What Breed Is Your Sailing Dog?

[silver heels]

Recently we lost our Welsh Corgi. She loved to visit and stay on boat, but did not like sailing. We would like to hear the experiences with other breeds. Currently we are considering a Boston Terrier, nimble and smart.
36' boat smaller breeds best.
S/V Silver Heels
Freeport 36

[Colorado Dreamer]

We use a mini-Dachshund, actually a pair of them.

Low center of gravity seems to be a good thing on the boat...plus, with such short legs, they have NEVER tried to jump to the dock.

[JB]

We had a truly tropical beast aboard for 3 years while in the Bahamas and Caribbean - Chili - our chief security officer and best pal. Supposedly Samoyeds don't swim well, but no one told him that! He was a real asset on our Caliber 47LRC, and we miss him immensely. At the tender age of almost 16, he went to the great dog bone in the sky, but after he put about 10,000 cruising miles under his paws!

[Intentional Drifter]

We have a Labradoodle. Ours is a bit big (75 lbs), but you can get them in a smaller version. Advantages: Swims great, appropriately protective, but not aggressive, quite playful and entertaining, doesn't shed (big advantage), doesn't get seasick, loves the water, and very cute (my wife and I have commented that we could rent out to single men, as he's a "chick magnet"). Disadvantages: Be prepared for a "prolonged puppyhood", that's the Lab in him. Ours is now 4 and he's calmed a lot in the last year, but before that he absolutely had to have 4 hard plays a day or he would drive us nuts. In the same vein, he didn't respond well to training until about 18 to 24 months old, but has done quite well, since.

ID

You have to be a bit careful with something like a "laberdoodle" not being a real fixed breed, somethings they DO shed. After all there is no magic that they always get the poodle coat and the lab's love of water. Sometimes the genes mix "backwards".

Most breeders of these "crosses" have no idea of the genetics involved or what they are doing.

You want a real breed of dog like the "laberdoodles" are supposed to be? Get a REAL Portugese Water Dog. About 50 lbs males, 35 to 40 lb females. Smart hard working, but not for everybody--but then no breed is.

[NW Craig]

We have a schipperke. A great boat dog and most excellent watch dog.

Schipperke - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Schipperke Information and Pictures, Schipperkes

[Paul Ouellette]

Our boat is a Beneteau 361 (to swap somday for a B423...) & our K9 crew member is a Miniature Schnauzer called Malibu (as in the rum...)

Here's her page Malibu

M/S's are very smart, don't shed, don't have any doggie odour (hypo-alergenic) & are great watch dogs. Due to her size Malibu is a perfect crew member & we can't imagine being without her when we're aboard.

Mal knows about 120 words & can do most any dog trick (sit, stay, beg, speak, roll over, dance, shake-a-paw, etc...) she was house-trained in only 10 days & we have never had an accident since she learned to ask to go outside.

Here's another very well trained Miniature schnauzer so you can see what they are like

YouTube - Mini's new trick video (Series of Tricks!)

The best thing about this breed (IMHO) is the fact that they tend to talk to you when they want to tell you something...watch this to see what I mean

YouTube - Our miniature Schnauzer trying to tell me something

[waterworldly]

Weiner dogs, three, all miniature.

[Maine Sail]

We have two..

One silver & tan

One black & tan

[isbolick]

You know, I think that size thing doesn't necessarily hold true. We have six dogs. Two good sized German Shepherds, two big mutts, an old hound dog and a rat terrier. The rat terrier seems to 'take up' as much space as the other dogs, oddly enough. The GSD's and the rat terrier are allowed unlimited access to the house, the mutts come in during bad weather or when we just want to let them 'hang out' and the hound dog comes in when I am held at gunpoint by my family. All the big dogs are just happy to be in the house. Even if all of them are in, they will lay quietly out of the way and we hardly notice them. The rat terrier is more like a cat. She wants in. She wants out. She wants to sit with you. She wants you to move so she can sit in your spot. She barks when the wind blows. She wants to sleep under the covers with you. She wants to sleep on the pillow next to your head. We love her, but I swear I think we will have a GSD on the boat. I am way more of a big dog person anyway.


oooh...or maybe a Newfie! They would have a theft deterrent component and they could rescue you if you fell overboard.

[Pblais]

We started last year with our 8 year old male Welsh Corgi. Up to that point we did not travel with him. He does fine even if I really think he would rather not go sailing. He would rather be with us than be left behind and in the end I think all dogs feel this way. He snoozes in the cockpit just as well as he does at home.

He has taken to being a jumper and up to recently his aim was quite good. So we have to keep him tethered all the time or below. He can;'t handle the ladder so it's secure to put him below when at anchor or port. He seems to think he can leap from the boat to the dock with infinite distances.

He seemed to get sick only once but it was not until later at night. We concluded the wild day of rough weather torrential rains and lots of water in the cockpit and he seemed to handle it even if he didn't like it (we did not like it at all). He just lost his appetite and ate dinner slow some 4 hours later, then threw it up. He was fine by morning.

[elf]

Originally Posted by silver heels

Recently we lost our Welsh Corgi. She loved to visit and stay on boat, but did not like sailing. We would like to hear the experiences with other breeds. Currently we are considering a Boston Terrier, nimble and smart.
36' boat smaller breeds best.
S/V Silver Heels
Freeport 36

Boston Terriers are great -- we have a puppy, our second BT. She has only been on our boat once (we didn't have the boat during our first BT's life), and not sailing yet, but she did just fine hanging out on the boat as we did projects. Of course, I was a nervous mommy, but will feel better the next time since we now have a life jacket for her. Here are a couple of photos of her in the cockpit:





We hope to get her out sailing soon, and I'll try to remember to post an update then. Crossing fingers she takes to it well! One downside is she did shed a lot of little black hairs all over our white cockpit and sole. Perhaps a white French Bulldog would have been a better choice, but we aren't trading her.

Sorry about the loss of your Corgi -- it is always very hard to lose a pet.

elf

[Sunspot Baby]

Toby is an Entlebucher. See more about him at Toby's Home Page

George

[scotte]

We have a Jack Russell Terrier. But, let's just say that Terrier comes from terra, and she definitely prefers terra-firma (more varmant holes I suppose). She is not happy when the dock isn't floating along side, and not a good sailing dog overall. We keep hoping she'll figure it out, but so far...

[Tom Spohn]

Our sailor dog is a Bichonaranian--mother is Bichon Frise, father is pomeranian. His ancestors chased rats on tall ships and it must work since I have not seen even one rat on our boat.