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Doggie Boat Safety

With our family having lived on a boat for a number of years with our two black Labrador dogs (not to mention the two parrots, hamsters, turtle & tree frogs!), my wife and I feel very qualified to talk about safety aspects of having pets onboard. The first concern of course is the pet going overboard and drowning. This depends on the pet and weather. Water dogs like our labs are no problem in reasonable weather – they swim like fish and it’s hard to keep them out of the water. Our most important device for them is not the doggie lifejacket, but a full body harness instead. Whether they’re intentionally swimming off the back of the swim platform or have accidentally gone over the side, this harness allows us to easily grab the dog and hoist them back onboard. Try that with a regular dog collar. Other breeds don’t swim as well and could have a problem in the water. Doggie lifejackets are great for these dogs, but just like people, they probably don’t need to wear them all the time – use your informed judgment based on your environment and your knowledge of your own dog. In any event the lifting handles and straps that go all the way around the dog on some of these jackets are important so you can easily lift the dog back onboard. Underway we monitor the dogs to ensure they don’t go overboard. This is highly dependant on your type of boat, the weather, and the dog. When in doubt a brightly colored doggie lifejacket would definitely help you spot a “dog overboard” more readily. We keep doggie lifejackets even for our labs – just in case. Docking is a critical time for us with the dogs. They get excited and want to explore just as we’re docking – and heaven forbid that a stray cat is waiting on the pier. If they jump & miss I’m concerned about crushing them between a seawall and the boat, or them getting caught in the props. This would happen just at the time when I’m least able to tend to them, so we most always ensure that the dogs are secured some way as we dock in order to preclude these problems. Fishing with a dog onboard also requires extra vigilance. One of our labs once swallowed a baited hook whole. We had to cut the line and ultimately the vet cut him open to get it out. That earned him the nickname of “Fish-hook Sammy”.

Can you find the hook?

P/C Gregory T. Absten