#writetip Did someone say writing was lonely? My advice, get a dog. Cali is visiting our boat, Mattina, for the day while her owners are off kiting. Cali has decided that she’s the one writing my novel. The only problem, she has trouble articulating story ideas.
I’ve made the main salon my writing platform and like to take over the entire table. Well the dogs had a different idea. So where am I supposed to sit?
#sailing Our dogs love the beach. While we’re windsurfing, kiting, kayaking or swimming, the dogs are able to entertain themselves. Farley and Cali have become BFFs. They watch with concern while the gang gets geared up for another windsurfing/kiting session.
There are many uninhabited islands in the Bahamas and this means the dogs spend hour after hour off leash. There’s nowhere for them to disappear to. There’s nothing that can hurt them – well, that’s not quite true.
The sting rays can be a problem for dogs. If your dog is prone to chase them, they are likely to get stung. Not a fun experience.
The dogs keep fit digging, running, swimming and chasing crabs.
#sailing How may people does it take to get a dog on a boat? Apparently four.
Two to swim with the dog, one to lift the dog onto the boat and one to clap encouragement.
I say this in fun, but there are many situations where your dog has to swim.
Here we couldn’t get the boat closer to the beach, so the only way for us to get on board was to swim.
Before you take your dog cruising, make sure it can swim.
Farley doesn’t love it, but he can do it.
#sailing Farley loves to play on the beach. What Wheaten Terrier wouldn’t? He’s spent hours back on the boat sneezing. A little bit of sand up his nose must be really irritating.
He uses the tramp to roll around and get clean.
We love this because it keeps sand out of our main salon. By the time he’s done rolling, he’s fairly sand free.
Who ever said a beach wasn’t a great place to train dogs? #sailing #dogs I certainly have their attention here. You’d think I was holding a piece of steak, but nope, it’s a ball. All three want to be the first to get to it after I throw it.
Farley (the Wheaten Terrier) will chase it and and then sit down beside it.
Jasper (the Spaniel) will pick up the ball, bring it back to me, and then not give it to me.
Calli (the Jack Russel) will run beside the other dogs barking at them.
I think I may need a new training program.
There must be a dog out there that would bring a ball back to me.
#sailing The most frequent question I get about Farley is: Where does he “go” when you are underway?
He’s not allowed out of the cockpit when we are underway. If he has to “go” he stares at me. That’s his way of letting me know.
I tether myself to the boat, Farley gets tethered to me, and then we head to the trampoline on our catamaran.
He’s chosen one corner of the trampoline as his area.
Farley will “go” on command. His command is “pay pay”. When he’s done, we use the wash down pump that is on our deck to clean the area, then I lead him back to the cockpit.
My little hero will go in any kind of weather. Sometimes he gets sprayed by a wave while he’s going, but he’s never deterred.
Should all characters get along? #writetip. Definitely not. But why not spice up a scene by forcing two characters who don’t get along into a situation where they must.
Put their lives in danger. Make them rely on each other. But the whole time, they really can’t stand each other.
Then give a character a life altering decision. Character A must risk their lives to save Character B. Do they do it? Or do they leave the person to die. This will say volumes about your character, and maybe scare your reader at the same time.
Farley playing with the cat made me think about odd pairings and how sometimes life surprises you, but also how fiction should surprise you.
Farley looks how I feel after trying to shop for six months. #sailing The hard part comes after getting back to the boat. After loading the provisions into our dingy, we to lift it onto Mattina.
Then the fun begins. We open all cabinets and storage areas and play the game for figuring out where to store everything.
Farley is left with a corner to sleep in the cockpit. Behind him you can see our cockpit cushions, shoved out of the way, so we can access spots for oil, cleaners, etc.
The question. Why is the dog exhausted when we did all the work?
So who says my wheaten terrier is spoiled? #sailing Here he sits with his high-end pet food, Orijen, waiting patiently to eat.
Today, Farley and I went shopping. This mound will get him through till the spring. He even got to pick his own treat. Of course he chose a Bully Strap. While I loaded the car, he ate his treat in the pet store.
Dog food in the Bahamas can be expensive and the choice limited. I buy the smaller bags to reduce the risk of spoilage. If I lose one bag, that’s okay.
The smaller bags are easier to store on a sailboat. We just have to remember where we store them. After six months, it’s easy to forget.
My lucky dog.
If you plan to cruise with a dog, one thing you might want to consider is your pet’s safety gear.
Farley has his own life jacket, a gift from Chopper’s Pet Supplies in Invermere BC, but doesn’t wear it all the time. He’ll wear it kayaking in rough weather, or if we are kayaking along a rocky shoreline where he couldn’t get ashore himself.
When we are underway, Farley has his own tether and harness. He is not allowed out of the cockpit unless he is tethered to me or the boat. He has a safe spot to curl up when the boat is rocking.
We keep him in a harness instead of a collar when we are underway, so if he gets jarred his neck won’t het hurt. It also makes it easy for us to hoist him onboard if we have to.
Farley has a dog tag for each collar or harness wears. That way we don’t forget to put a tag on. His tags are engraved with his name, our email address, boat name and phone number. If he gets lost, we are easy to find. I’d love to hear about any other safety gear used by cruisers.
Kristina Stanley 