Bouba
Well-known member
Yes... I don’t allow children on my boat, I don’t want the responsibility and I have no children’s size life jackets....but I have three different sized doggy life vests on board
Large Dogs on Medium Sized Boats
- Thread starter jac
- Start date
Chiara’s slave
Well-known member
We’re ok with the kids too, but the labs were brilliant fun, they totally loved it. The undvided attention of 4 adults, water, mud, food and a soft rug. Doggy heaven.
Solostoke
Member
He's banished to the sofa.....
PhillM
Well-known member
So we owned two German shepherds. They very early came on board (twice i think) and then only when in a marina and I was there to do some maintenance. Short answer is don’t take them with you. They are too big, need too much exercise and you won’t like it if they get scared (which can make them “unhappy”).
Love the breed and respect them for what they are.
Love the breed and respect them for what they are.
geem
Well-known member
We have a Patterdale on-board. Done three Atlantic crossings. Only 10kg so shot puttable. She lives in the cockpit with a beanbag. Doesn't come down below when in a warm climate. Keeps the doggy smells at bay but the dog hair seems to get everywhere. She swims everyday so not a smelly dog. We fresh water rinse her so probably the sweetest smelling dog about most of the time. Patterdale are super agile so find life on the boat easy. They adapt to anything and are not a stressy dog. We have had three and all have been pretty bulletproof. They like lots of exercise but we love to run off road so it get us out doing more exercise than we would likely do without a dog. She is small enough to put in a rucksack. We hired a scooter in Cascais last year and she came with us. She rides in the bag on the Brompton bikes. Easy to live with dog but loves to chase stuff. Getting on in years so has calmed down a bit now.
We meet so many people because of the dog. She is a social tool?
We meet so many people because of the dog. She is a social tool?
AntarcticPilot
Well-known member
Have you any idea what kennels cost? For my tiny dogs, at least as much as berthing fees! And the cost goes up with bigger dogs.
Besides, for most dog owners, the dogs are part of the family.
Chiara’s slave
Well-known member
We have cats. Large hairy ones. On the plus side, cat kennels are a bit cheaper. On the minus, I can’t see cats taking to life aboard a Dragonfly 920. German Shepherds would be challenging. Maine Coons 100% impossible. If we get a dog in future, not unlikely, we'd be looking for a hand portable marinised breed.
Frogmogman
Well-known member
.
True, and dogs suffer terribly from separation anxiety. Even if they aren’t comfortable on a boat, they’ll put up with pretty much anything to be with their beloved master.
AntarcticPilot
Well-known member
These are quite good! But you can't have them
Chiara’s slave
Well-known member
I see what you mean. I couldn’t show that to my daughter, she is a total sucker for dogs like that.
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC
Well-known member
Dogs need to be socialised from puppies. We socialised Lily a lot with young children and other dogs. She had no fear of anything and she would go to people to be stroked; she looked puzzled why people were wary of her. She was the friendliest and the laziest dog ever.
AntarcticPilot
Well-known member
Their great feature (besides being readily portable!) is that they both hate getting wet!
Barnacle Bill
Active member
My memory of a big dog on a boat was of a boxer - lovely dog, great character - on a diving boat that went out each day from Oban.
I remember him pacing up and down the deck as the boat came alongside at the end of a long day (about 8 hours at sea), and immediately the lines were attached he leapt ashore, found the nearest vertical object and spent literally 3 minutes peeing against it. I felt really sorry for him.
No doubt there are exceptions (and nice stories above) but generally speaking I don't think dogs and boats really go together except for short trips.
I remember him pacing up and down the deck as the boat came alongside at the end of a long day (about 8 hours at sea), and immediately the lines were attached he leapt ashore, found the nearest vertical object and spent literally 3 minutes peeing against it. I felt really sorry for him.
No doubt there are exceptions (and nice stories above) but generally speaking I don't think dogs and boats really go together except for short trips.
chris-s
Well-known member
Small dogs aren’t much help with spinnaker lines, not sure if larger ones would be much better 
mjcoon
Well-known member
If dogs are colour-blind they may be happier that way...
Whaup367
Active member
My thinking:
Our current dogs are pretty comfortable on the boat, they don't mind clambering about and are disposed to settle down and watch the world go by in the company of their people. I've had dogs in the past that didn't like uneven, unstable footing that wouldn't be happy aboard. IMHO some breeds (eg Portuguese water dogs) are generally likely to be OK on boats others (eg Great Danes) are likely to be extremely stressed by the prospect, let alone the experience. "Dog people" will know that individual dogs have their own character and may not correspond to the expected breed behaviours, so a suck-it-and-see approach is to be anticipated. My suspicion is that a stiff, boat with an easy motion is likely to be more comfortable for most dogs than a form-stable lightweight with quick motion, as they can't grab hold of anything for balance.
What works for us currently (may change over time):
Getting aboard from a pontoon is facilitated by dropping a lifeline using a pelican hook so they can go through; a gate would obviously work too.
From the dinghy, they clamber up using the sponsons on the inflatable and the steps from the swim platform (I guess an open transom would be easier? We don't have one: centre cockpit). Our dogs are not very comfortable clambering down again and still need a bit of support and encouragement. They won't go straight into the water; probably a good thing. I'm not sure how they'd cope with a narrow gunwhale tender, as they push off the wide, buoyant tube to get up onto the boat.
