C dawg?

[Cone Bone]

Anyone run the occasional river with a dog in their canoe?

I am planning to get a puppy (that will grow to be a water dog.) I have been wondering how realistic it is to take a dog down class III runs in an open boat. I plan to get another OC soon, and would pick one as large as an Outrage if I thought the canoeing dog idea could work out.

Comments?

[chuck naill]

NRS has PFD's for dogs

[digitalbrat]

I have not paddled with a dog (altho I have also conisdered the possibility). I have two friends who have paddled a lot with their dogs. In both cases the dogs are rather smallish (sort of terrier-type mutts). One of them pointed out that a dog of modest size is less likely to create stability problems if he/she moves around in the boat. It helps if they swim reasonably well but are not excessively fond of jumping in. You really want them to not be frightened or over-excitable, but to prefer staying in the boat with you.

Most of my friends who have large dogs usually end up leaving them on shore when paddling.

Both of the dogs mentioned above were truly beloved companions, with many caring friends in the boating community. I hope you are as fortunate.

[Jim]

I have had a couple of Chesapeake Bay Retrievers. The first was smart. She loved a good paddling trip, but hated whitewater. She would ride in my boat through class 2. For everything else she got spooked, so I would pull over at the top of the rapids and let her out. She would run to the bottom of the rapids and wait for me to play my way down.

The other was hyper, crazy AND dumb. He hated being in the boat, and preferred to swim alongside. He never figured out how to follow on shore, so after a couple of epic swims in rapids he got left home. He would swim anything and he enjoyed it, but he scared me.

I have a friend who used to paddle regularly with a coonhound. The dog would just lean up against his back and both were happy.

The trick is to train the dog into the paddling. Some may never grow into paddling partners (like my second retriever).

Good luck,

Jim

[NEOC Slalom Rules]

I began taking my lab puppy on whitewater jaunts but kept to my rule that I wouldn't take him down anything that I didn't feel he could swim through. Keep in mind that a great surf hole could be a keeper for a dog. (I recommend against life jackets for dogs in whitewater for the reason that the jacket may hold them in a hole they could swim out of without one). Pups around 10 weeks old can acquire fears that are long term and difficult to overcome so don't throw them in a boat and run class 3 at that life stage. Ditto for learning to swim. Keep the experience positive. As a pup, Tully would wander all over the boat. I tried to get him to experience as much on water time as possible to become familiar with balance and to make his time in a canoe a "normal" activity for him. We did hours of flatwater in both a wildwater c1 and marathon c2. I spent a lot of time with him in the ww c1 when the waves were up on the lake. Then when I finally started taking him out in my Dagger Encore, I made sure to get him lots of swimming time in easy rapids so he got the basics of eddy out and swimming in strong current. My first class 3 run with him was down Zoar gap in Massachusetts. He got a bit worried in the middle of the gap and then stuck his chest out like it was old hat after we had finished the best part of it. He couldn't wait to reach the gap on subsequent runs. My advise is to definitely include your dog in your paddling part of life but realize that to make it work best for the dog takes considerable time and effort on your part. You will appreciate the result though.
Pat

[Cone Bone]

Thanks for the responses.