East Coast Sailing Dogs Onboard

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Mariner69

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We have a neighbour who is in the last stages of a terminal illness. We were asked by the neighbour's daughter if we could look after the dog for a short time whilst he was in hospital and we have. The neighbour has now returned to his house for possibly the last time and his daughter has asked us if we would like to keep the dog for all time.

The dog is a Border Collie, seven years old. He is smart. bright and well trained and very much an alpha male who loves the company of women and tolerates men. He does roll over to me speaking to him. It is 45 years since I have been around dogs. If we had decided to buy a dog the decision would have been made in a logical process but now we have to decide what to do.

We have a Snapdragon 747 with bilge keels and like to sail on the east coast. Other people seem to have dogs on-board. How do they manage with the necessary needs of the dogs? My wife said we could train him to use 'bucket and chuck it' I am still giggling at that image. Is something like a roll up to stow after washing astro-turf piece on the coach roof possible? At this time he will only defecate and urinate in our garden and holds himself outside.

Any advice will be grateful received.
 
We sail with two Brittany Spaniels.

When nature calls:
- For Number Ones they seem to have found a spot on the foredeck where they will happily do their business (but only when motoring or when we are on our mooring - they don't leave the cockpit when we are sailing).
- For Number Twos we take them ashore in the dinghy (once in the morning, once in the evening). This means we are restricted to daysailing when we have the dogs with us - no overnight passages.

One of our dogs has been with us since she was a puppy and she's fine in almost all circumstances - however, she completely loses it once we're out of sight of land. It's all in the mind - even for dogs.
 
We take our Dachshund with us everywhere. He will use the foredeck if he absolutely has to but will wait for his morning or evening walk quite happily. I know he must be OK with it because he's not so bloody discriminating at home :disgust: . His record is 18 hours without a shore visit.

He wanders around the deck and prefers it when we're sailing in a good breeze, he stands on the weather side bulwark with his ears flying high. He's terrific company on board and if I wasn't married he'd have found a wife for me, the ladies do love a dashie. But as for a border collie on a snappy - well rather you than me, they need miles of exercise, are natural top dogs, the snappy isn't huge, collies like to sprawl and they shed big hairs. It would be like having someone else's teenager on board all the time, if you'd be happy to do that then take the collie full time.
 
Hello,
We have an 11 month old Toller. Simular size and temprement to a collie.
We have just got back from a three week trip to the South coast and he was no trouble whatsoever. To date we have not got him to pee any where on the boat even though we have a bathing platform which I thought may be favorite. If anyone tells you that they saw a grown bloke or his eight year old son trying to teach a dog to pee on a bathing platform they are lying!
We always set off with him well walked and we have crossed the Thames estuary and coast hopped across to Brighton no problem from our base at Ipswich Haven.
I have geared us up to do commando style landings from the rib onto a beach just in case he ever shows signs of needing a pee but not had to do it in anger as yet.
In the marina he sits on the deck watching the world go by, to date we have taught him not to leave the confines of the boat deck and go onto the pontoons alone and he has a telescopic lead fixed to the cockpit. He also waits until we have got off the pontoons before he has a pee which is more sociable !
All in all I now enjoy having him on board, we have got home tonight after a few days on board and im blooming sure he is sulking more than me!
All the best, Colin.
 
I sail singlehanded most of the time with a labrador on my 32ft Westerly Fulmar. She was only introduced to sailing last year (she is now 7 years) and seems to enjoy being on the boat.

The biggest problem you will face is if he jumps overboard, how do you get him back. So I insist my dog wears a dog lifejacket with a handle along the back for lifting. You will also need a line reeving boat hook to pass a line through the handle, I have a 3m Robship hook and moor (http://www.rochemarine.co.uk/robship-hook-moor/). They are not cheap, but you will need the reach of 3m to possibly get him back. The line can then be tied to a halyard for easy lifting of a heavy wet dog.

Recently my dog was walking along the pontoon on the lead and saw a large patch of weed on the water. Before I could stop her, she jumped in. She was not wearing her lifejacket and it was difficult to get her back on the pontoon. A pontoon is so much easier than from a yacht, so bear this in mind in your decision about taking the dog over. They can be great fun to have aboard and lots of people just love seeing a dog onboard, but there will be times you decide he should stay ashore. So make sure you have someone who can look after him or check out the local kennels.
 
Concerto said:
I sail singlehanded most of the time with a labrador on my 32ft Westerly Fulmar. She was only introduced to sailing last year (she is now 7 years) and seems to enjoy being on the boat.

The biggest problem you will face is if he jumps overboard, how do you get him back. So I insist my dog wears a dog lifejacket with a handle along the back for lifting. You will also need a line reeving boat hook to pass a line through the handle, I have a 3m Robship hook and moor (http://www.rochemarine.co.uk/robship-hook-moor/). They are not cheap, but you will need the reach of 3m to possibly get him back. The line can then be tied to a halyard for easy lifting of a heavy wet dog.

Recently my dog was walking along the pontoon on the lead and saw a large patch of weed on the water. Before I could stop her, she jumped in. She was not wearing her lifejacket and it was difficult to get her back on the pontoon. A pontoon is so much easier than from a yacht, so bear this in mind in your decision about taking the dog over. They can be great fun to have aboard and lots of people just love seeing a dog onboard, but there will be times you decide he should stay ashore. So make sure you have someone who can look after him or check out the local kennels.
Click to expand...

I echo your views having had one of our previous dogs slip off the coach roof into the river. Without the loop on his life jacket I'm not sure how we would have got him back. As it was, a small pooch on the end of a boat hook was no big deal and much rejoicing ensued once he was back aboard.
 
Many years ago I used to do some serious racing in a very light displacement 24' boat with myself and 2 crew in SE Queensland. Often over a weekend we would have a two day race out and back to some idyllic location. I used to take my Springer Spaniel out for the weekend races. The problem was that we could never get him to sit on the weather rail where we needed him on a beat. He much preferred the cockpit seat on the weather side. It added greatly to the challenge.

I second the life jacket with handle and also recommend a long retracting lead tied to a cleat. I have never had a dog attempt to jump off the boat but my current dog before she went blind used to like jumping off the dinghy on the way out to the boat.

I met some Germans in the Baltic a few years ago and they had trained their Collie to defecate and urinate on the foredeck as they like to make two or three day passages.
 
Thank you all for the advice which is much appreciated.

Jette is now part of our family his owner having died on Sunday morning.

We had decided against having him but one day of tears from SWMBO (who had made the decision) resulted in the position changing.

He is now fully ours, vetted, insured and trying to rule the roost. Its not going to happen!

His old owner and his wife had really trained him well. The daughter is currently giving us a list of the commands so we all understand each other.

The release command appears to be "Good Dog" so praise him for complying and off he goes 'Job Done'.

Thanks again for the advice.
 
Congratulations, a new chapter in your life begins.

Try and find a lifejacket with a mesh underbody, rather than just straps. They are not easy to find, but I did see some for sale new at a recent Kent boat jumble. Also an extending lead using a tape, rather than cord, are also worth having. For a water bowl I can highly recommend the Road Refresher, http://www.roadrefresher.com/, but you can find them cheaper online.

If you expect him to get wet on a regular basis then buy a Doggy Bag http://www.microfibrestore.co.uk/petcare.html to help remove moisture quickly.
 
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