After our first year sailing with the dog, I wrote a LONG report on it. Since we can't post attachements here, and I don't have this published on our web site, here is the whole thing. Sorry about the length, but you might find it useful.
A SERIOUS LOOK AT TAKING A DOG ON THAT FIRST
CRUISE
We don’t think of ourselves as dog people, but life doesn’t seem complete without that four legged
member of the
family. A dog has always been part of our cruising plan and after years of dreaming and preparation, we finally took that first long
cruise aboard Sunspot Baby, our 38’ Prout
catamaran. Departing in February and returning June, 2004 we cruised from New Bern, NC to the central
Exumas and returned. Toby, our four year old Entlebucher went with us. Knowing how to sail does not mean you know how to cruise. Neophytes afloat we learned a lot about ourselves, our
boat, and our relationship with Toby. This article summarizes our pet related experiences and offers
advice to other new cruisers.
Toby was not
deck trained. There was no doubt in our mind that he would figure it out and we expected a few bad choices on his part. There didn’t seem to be any rush because we planned to go down the
ICW,
anchoring each night and Toby could go ashore morning and evening. He functions pretty well on two sessions a day. Boy, were we naïve. Suitable
anchorages on the
ICW are fewer than we expected, and fewer still are good for landing a dog. Each day we combed the
cruising guides to find an anchorage with good shore access and spent many nights in
marinas simply so we could manage dog duty.
The first time Toby missed a shore visit was on our
passage from
Bimini to New Providence. The second night, He could hold it no longer and we awoke to the sound of running
water in the
cabin. Well, we expected some bad choices at first. Through the remainder of the cruise he would, when desperate, whiz on deck but never rewarded us with #2. We continued to take him ashore as often as reasonable and twice most days when we were near shore.
Size is relative and after owning two Rottwielers, Toby seemed small to us but he comes in at 55 to 60 lbs. He is athletic and eagerly leaps into and from the
dinghy with ease. Some fixed docks at high or low tide were more difficult and we sometimes wished he was of a size that could be handed or carried across easily. Believe me; we got over thinking of him as a small dog.
Intact male dogs, including Toby, are sometimes aggressive toward each other. We never had a real problem but were always careful when meeting other dogs. Many islands had free roaming dogs that came to check him out.
With a short, flat coat, Toby doesn’t look like a dog that would shed much but looks are deceiving. Everyday we cleaned up dog hair. Our
shower discharge became clogged with dog hair and he was seldom in the
head.
Despite our best efforts including sea water sluices with a fresh water rinse, he always brought sand aboard after a trip to the beach. He then distributed it liberally in the
cabin and our berth. Small vacuums lack
power and it is a big job to vacuum up hair and sand in the cabin. We think we maintained our sense of
humor, laughed about changing our names to Harry and Sandy, and joked that our
cockpit had shag carpeting.
We didn’t joke about the possibility of a dog
overboard situation. While making crossings Toby wore a float jacket with a water activated strobe. He was allowed to go without float
gear when we made short hops or were at
anchor. At one anchorage we missed him and found him swimming near the sugar scoop. He probably jumped to the
dinghy and missed. He loves the dink and bounds in given any opportunity.
After that episode, we rigged a tether attached to his harness allowing him access to the
cockpit and surrounding deck but too short for a trip
overboard. He figured it out quickly and only occasionally got the tether tangled in the winches. It was, however, an excellent trip point for the two legged crew. The harness provides a handle to pull him aboard. It sometimes snagged on the life line as he went to or from a
dock, but if he missed a leap he was easy to retrieve.
Entlebuchers are not couch potatoes. They love and require exercise. I don’t mean a walk around the block on a leash. They want to run. If Toby doesn’t get a chance to let it out he goes into what we call Ya Ya Overload. Unless he gets that endorphin fix he is bouncing off the bulkheads and pesters us endlessly letting us know he needs to play. Even if he had been completely deck trained, we had to exercise him and found no good on board option.
