Cruising with Dogs

[DogsAtC]

Hi Everyone
We have just joined the forum but have been following it for sometime with great interest. Gained heaps of valuable tips and advice. We will be coming from Aus to the US and are hoping to buy our dream cat in coming months and set sail with our 2 dogs German Shepherds. Lots of challenges, heaps of learning and plenty of fun times ahead. Would love to hear from fellow cruisers the pitfalls and tips of sailing with dogs and any issues non dog cruisers have experienced. Also would be interested to hear suggestions on what would be a good cat and size for us traveling with big dogs. There is only the 2 of us but expecting regular guests. We are hoping to eventually sail back to Aus so need something suitable for pacific cruising. Look forward to getting to know you

[Unicorn Dreams]

Welcome Aboard Cruisers Forum

[Pete7]

Hi and welcome to CF.

We sail a mono hull and the one difficult bit is lifting 40kgs of labradoodle from the rear deck into the dinghy or back onto the yacht. What ever you choose a bathing platform and steps would be a real advantage and luckily most of the cats I have seen recently have the stern floats with moulded in steps that a dog could use.

Pete

[SailFastTri]

You can search up plenty of advice about cruising with dogs, but in particular you should look up the regulations about quarantine. You will of course need to carry certificates of health and vaccination, but returning to AU might prove your biggest challenge. Friends bringing a dog to Australia were required to keep their healthy dog in quarantine for 6 months. (That makes for unhappy dogs and unhappy owners.)

Of course your dogs are precious family members, but they might be better off and happier if you can leave them with friends or family they already know while you do your trip.

[tropicalescape]

I met a man that had a white German Shepard that lived on a cat..hair everywhere..when he got to Guam had to do the 120 day quarantine and cost him $10.00 a day..now adays they have some sort of chip that you can have implanted that will get you into Guam anyway,dont know about other places but could be worth a check to see...no rabies on Guam and they want to keep it that way..good luck ..DVC

[James S]

Hey GogsAtC...welcome to the forum.

[webejammin]

Just a story I read : A couple left there boat in an anchorage to go shopping with there big guard dogs on board and a stiff breeze came up and there anchor started dragging towards some rocks. When other sailors tryed to get aboard to help save the boat the dogs would not let them and the boat hit the rocks and sank by the time the owners came back from shopping. No one wants to get dog bit to save even a half million dollar boat

[Cats Eye]

I sail with 3 dogs on my 38' Cat. I have two 40lbs dogs and a small 10lb dog. I have had a dog on board with us since the beginning, 10 years now. We have had 3 dogs almost 3 years. We have traveled into different countries and have had no problems bring the dogs in. It is easier if you train your dogs to do their "business" on deck. There are some countries in the Caribbean I did not want my dogs roaming around at all on shore. With them trained to "go" on the boat took a lot of pressure off of trying to fine a spot for them. We also sometimes sail a few day at a time and a dinghy ride to shore was not going to happen. We keep our dogs inside our cabin when we are in tight anchorages, this way we know they are not barking at dinghies all day while we are not home and driving neighbors crazy.
I did love the security they gave me when we where in countries know for theft.
Downside - there is a lot of hair. But I do not mind picking up the tumble weeds of doggie hair if it means keeping them on the boat.

[Amapola]

Pets are like children, they must be watched carefully when they are on deck. Last summer, a sailing couple lost their beloved dog who fell over while no one was watching. Unless dogs are 'potty trained" to go on the boat, they must be taken ashore a couple of times per day. If you anchor our, this may mean a long dink ride, rain or shine.

[jackiepitts]

Originally Posted by Amapola

Pets are like children, they must be watched carefully when they are on deck. Last summer, a sailing couple lost their beloved dog who fell over while no one was watching. Unless dogs are 'potty trained" to go on the boat, they must be taken ashore a couple of times per day. If you anchor our, this may mean a long dink ride, rain or shine.

