[Molesworth]

How do people cater for dogs on voyages? How do they do the sanitation
thing? Do dogs enjoy/hate sailing?

We have a Lab/Basset cross and am wondering how she'll get on on board.

All advice, experiences gratefully received.

Molesworth

[Jeff]

Molesworth wrote:
How do people cater for dogs on voyages? How do they do the sanitation
thing? Do dogs enjoy/hate sailing?

We have a Lab/Basset cross and am wondering how she'll get on on board.

We have a Portuguese Water Dog who loves being on board. Molly
learned to use the trampoline of our catamaran even before she was
housebroken. We had some "Astroturf" that turned out to be
un-necessary. The washdown hose comes in handy.

We added a clip in the middle of the cockpit so we could keep her
aboard during docking, or when the harbor master comes for a visit.
We're expecting that someday she'll hop into a passing dinghy.

The only problem we have is that Porties are "high energy" dogs and
they really want to have a good romp on the beach at least once a day.
If she doesn't get that, she starts to go stir crazy. Fortunately,
the catamaran has enough deck space that she can run around and burn
some energy that way. She's 4 y/o now so she's starting to slow down
a bit, but she would have been impossible on a long passage two years
ago.

http://www.sv-loki.com/Molly_Doodle/molly_doodle.html

[JohnH]

On Sun, 10 Dec 2006 13:49:40 -0500, Jeff wrote:

Molesworth wrote:
How do people cater for dogs on voyages? How do they do the sanitation
thing? Do dogs enjoy/hate sailing?

We have a Lab/Basset cross and am wondering how she'll get on on board.

We have a Portuguese Water Dog who loves being on board. Molly
learned to use the trampoline of our catamaran even before she was
housebroken. We had some "Astroturf" that turned out to be
un-necessary. The washdown hose comes in handy.

We added a clip in the middle of the cockpit so we could keep her
aboard during docking, or when the harbor master comes for a visit.
We're expecting that someday she'll hop into a passing dinghy.

The only problem we have is that Porties are "high energy" dogs and
they really want to have a good romp on the beach at least once a day.
If she doesn't get that, she starts to go stir crazy. Fortunately,
the catamaran has enough deck space that she can run around and burn
some energy that way. She's 4 y/o now so she's starting to slow down
a bit, but she would have been impossible on a long passage two years
ago.

http://www.sv-loki.com/Molly_Doodle/molly_doodle.html

Nice response, and very nice web site!
--
******************************************
***** Have a super day! *****
******************************************

John

[NE Sailboat]

I have sailed with many dogs. Most of them ate and drank everything on
board. They were invited by their better looking girlfriends.

As to sanitation ,, they did smell some.

Do they like sailing? These hounds were happy to get a bowling invite.

Advice; if you aren't doing the better looking girlfriend, leave the dog on
the dock.






=====\
oops,, I just realized you were talking about the four leg kind.

sorry.

//
"Molesworth" wrote in message
...
How do people cater for dogs on voyages? How do they do the sanitation
thing? Do dogs enjoy/hate sailing?

We have a Lab/Basset cross and am wondering how she'll get on on board.

All advice, experiences gratefully received.

Molesworth

[Glenn Ashmore]

How is your PWD holding up health wise? That is my first choice for a boat
dog but my daughter had one and he developed some skin and joint problems at
about 8 years. He lived in an apartment for 10 years but every afternoon
when the door opened he was ready to go even with his hip problems.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

"Jeff" wrote in message
...
Molesworth wrote:
How do people cater for dogs on voyages? How do they do the sanitation
thing? Do dogs enjoy/hate sailing?

We have a Lab/Basset cross and am wondering how she'll get on on board.

We have a Portuguese Water Dog who loves being on board. Molly learned to
use the trampoline of our catamaran even before she was housebroken. We
had some "Astroturf" that turned out to be un-necessary. The washdown hose
comes in handy.

We added a clip in the middle of the cockpit so we could keep her aboard
during docking, or when the harbor master comes for a visit. We're
expecting that someday she'll hop into a passing dinghy.

The only problem we have is that Porties are "high energy" dogs and they
really want to have a good romp on the beach at least once a day. If she
doesn't get that, she starts to go stir crazy. Fortunately, the catamaran
has enough deck space that she can run around and burn some energy that
way. She's 4 y/o now so she's starting to slow down a bit, but she would
have been impossible on a long passage two years ago.

http://www.sv-loki.com/Molly_Doodle/molly_doodle.html

[Jeff]

Glenn Ashmore wrote:
How is your PWD holding up health wise? That is my first choice for a boat
dog but my daughter had one and he developed some skin and joint problems at
about 8 years. He lived in an apartment for 10 years but every afternoon
when the door opened he was ready to go even with his hip problems.


No problems at all so far, and we really don't expect any (knock on
wood). Prior to getting her we checked out the health of her blood
lines, including genetic tests for the several inbreeding problems
they've had. Porties have had problems, but the breeders got together
and volunteered for genetic studies that mapped out the problems.
Don't even considered a breeder that doesn't offer these reports.