We took enough
food for Toby as part of our provisions. Filling valuable stowage space with bags of dog
food could be a problem on some boats. Our fall back plan if we ran out of food was rice boiled with a little meat.
Toby is a good watch dog and takes his job as
head of
security seriously. He has a big bark and an imposing physique. Behind his bluster he is overly friendly and is much more likely to knock you down licking you than to bite. We wished sometimes he wouldn’t announce his position of authority to every one who stopped by the boat, but his presence was a positive deterrent to unwanted visitors.
Toby impacted every facet of cruising. He even affected our float plan in the
Bahamas. We didn’t think he would mix well with iguanas or free roaming pigs so we skipped a couple of islands.
We have both the boat and dog activities pretty well in hand now. We will continue to learn on every voyage, but the curve shouldn’t be as steep. Toby is a good crew
member and will go on our next cruise, but on balance, we would have been wiser to leave him at home the first season. We were
learning to handle a lot of new situations. Stress and exertion were not uncommon. Some days were downright trying and after a hard day on the water a dinghy ride to shore with a dog on ya ya overload was not something to anticipate, especially in a marsh with nothing but muddy banks in view or in choppy waters and big
wind.
In summary, we pass along these opinions. Leave the dog at home the first year. You will have enough on your plate. After the boat drill is second nature, you can better deal with the four legged crew. Of course, if someone told us that before we left, we would have disregarded it. We are attached to Toby and didn’t even consider leaving him behind. I, therefore, offer these other bits of
advice.
When choosing a dog, consider some desirable attributes. A small dog is easier to land and requires less food to stow. All dogs need exercise but a dog that doesn’t require a lot is good. A miniature breed might get enough exercise fetching a toy in the cabin.
A female or neutered male may get along better with new dogs they meet.
A non-shedding breed or mix would be a blessing. Poodles, Schnauzers, and Portuguese Waterdogs are breeds that come to mind but there are others.
Check with your Vet. Make sure the dog is healthy enough to travel. If you go to a country like the
Bahamas you must have a
health certificate anyway. Get your vet to make up a dog first aid kit for you. Our vet was very helpful stocking the kit and also advised us on dog sized doses of human medicines. Hopefully you won’t need it, but be ready. You may be days away from a veterinarian.
Dogs get sea sick too. For years we have given Tums to dogs susceptible to motion sickness. Given before the crossing they
work well and the dog is not as drowsy as if given a small dose of Dramamine. Wrapped in a piece of cheese, Toby wolfs down chewable Tums.
Whether you get a new dog or are taking old reliable Rover, deck train them before you go. We met cruisers with a little box of sod. We tried the fake
grass mat without success but others have made it
work. We tried the scents that are supposed to signal a dog to go there, but Toby thinks they stink and won’t go near them. We met a couple who had a stinky shrimp net their dog used. No amount of pleading would entice them to sell me half of it. Whatever you try, stay with it until you find something that works and teach the dog to go on deck. Take them on the boat and stay afloat until they learn. As long as you take them ashore at all, they will try to wait you out. At least Toby did.
In the ICW,
anchorages near a public launch
ramp give an easy place to go ashore.
Charts of the ICW show the location of most of these.
Cruising guides often did not include the fact that an anchorage is near a
ramp.
If your dog will be in the water, rig a ramp or some other method that the dog can use to get on the boat. Train the dog to use it. Leave the device down while at
anchor so that if the dog falls in, it can self
rescue.
Rig a tether to keep your dog from going overboard accidentally. Get a dog life jacket that fits and use it when appropriate. If the jacket is off, a harness is a better handle than a collar. Remember you could be retrieving your retriever with a boat hook.
The one aspect of our first cruise that was not pretty much what we expected was dealing with our dog. Cruising is wonderful; dogs are great. They go well together but we suggest you break the
learning curve into bite size chunks.
Sunspot Baby
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