Pet Overboard

[Saillovers]

We saw and interesting item at the Miami International Boat show in regards to pet overboard alarms. We cannot located their card and we our now planning an offshore journey with our inexperienced Jack Russell. Does anyone know about this or similar items?
Thanks

[boasun]

For dogs there are various size life jackets...
For cats a large salmon net for retrievel of one wet spitting kitty.

you might if the animal is trained for it. Attached them to the jackstay. Dogs are easier to train for this then cats are.

[barnakiel]

I think you can snap on a typical MOB that you use yourself. Just get one dongle more. And throw the danbuoy as if you would in any other case. Rules are the same - throw the market, stop the boat, retrieve.

A dog does need a life jacket, but I would definitely have my dog wear one when on deck in heavy weather - or else spray the top with a fluo orange spray.

b.

[endoftheroad]

I'm sure hummingway has something to say about this.

Cover your pet's ears....... he just doesn't understand (not your pet).

[Lowcountry]

I have sailed countless miles with my 14 year-old Jack Russell harnessed and leashed to my helm station. He has enough leash to get up on the cockpit benches and into my lap at the helm, but not enough leash to get outboard of the coamings. I do not move the boat unless he is down below or harnessed and leashed to the helm.

[tager]

My pup stays in the cabin while sailing. She is allowed to come out and socialize when we are at anchor, hove to, drifting on windless seas, etc.

[Leventdelamort]

New Products - autotether.com I use this product by Auto-tether it is called the "Screamer".It sounds a 105 db alarm when one of the sensors is submerged or gets out of range .

[doug86]

New Products - autotether.com

[ericlmccormick]

In addition to having an alarm, you should have a PDF for your pet the same you would for a child. This is especially important if your pet is old or has medical issues that might keep them from swimming for very long.

[starfishy]

I have a Jack Russell as well that is crazy about dolphins to the point of insanity and he runs around the boat like a mad man trying to find them.

When we are cruising the ICW for instance, he is allowed free rein of the boat as long as the conditions warrant it (fairly calm, not a ton of boat traffic, etc.) He also has two years of live aboard experience under his "belt" ,has never fallen overboard while we were underway (he fell over while we were still at anchor in the Bahamas trying to attack one of our anchors but that is an entirely different story!!), we tow our dinghy so we can easily grab him if he did fall over and he is an excellent swimmer so we are not overly zealous about policing him in that situation.

Anytime we are making a passage or in questionable weather, he is lifejacketed in the cockpit and is attached to the binnacle with enough leash to look over the combings but not fall overboard.

We are installing netting this summer to make the side decks safer for him when he is running back and forth but I imagine the passages rule will prevail.

[Kashmir cat]

Originally Posted by Saillovers

We saw and interesting item at the Miami International Boat show in regards to pet overboard alarms. We cannot located their card and we our now planning an offshore journey with our inexperienced Jack Russell. Does anyone know about this or similar items?
Thanks

We lived aboard and sailed with two Jack Russells and a cat for many years. Now we have four whippets. We have several pet overboard safety systems on board:

1. Reflective collars with our boat's description and name on them.

2. "Pool Safety Turtle" electronic pet overboard alarm system. This is an alarm system originally designed for small children and pets around pools. The base unit sounds a VERY loud alarm when one of the sensors hits the water within 100 feet of it. The individual sensors are about 1" BY 1" and easily attach with velcro to a dog's collar (see picture) or to a human's pfd. The sensors are shaped like turtles to get kids to wear them hence the name, "Safety Turtle". The GREAT thing about this alarm system is that it is VERY inexpensive. You can buy a used base unit and a couple sensors easily for less than $100.00 on Ebay. I guess they are so cheap because they are used for a few years and then the kids grow up. Also, when a product is not made exclusively for boaters, it always seems to be cheaper. The one I bought was $60 and looked like it was new, right out of the box. When you think about it, the used units can't be that "used". You can buy as many sensors as you have pets and humans.

The only caveat is, they WILL activate by immersion in salt water (we've tested them) BUT if they remain submerged under salt water they WILL NOT activate the alarm, so they HAVE to be attached on the top of the pets collar (behind the head) or on the shoulder of a human pfd. This way the sensor gets wet with the initial submersing but then pops out of the water due to the swimming of the pet or the flotation of the pfd and activates the alarm. On pet's collar we found it is a good idea to attach brass dog tags to the ring on the collar and the "Safety Turtle" to the other side. Since the "Safety Turtle" sensor weighs almost nothing, the weight of the brass tags always keeps the sensor on top of the dog's neck.

3. Pet pfds when under way.

4. Netting or in our case Textoline panels from the deck to the first life line.

5. "Paws Aboard" pet boarding ladder on one of our transom steps when we are at anchor.

Hope this helps. We loved our sailing Jacks!