Tips for Boat-lovers with dogs

For those of you who love boating with your best furry friend, here's a few helpful tips for next time you set sail with your dog. This article will address some of those frequently encountered concerns involving boating with your dog.

Dogs love to be with their masters and so they naturally want to go boating with you when you take the family out for a day on the lake. But there are certain nuances to think about when you include Fido in your boating activities.

We might as well knock this one out first. Where is your dog going to go to the bathroom when you’re out on the boat? What many boaters do is get artificial turf or newspaper, and then create an area out on the swim platform as a specially designated area for your dog. This is going to sound gross, but bring some urine to spread on the area to give it the right scent so that your dog will know that it’s his bathroom. Female dogs will go on newspaper or pads, but male dogs might require a pole inside of a 3x3 foot box in order to do their business.

Another common concern for boaters is dogs trying to jump off of the boat while pulling up to the dock before it’s tied up and moored. The best way to prevent this is to put a collar and leash on your dog before you start pulling into dock. Don’t fight with the dog by yanking him backward on the leash; just pull the leash slightly to the side when the dog starts to lurch forward and give him a verbal correction.

When the family swims, you need to decide whether or not you want to allow the dog to swim with you and whether or not your dog requires a canine life jacket. If your dog is the type that jumps on you or chases you in the water, you might want to distract him from doing that by engaging in throwing toys to him in the water and requiring him to swim away from you to fetch them and bring them back.
Do you want your dog to help you catch fish while you’re boating? Chances are, he’s going to want to be involved whether you want him to or not. Dogs respond to movement, so when they see you casting out a line, they’re going to want to chase it. You can work on this before boating by training the dog to stay calm response to dry casting a fishing line in your back yard or in the park. Like the docking situation, you might want to keep your dog on a leash while you fish so that he doesn’t get tripped up in the fishing line or knock you overboard.

While on the boat, be sure to keep plenty of fresh drinking water available for your dog. If there’s too much motion on the boat for a water bowl, use a sports bottle to squirt fresh water into your dog’s mouth. Make him drink even if he doesn’t act like he wants to because dogs lose body fluid when they pant and you don’t want them to get dehydrated. Just like with humans, too much sun exposure can cause sun stroke, or heat exhaustion in your pet. Make sure there is a shaded area for your dog and pour water on them or let them jump in the water for a while if they get too hot. Keep in mind too that most boat surfaces like fiberglass can get extremely hot in the sun, so protect your dog’s paw pads.

Information was researched by Victoria Knight and Pet Super Store, a place to find cool products like dog beds for large dogs and dog bark collars.