OK!
Lets see them photos!
Who has pets aboard? How do you handle that dreaded issue we all deal with . . . . . . POTTY BREAKS! What other issues do you have? How do you manage the issues?
I'll start.
First I must admit. We never properly acclimated our beloved German Shepard to boating. She eventually passed without ever spending a night aboard. Of that I am very ashamed. That is the owners fault. Not hers. That will NEVER happen again.
OK, back to happiness . . . . . .
We have a 1.5 year old Corgi named Mina! That is short for Wilhelmina a name picked by our daughter. That was Draculas wife! Well, As a respectible Captain I refused to stand at my front door in my nighty yelling "Wilhelmina" ( 3 octives higher than my normal voice ) to retrieve a Corgi after having a German Shepard so the option to my daughter was shorten it to Willy or Mina or change it.
So, Mina, is crate trained! Crate training a dog is fantastic! Smaller dogs tend to like the comfort and safe feeling. It also provides trainging for a dog to not pee all night! They learn bladder control! YEAH! THAT is good! We also hange bells off our back door knob. Mina will ring the bells when she needs to go outside! We always use key words. Outside, potty, cookie, etc etc.
So, our first few day trips Mina refused to potty aboard. We thought for SURE she'd explode! We had small, green, outdoor carpet squares on the swim platform with bits of her urin to help her understand where to go. She REFUSED to pee aboard. She'd pee on a dock, driveway, grass, almost anything but aboard. Well, you'd think that was good but we leave shore for days at a time and she MUST learn to "go". One day we were sailing along and Mina started pacing the cockpit. Hmm, she had to go. It was obvious. Suddlenly my lights came on. "Hey Mina, do you need to go . . . . .OUTSIDE?" man her ears were up so FAST and her eyes literally lit up because she knew I understood her need! It was amazing! I walked her to the bow of Destiny, let her circle once or twice and she promptly peed on the bow! YEAH! I know sounds discusting however consider the alternatives!!! We carry a 5 gallon pail with a 10 foot rope tied to the handle and large holes cut half way up. I toss the pail over, fill half way with water and simply rinse the deck! NICE! The holes keep the pail from completely filling and becoming to heavy to manage!
So now, Mina will hold out as long as possible when aboard and strongly prefers to "go" ashore however when that is not an option she seems to know it and simply wanders to the bow on her own!
She has taken nicely to Lady Jo also however I do not have the netting on Lady Jo's life lines like Destiny. Mina will not go forward without those. So the netting is in Lady Jo's future.
Here is our sweetie!
MINA!
Your turn! Stories and pictures please!
We are by nature dog lovers but I'm very interested in any pets aboard and how you manage!!!
Scott
