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Old 07-13-2016, 07:45 PM   #27
Dougcole
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City: Carrabelle, FL
Vessel Name: Morgan
Vessel Model: '05 Mainship 40T
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 2,162
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeffrey S View Post
Every dog can be taught. Actually, it's the owners that need to be taught. We've done it with puppies and with older dogs. We just switched boats. One dog absolutely refused to go in the new area we designated on the new boat. So we backed up, realized the issue, and worked slowly, consistently, and with lots of praise for about a week. Now she happily runs to the new area on the new boat and does her businesses. We're now able to leave doors on the boat open again (you'll understand once you read the technique).

We wrote about the technique 8 years ago. Hundreds of dogs and people have gone through it with fabulous results. The time it doesn't work is when the people give up and stop working the technique.

When we adopted a 9 year old dog, she wouldn't consider going on the boat. It took running through the technique over a couple of weeks. Yes, weeks (that doesn't mean making them hold it - never do that but they can be uncomfortable for a day at a time). Finally, she did it. She died in our pilothouse at 15 loving every minute of the cruising she did over the 6 years (and pee'ing and poop'ing on the boat every day).

Even today at a dock, before the dogs go for a walk off the boat, they go to their spot on the boat to do their businesses. We'll often take them for a walk right after and they surely prefer to go off the boat but they'd rather be comfortable too. It's all about knowing where it's OK to go.

I can't imagine a situation where I'd have to lower a dinghy in bad weather to take a dog to shore. Or how about overnight passages? Or Superstorm Sandy where the dogs didn't get off the boat for 4 days?

Every dog can be taught to do it. You just can't give up. Again, it's not the dog's fault when the owners throw up their hands. It's the people's fault it doesn't work.

The technique:
https://activecaptain.com/articles/dogs/canineCrew.php
Jeff, you have big, shedding dogs like our lab. My question isn't so much about dealing with the poop and pee, but dealing with the dog hair.

Our lab is mixed with a little something else (pit bull, we think) and has much shorter fur than most pure breds. Still though, on a cruise it is a constant battle. Hair gets everywhere, clogs scuppers, covers the decks, sticks to the overheads, heck it even gets on the outside of the hull. We love her and won't stop bringing her, but man....

I give the boat a constant wash down, salt water at anchor, fresh at the dock, at least twice a day. And we vacuum pretty much every day but it still builds up. Much worse than when we are at home.

Any tips?
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