Pets

Dogs, Snow and Cruising

~ Kristina Stanley ~ Leave a comment
Farley, Panorama BC

#sailing Does your cruising dog miss home?  I have no idea if mine does. I sometimes wonder if Farley remembers snow. It’s been three years since he’s seen it, but he sure seemed to enjoy it. I’ve gone from removing balls of snow from his fur to removing sand burrs. Neither is much fun.

Farley seems happy on the beach or in the snow.

Farley moved on board when he was 9 months old and had no problem adapting to a boat life. I think the younger a dog is when it makes this transition, the easier it is for the dog. Or . . . Farley is just a really happy dog and doesn’t care where he is.

How did your dog do when it first moved on board?

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Dogs and Dingys

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

#sailing Sometimes your pup needs to need to be tied and sometimes not. Cali is in the foreground, Farley in the back.

When you forget to bring a leash, it’s perfectly acceptable to use the dingy anchor.

Normally Farley isn’t tied, but we’re at Emerald Rock in the Bahamas. The island is covered with little animals that I think they are tree rats – but what do I know.

The wheaten terriers were bread as ratters, so Farley thought he was supposed to chase these little critters. So. . . poor guy actually had to be leashed.

A Dog’s Business While Sailing

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 3 Comments
Farley on his trampoline.

#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.

Cruising and Dog Safety

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments
Farley gets a ride

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.

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Cruising with Dogs

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 1 Comment

My dog who loves to dig is about to change his lifestyle.

This is the time of year I start focussing on the cruising part of my writing lifestyle. Cruising and writing are a great combination and our dog Farley (soft coated wheaten terrier) is a big part of it.

Receiving Farley’s dog permit in the mail from the Bahamian Government signifies the start of our winter cruising preparations. The dog permit allows us to take Farley into the Bahamas on our sailboat. It’s part of the process we go though in the fall.

My goal now is to keep focussed on writing while getting ready for the winter, and I will update the pages on my site for Lagoon 380 and Cruising with Dogs along the way.