[C320-list] Dog on board

[Koen Bennebroek]

We have a 65 pound yellow lab and she always comes sailing. These are high-energy dogs and they need to get rid of that energy during weekends. Somehow, sailing does it for her. Perhaps it's the excitement, or it may be the fact that she always has to switch sides to sleep on when we tack. 
   
  We used to put a doggie life vest on her while sailing, but it can get pretty warm and we noticed her panting heavily, so now she's leashed on to one of the harness-line rings in the cockpit. She can move about the cockpit, but cannot go overboard. I know there's a certain risk to this, where you wouldn't want her attached to the boat in a calamity, but without being leashed on, she would probably have fallen overboard a couple of times already. When we're at dog, she's can roam around the boat off-leash and wears a life vest.
   
  She tends to (try to) sleep on the lee side unless we pass another boat or Fisherman's Wharf (with all the good smells and excitement).
  
There are a couple of websites that discuss having a dog on board. Most talk about having a piece of turf on board to teach your dog to go potty. We only day-sail, so she gets to go on land.
  Labs are very smart dogs, you can teach them almost anything. I'm sure the dog will be a great sailing companion.
   
  You can find some pics at our website:
  http://www.geocities.com/k_bennebroek/bigcat
   
  Cheers, Koen
   
  PS: one of the disadvantages of labs is they shed, so be prepared for lots of dog hair around the boat! We keep the bottom slide of the companion-way in while sailing and keep the door to the aft cabin closed.
  
Pat Moriarty <patm at psiurethanes.com> wrote:
  Get a smaller dog. I have been taking my dog sailing since he was 8 weeks 
old and has yet to go in the drink. He is a very vicious boatweiler 
(yorkiepoo). At 7 pounds he doesn't take up much space and only eats the 
ends of the sheets. Remember small dog small messes. Now my question. If I 
were in a single handed race and the dog helps pull sheets am I disquilified?

Pat Moriarty #130

At 10:50 AM 1/20/2006, you wrote:
>My wife has been making noise about getting a Labrador puppy this spring 
>and I'm trying to figure out the logistics of cruising the Chesapeake Bay 
>with a dog on board a 320. We have a cruise planned for early July when 
>the dog would be 4 months old, but obviously I'm interested in the longer 
>term more than the immediate difficulties posed by a puppy. Any war 
>stories or advice would be appreciated.
>
>We like to hang on the hook in isolated places rather than stay in marinas 
>when we cruise. Is this feasible with a dog these days? I cruised the 
>Chesapeake with my parents and a medium size dog back in the late 70s but 
>I suspect that many of the places that we went ashore then are developed 
>and/or posted no-trespassing today. Also, that was in a boat with 
>centerboard and shallow draft which let us go where others didn't. The 
>320 has much less range to go up creeks on the Bay, even with wing keel.
>
>Scott Thompson
>Surprise, 653
>
>
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