All of the above it true, not to mention sometimes dangerous surf landings to get the dogs to shore (we have first hand experience with that).
If you feel you have to get a dog it really is nice to have one small enough to to put on the boat from the dinghy with 1 hand (1 hand for the dog the other for the boat). That would limit most people to under a 15 pound dog I would imagine.

[DogsAtC]

[QUOTE="Pete7"]Hi and welcome to CF.

We sail a mono hull and the one difficult bit is lifting 40kgs of labradoodle from the rear deck into the dinghy or back onto the yacht. What ever you choose a bathing platform and steps would be a real advantage and luckily most of the cats I have seen recently have the stern floats with moulded in steps that a dog could use.



I hear you Pete. Our big boy is 48kgs and our girl is 30kgs. From what I have seen I think they will be wearing a harness which has a handle in the middle of their back, so we can grab them rather than choke them. We will have to look at some sort of hoist system for an emergency. Cheers.

[DogsAtC]

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

You can search up plenty of advice about cruising with dogs, but in particular you should look up the regulations about quarantine. You will of course need to carry certificates of health and vaccination, but returning to AU might prove your biggest challenge. Friends bringing a dog to Australia were required to keep their healthy dog in quarantine for 6 months. (That makes for unhappy dogs and unhappy owners.)

Of course your dogs are precious family members, but they might be better off and happier if you can leave them with friends or family they already know while you do your trip.

Thanks for you suggestions. We are constantly researching as you are so correct they are our family and we couldn't leave them behind. We have no idea how long we will be on this adventure so they have to come with us. We are developing a "passport" for them. Cheers

[DogsAtC]

Originally Posted by tropicalescape

I met a man that had a white German Shepard that lived on a cat..hair everywhere..when he got to Guam had to do the 120 day quarantine and cost him $10.00 a day..now adays they have some sort of chip that you can have implanted that will get you into Guam anyway,dont know about other places but could be worth a check to see...no rabies on Guam and they want to keep it that way..good luck ..DVC

I know the probs with doggy hair. you have it wherever you live. I wonder if the chip was a "Microchip" which our dogs have. It contains all their info and ours. Cheers

[DogsAtC]

Originally Posted by webejammin

Just a story I read : A couple left there boat in an anchorage to go shopping with there big guard dogs on board and a stiff breeze came up and there anchor started dragging towards some rocks. When other sailors tryed to get aboard to help save the boat the dogs would not let them and the boat hit the rocks and sank by the time the owners came back from shopping. No one wants to get dog bit to save even a half million dollar boat

Interesting will keep that in mind. Excuse my ignorance what is "banghead"? cheers

[DogsAtC]

Originally Posted by Cats Eye

I sail with 3 dogs on my 38' Cat. I have two 40lbs dogs and a small 10lb dog. I have had a dog on board with us since the beginning, 10 years now. We have had 3 dogs almost 3 years. We have traveled into different countries and have had no problems bring the dogs in. It is easier if you train your dogs to do their "business" on deck. There are some countries in the Caribbean I did not want my dogs roaming around at all on shore. With them trained to "go" on the boat took a lot of pressure off of trying to fine a spot for them. We also sometimes sail a few day at a time and a dinghy ride to shore was not going to happen. We keep our dogs inside our cabin when we are in tight anchorages, this way we know they are not barking at dinghies all day while we are not home and driving neighbors crazy.
I did love the security they gave me when we where in countries know for theft.
Downside - there is a lot of hair. But I do not mind picking up the tumble weeds of doggie hair if it means keeping them on the boat.

Hi Cats Eye. Thanks for the reassurance. The business issue is interesting but our dogs are trained to go on command so hoping that won't be tooooooooooooo much of a prob. I would be interested to know which countries in the Caribbean you didn't what your furry family to go ashore on. Having a long haired shepherd know what you mean about hair - yuck, still worth it though. I have found a pet section on this forum and there is some great ideas on how to handle this prob. Keep in touch. Cheers