Have You Taken Your Dogs On A Boat?

Hayley Thompson

Well-Known Member
This past weekend, we took Riley for her very first boat ride on a speed boat! I was nervous at first, but we swam out to the boat and she stood on the boat, while it was rocking and showed no signs of nervousness so I decided to go ahead with our boating adventure!

We took off and Riley the crazy dog I have, LOVES boating!!!! She was all titantic on the bow, loving the wind in her fur! We went for a long ride, and stopped in a few harbours where she barked at some other dogs on boats, (I think she was saying, my boat is better than your boat ;) ) and we saw lots of seals, to which she also barked, and they looked stunned!!

Overall a great time was had by all and I was pleasantly surprised! I felt so proud everytime we passed a boat and Riley was standing proudly with her front paws up on the bow. It may seem silly, but Riley is so hyper all of the time I feel like she has a bad reputation around our friends and family, but we know she is a beautiful, gentle girl! Everytime we passed a boat I kept thinking, maybe the people on that boat were thinking "What a great dog! We could never take our Fido out on a boat and have them enjoy it like THAT dog!"

I only wish I had a camera to capture the great day!

Have your dogs been out on a boat/Do your dogs enjoy going for boat rides?
 

running_dog

Honored Member
Zac comes kayaking with me sometimes (that's why he's wearing a buoyancy aid in our avatar). My biggest problem is that he likes to ride on the front deck of the kayak which is a bit destabilizing and I can't see where I'm going very well! I also have to be careful when we are walking by the river, when there are canoeists near the edge he's likely to jump in with them if he gets a chance!
 

Hayley Thompson

Well-Known Member
Haha! That is too cute! I want to take Riley canoeing with us sometime too, but I am worried she won't stay still enough and it will just be a constant battle of tipping/climbing in.....
 

Anneke

Honored Member
Cooper came along in a small speedboat twice. But I kept him next to me on the seat, so I could hang on to him, in case he got the idea of jumping out. Since he is so fond of swimming. I didn't have to though, he likes it at first, sits there enjoying the wind, but after a few minutes he will lay down on the floor.
 

Dodge

Well-Known Member
LOL,hubby decided last summer that we should have a paddle boat so we could take the boys and the dog out on the lakes around us . . . he ended up bying two "none sinkable" (sp) boats,I insisted on getting life jackets for everybody(ended up with twelf life jackets for humans,lol,we re a family of four!! And a doggy life jacket of course) oh and to top it of he bought two electric motors so we wouldnt have to paddle . . . . I dont like boats,so I didnt put a foot in either boat . . . Dodge aint fond of water,so he didnt even go close to either boat when it was in the water,he looked rather smashing with his lifejacket on though :whistle::LOL: bloody comical,Dodge wouldnt even go in the boats when they was on dry land,lol!!!

Fab that Riley enjoyed it so much,I bet the people on the other boat was very impressed with your beautiful babe:love::love:(y)
 

Lexy88

Well-Known Member
When I was with my ex we would take our labs on our 17ft boat deep sea fishing. My ex's dog hated it but my Jethro LOVED riding the boat, even in bad weather he'd be hanging over the side and I'd be hanging onto him! He was extremely water oriented though
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
My dog loves our boat, but, his first year with us, he was NOT crazy about the WATER, just the boat, ha ha!!

http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forums/threads/boating-with-dogs.3070/

We have to keep Buddy wet though,
so he doesn't overheat.
Occasionally, we set up a 'towel tent' for Buddy to be under, too.
(we can stay out there all day long).

I also found, since Buddy is not a great swimmer, when we stop at a small island in the middle of our lake with shallow water all around it------------- is a great place for him to learn to get along with other dogs. Buddy can NOT keep up with other dogs in the water, so he is forced to sit and watch the 'normal' dogs all play nicely with each other. (In photos above Buddy is playing with a dog he knows and likes).

but yeah, kind of funny, "Buddy the gangsta" sees other dogs and heads over to yell at them, but, the other dogs sense Buddy is NOT friendly, and Easily avoid Buddy. Buddy can spend hours trying to keep up with other dogs, but, runs out of steam and ends up sitting and calmly watching how 'normal' dogs act, how 'normal' dogs play, and what 'normal' dogs DO! Occasionally, now, Buddy is allowed by the other dogs to join in, too, so long as Buddy is 'nice'. If Buddy acts up, all the other dogs ditch him, and easily outswim Buddy.

We had to keep Buddy in life-vest that first summer, cuz he just could barely swim at all. Now we only use the life vest if we are swimming in water over Buddy's head, so Buddy can float around WITH us in the deeper water.
 

Hayley Thompson

Well-Known Member
It's funny, Riley LOVES the water, and is just starting to catch on that she can actually swim, and that she doesnt need to touch the bottom or leap over waves LOL So when we took the boat in that day I hopped out of the boat into the water (we don't have a dock, we just walk/swim/canoe out to it) and told Grant to pass me Riley, I was planning on him having to literally pass her down to me, but as soon as I was in the water she was jumping in right after me....that is until she realized she had to swim. So I had my hands under her belly and I was going to walk into shore while she swam. The minute she realized she had to swim, she instantly turned around as fast as anything and was ready to get up on the boat again! But we did manage to swim into shore, and she had a blast and boy oh boy was she a good dog that evening and slept the evening away!
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
ha ha, YESSSSSSSS, a tired dog is a good dog!! ha ha!! too cute!

funny, many of the other dogs on that lake can pee while they are IN the water, but, not Buddy, he HAS TO stand on dry land to pee.
the other dogs, you can see them as they stand in shallow water, lift their legs and pee, but, Buddy watches all that being done, but, HE has to have dry land.....sigh.
 

Ripleygirl

Experienced Member
Ripley loves it on our boat, my partner has a 38ft chartered fishing boat, when me and him go down to the marina and she is in the car she gets so excited as soon as we take the turn into the marina and when we let her out the car she is on the boat in a flash all ready as if to say 'come on hurry up we're going to sea!!!' even if we are just going down to check on the boat! When we do take her out she love the wind flapping her ears around and when we catch fish she watches intently over the side as they swim back out of sight. Her tall dosen't stop wagging from the moment she is on the boat till we moor back up when we get back in. She hasn't been off the boat swimming as where we are the tides are massive so most of the time the tide is ripping through so fast that it would be unsafe but she thoroughly enjoys every second of being out on it.
 

rouen

Experienced Member
Dingo went out on a john boat once. He was only 8 months old and thought he could walk on water. :eek:
Poor boy got so cold he had to wear my coat the rest of the trip. O_o
Dasy hasn't been yet though.
 
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