fine either in the inflatable dinghy or wandering down the pontoon. We tend not to go for long sails and he has us trained that he needs 4 walks a day. These are fitted in around the sailing plain.

He's 12 now and he won't last for ever. When he goes, sailing won't be the same.
 
When I was a boy, we had two miniature Dachshunds, both bitches. They went sailing from the day after we got them, so they grew up accustomed to boats.

Toilet training - I don't recall it ever being a problem, but we day sailed, and made sure they had plenty of chance to "go" ashore. I think they used a newspaper otherwise! But they were house-trained using a sheet of newspaper as the "right" place when puppies, so I guess that's what they were used to.

Underway - they could be relied on to find the warmest and most comfortable spot and stick to it. Usually under a quarter berth next to the engine space; they liked to be in a confined space where they couldn't roll far. They slept most of the time when we were under-way.

We had a variety of tenders, including an Avon, a Metzler "Inca", a SportYak, as well as others. Some had rigid floors; others were just plain rubber. I don't recall them having a problem in any of them. Dogs' claws aren't sharp like cats', so there isn't really any chance of them damaging an inflatable.

I don't recall that they could manage the companionway, but my memory is a bit vague. They were small dogs anyway, and could easily be carried, even up iron ladders in harbours!

Dog life-jackets hadn't been invented in those days; they did end up in the water a few times when they wriggled at the wrong moment when passing from ship to shore. They can swim! It's probably a good idea to ensure their lead or collar has a weak link, though - we nearly hanged one of them when she fell and her lead caught up!

Probably not a general thing, but ours had a strong aversion to getting muddy; I have a wonderful memory of one of them perched with all four feet on a brick on a muddy foreshore - that's quite a trick for a dog with short legs and a long back!

I'd agree with those who suggest bitches are a good idea.
 
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Our dogs were 3 and 2 years old when we got the boat. Over the course of the first season, they learned to walk down the pontoon, to jump in and out of the dinghy, and to get up and down the companionway. The mere mention of the word 'boat' in the house sends them into an excited frenzy- I don't know what they get out of it, but they love it.
Re: toileting, we've found they treat the boat as if it were the car or the house, i.e. they will wait until they get off. We've tried everything to persuade them that the foredeck is an acceptable place to go. But even on a 28hr trip back from Orkney they held it (is that some sort of world record?)

Top tip- get a cockpit tent. Then the dog can get as wet as it likes and it can stay up there all evening.

By the way, what does the forum think of the need, or not, to pick up dog poo from below the high water mark? My thinking is that if it's a quiet enough place, and if I'm happy to discharge my sea toilet straight into the same water, then there's no point whatsoever in picking up poo from the shore. In a busy place, or above the tide line, obviously a different story.
 
Mavanier said:
By the way, what does the forum think of the need, or not, to pick up dog poo from below the high water mark?
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Depends on the place. Where people are enjoying the beach as a beach, then definitely leave it clean. Whereas I'd find it not just unnecessary but positively bizarre to pick up turds from a remote and deserted shingly foreshore. That's for public parks, pavements, and other well-trafficked man-made places. Outside those, nature has poo in it.

(I'm not a dog owner, so this is not some attempt to justify any laziness on my part!)

Pete
 
we have a 4 year old staffie cross who came to boating from a rescue centre at the age of 2/3. I agree
with Mavanier that she treats the boat as she does the house and car, she will hold onto anything untill
she gets a walk. Started out with short trips duration couple of hours and then across Lyme Bay 9 hours
and she held it all until arrival in Dartmouth, even then she wasn't desperate. Also agree that they are hard work and take some looking after but the benefits outway any downside.
 
Get a dog that is shotputtable! You need to be able to launch it from the dinghy to the boat.
We have Patterdale terriers that are very agile. Can't get them to poo or wee onboard. Record is 36 hours at sea....
We have a wooden box built into bottom of saloon table. Dogs take refuge in it when boat is leaning. Don't get a big dog. Little dogs will fit in with you. Big dog will take over yer boat.
 
Stooriefit said:
Thinking about acquiring a dog - probably a bad idea - but wondered about folks experience of havings dogs onboard. Things that occurred to me are:

- what type of dinghy is best - I have an old Avon with the 'spongy' hypalon floor. Do I need to think about a solid floor - wood / aluminium / inflatable?

- what if you can't get ashore - astroturf, disinfectant and sponge!?

- how do you keep the dog in one place - or can you keep the dog in one place? In rough weather I was thinking that the saloon floor beside the table is probably best as this is enclosed by the seating and would have least motion.

- is netting of the guardrails a good idea?

Thoughts very welcome.

Thanks
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We are liveaboards and have a bedlington terrier, but prior to that had a jack russell. I would recommend either of these breeds as they are small and easy to get in and out of a dinghy and on and off boats. The advantage of a bedlington is that they do not shed hair. Our dog likes to be with us in the cockpit under the sprayhood on her bed when sailing, but we always keep her clipped on by her harness and she has several life jackets. One tip we were given, if the going gets rough, is to make a hammock for her, but not out of netting, as their legs could poke through, and sling it in the centre of the cockpit, although we have not done this yet. She has pee'd on the boat on a small mat, but can manage 36 hours without a wee. Our dog is a valid crew member and adds to our enjoyment of sailing.
http://moonshineofmersea.wordpress.com/
 
geem said:
Get a dog that is shotputtable! You need to be able to launch it from the dinghy to the boat.
We have Patterdale terriers that are very agile. Can't get them to poo or wee onboard. Record is 36 hours at sea....
We have a wooden box built into bottom of saloon table. Dogs take refuge in it when boat is leaning. Don't get a big dog. Little dogs will fit in with you. Big dog will take over yer boat.
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Well it may just be lack of judgement on my part (and the fact that the dog came first), but we seem to do OK with a large (28kg) retriever cross, on a 27ft boat. Low freeboard is definitely useful for some things!
 
we have a collie that weighs in at circa 20 kgs. She is learning the opes this season as a five year old as we have just taken her over from an old man who could no longer look after her.

doggie lifejacket overheats her but is usefull for lifting her into dinghy. Her bed lives under the saloon table when under way and she gets cross legged after about 5 or 6 hours.

We have aimed for pontoons wherever possible as a result.



She seems happy enough though and steals a corner of the seat to curl up when she can get away with it
 
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We sail with 3 dogs all introduced to boating by 12 weeks old and all still get excited when we turn up at the marina - the oldest is coming up 12.

They behave on the boat the same as they do at home. They stay below when we are underway and admittedly we don't use the dinghy often, preferring marina berths ourselves, but they have all been taken to and fro in the dinghy no trouble.

One of the bitches will go to the toilet on deck at a push but the other bitch and dog won't - the record despite being let out on a mid river pontoon is 17 hours. Forget about astro turf - the dog will know it's not real grass.

They find their own place on the boat and if you are chilled they will be too. When we first stated sailing with a dog, it was unusual to encounter another one. Now they are everywhere - even on motorboats...
 
One thing that hasn't been mentioned are puppy training pads - they might provide "relief" for a mutt on a passage. It may be more successful than a guy my Dad knew who tried to get his dog to pee against the mast whilst on the way to IOM....
 
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