They are OK in the dinghy- it's a fairly substantial hard-floor rib, about 3.1m and they will generally keep still.
I usually take them ashore first thing in the morning and early evening. We very much adjust our choice of overnight locations to accommodate this, using pontoons and selecting anchorages and moorings that make it practical to go ashore. We've found most "places" are set up for this but obviously there are plenty of remote anchorages which would be difficult, lacking beaches, piers, slipways or other shore-access. Guess that's just a trade-off.
They will hop out into the water to swim, if encouraged, but need help to get back in from the water as they have nothing to push off from.
Ours wear "lifejackets" on deck when we're not moored up which are clipped-on using elastic tethers when in motion. This is primarily so they have a harness with a sturdy handle to use to attach them and to help them get up and down the stern steps, the companionway steps and into the dinghy. If one of them fell overboard we would likely need to use this to get them back on board and we have the topping lift set up with a suitable karabiner in an attempt to make this possible. We've tried this out and made it work in controlled conditions but, like pretty much any MOB(DOB?) situation, it's a last resort.
We've also experimented with MOB alarms/trackers for them, so far without great success: we want an automatic AIS-based alarm that alerts us, on the boat, to the problem, NOT anything that would call out the emergency services. Most are not automatic, many that are use auto-inflation of a lifejacket to trigger the alarm. The bluetooth tags we've tried (OLAS) are very prone to false alarms. Would welcome suggestions.
Our current dogs are pretty comfortable on the boat, they don't mind clambering about and are disposed to settle down and watch the world go by in the company of their people. I've had dogs in the past that didn't like uneven, unstable footing that wouldn't be happy aboard. IMHO some breeds (eg Portuguese water dogs) are generally likely to be OK on boats others (eg Great Danes) are likely to be extremely stressed by the prospect, let alone the experience. "Dog people" will know that individual dogs have their own character and may not correspond to the expected breed behaviours, so a suck-it-and-see approach is to be anticipated. My suspicion is that a stiff, boat with an easy motion is likely to be more comfortable for most dogs than a form-stable lightweight with quick motion, as they can't grab hold of anything for balance.
What works for us currently (may change over time):
Getting aboard from a pontoon is facilitated by dropping a lifeline using a pelican hook so they can go through; a gate would obviously work too.
From the dinghy, they clamber up using the sponsons on the inflatable and the steps from the swim platform (I guess an open transom would be easier? We don't have one: centre cockpit). Our dogs are not very comfortable clambering down again and still need a bit of support and encouragement. They won't go straight into the water; probably a good thing. I'm not sure how they'd cope with a narrow gunwhale tender, as they push off the wide, buoyant tube to get up onto the boat.
They are OK in the dinghy- it's a fairly substantial hard-floor rib, about 3.1m and they will generally keep still.
I usually take them ashore first thing in the morning and early evening. We very much adjust our choice of overnight locations to accommodate this, using pontoons and selecting anchorages and moorings that make it practical to go ashore. We've found most "places" are set up for this but obviously there are plenty of remote anchorages which would be difficult, lacking beaches, piers, slipways or other shore-access. Guess that's just a trade-off.
They will hop out into the water to swim, if encouraged, but need help to get back in from the water as they have nothing to push off from.
Ours wear "lifejackets" on deck when we're not moored up which are clipped-on using elastic tethers when in motion. This is primarily so they have a harness with a sturdy handle to use to attach them and to help them get up and down the stern steps, the companionway steps and into the dinghy. If one of them fell overboard we would likely need to use this to get them back on board and we have the topping lift set up with a suitable karabiner in an attempt to make this possible. We've tried this out and made it work in controlled conditions but, like pretty much any MOB(DOB?) situation, it's a last resort.
We've also experimented with MOB alarms/trackers for them, so far without great success: we want an automatic AIS-based alarm that alerts us, on the boat, to the problem, NOT anything that would call out the emergency services. Most are not automatic, many that are use auto-inflation of a lifejacket to trigger the alarm. The bluetooth tags we've tried (OLAS) are very prone to false alarms. Would welcome suggestions.
geem
Well-known member
Our Patterdale is fearless. She rides on the dinghy bow constantly. She has fallen off a few times. In flat water she will stand on the bow at over 20kts. She has learnt that if she sees a wave she is better in the boat so she jumps back down quickly.
She happily jumps down into the dinghy from the yacht on command.
Our 15hp engine has a large planning plate made of grp. Its also a doggy climbing platform. She can climb from the water onto the plate then back into the dinghy. A handy safety aid although she has never fallen off the yacht. The bow of the dinghy now has a canvass bumper that gives her a bit more purchase on the bow. We have tried to dissuade her from riding the bow but she won't have it
She happily jumps down into the dinghy from the yacht on command.
Our 15hp engine has a large planning plate made of grp. Its also a doggy climbing platform. She can climb from the water onto the plate then back into the dinghy. A handy safety aid although she has never fallen off the yacht. The bow of the dinghy now has a canvass bumper that gives her a bit more purchase on the bow. We have tried to dissuade her from riding the bow but she won't have it
yotter
Active member
Nice view:-(
geem
Well-known member
Bullseye