I'd be curious if your daughter had this sort of info when she got hers.

[Glenn Ashmore]

I don't believe she did. It was a local litter bred by a friend. He was a
good and very intelligent dog but he was in pain the last few years.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

"Jeff" wrote in message
. ..
Glenn Ashmore wrote:
How is your PWD holding up health wise? That is my first choice for a
boat dog but my daughter had one and he developed some skin and joint
problems at about 8 years. He lived in an apartment for 10 years but
every afternoon when the door opened he was ready to go even with his hip
problems.


No problems at all so far, and we really don't expect any (knock on wood).
Prior to getting her we checked out the health of her blood lines,
including genetic tests for the several inbreeding problems they've had.
Porties have had problems, but the breeders got together and volunteered
for genetic studies that mapped out the problems. Don't even considered a
breeder that doesn't offer these reports.

I'd be curious if your daughter had this sort of info when she got hers.

[Chuck Gould]

Molesworth wrote:
How do people cater for dogs on voyages? How do they do the sanitation
thing? Do dogs enjoy/hate sailing?

We have a Lab/Basset cross and am wondering how she'll get on on board.

All advice, experiences gratefully received.

Molesworth

I recently met a woman who is quite the expert on cruising with dogs.

Jessica Stone has sailed many thousands of miles with her dog (Kip
McSnip), including across the Pacific. Her three seminars at our recent
boat show were the best attended sessions at the show, (the local
association has signed her up to do a total of six seminars at the next
show in January). She gave me an advance (proof) copy of her
forthcoming book, and while I'm not a dog owner the information in the
book appears to be very useful and insightful. (We will be running a
book review, written by one of our freelance writers who cruises with a
dog and can better evaluate the merits of the advice.)

Some of the proceeds from her book are earmarked for a local "no-kill"
animal shelter.

Additional information available at:

http://www.doggyondeck.com/

[Larry]

Molesworth wrote in news:ukmole-
:

We have a Lab/Basset cross and am wondering how she'll get on on board.



As you already HAVE a dog, and it's too late, just try it. Some love
boats and you have to drag them ashore. Some hate boats and will drag
YOU ashore at the earliest convenience.

As you have a female, you'll only have to stop at every 5th power post in
the pouring rain while she "senses" the post for a mate. Male dog owners
are not so lucky having to wait until the post is properly "watered" on
their way to the dog walk area.

Every time there's a nasty day...rain, snow, wind, etc....don your foul
weather gear and haul a bucket on a lanyard up the dock to the dog walk
area. Stop at every 5th power post and dock box to let the bucket sniff.
Sit the bucket next to the doggie cleaning scoop stand and stand there in
the pouring rain for 10 minutes waiting for the bucket to take a crap in
just the right spot. At the end of the 10 minutes, take a dump bag and
clean up one of the piles already left there from some other dog owner.
Put it in the dumpster before dragging your bucket back down the dock to
the boat, stopping at every 5th power post and dock box in your path for
more sniffing.

Do it, again, in 4-6 hours, whenever the bucket looks like it's gotta
"go". Resist the idea, that has inevitably crossed your mind, about
kicking the whining bucket in the drink and watching it sink when noone
is watching, like during those "special trips" at 3AM.

That should break you of this insane idea in a day or two.

Don't forget to sleep with the bucket, either. You know damned well SHE
doesn't sleep on the floor at home. She'll be scared to death when the
deck creaks under her feet every time a wave tilts it under her.

Stow the bucket and sleep until 10AM on day 3 to simulate how wonderful
it is to sleep it off on a quiet boat without the damned bucket whining
and wagging to "go" at O-dark-30 in the pouring rain.

See? Which is better??

One less pain in the ass to worry about falling overboard in a squall,
too!

[Varis]

Larry wrote:

Don't forget to sleep with the bucket, either. You know damned well SHE
doesn't sleep on the floor at home. She'll be scared to death when the
deck creaks under her feet every time a wave tilts it under her.

One lass I know has found out that turning on the radio can calm down
her saluki pretty much. A multi-story concrete building has enough
noises of its own to scare a dog senseless during the hours that she is
at work, meeting potential mates or doing some other suspicious
business that dog owners do when they are not attending their pride..
But it seems that the radio either masks the noises or provides an
environment with comforting human sounds.

So there are differences between breeds of dogs? Salukis are quite
timid dogs so there would be a few hurdles to clear before starting.
For starters she'd be scared of the people at the marina... when her
owner took a swim, she would stand in the water knee-deep, "whimpering
helplessly for her owner to come back". I suppose you should start
stepwise with a 'difficult' dog like this: eg. first walking trips to
the marina/piers, then visiting the boat while it's docked, then short
trips... you get the idea. I suppose even salukis would enjoy the sun
and fresh winds if they could stride around a largish, stable boat over
and over.

Risto