Getting the dog back on board when he jumps off....

So I have an awesome golden retriever who loves going on the boat.* I figure it is just a matter of time before he jumps off to chase a stick floating by at anchor.

I have a 35 foot tralwer that is pretty high out of the water.* It is an aft cabin so I could get him on the swim step but it would be impossible to get him up the ladder.* He does have a life jacket with a handle on it, I suppose I could rig a line to it.* But how to get him up?

Anyone have any thoughts?

*

Eric

We keep a harness designed for lifting a dog on Albi whenever we're underway. While he's not as large as a Golden, our plan should Albi fall overboard would be to hook his harness ring with a boathook and haul him back aboard. Should that not prove to be practical from the GB under the circumstances we would launch our swim-step carried dinghy (only takes a few minutes) and go get him that way.

While we don't think Albi would be inclined to jump overboard and our bulwarks are reasonably high to prevent him falling accidentally, anything's possible. So we don't allow Albi out on deck when it's at all rough unless one of us goes with him. And when we do let him out one of us keeps an eye on him.

Albi weighs about 50 pounds and our aft deck is relatively low so we can lift him from the swimstep to the deck quite easily by standing on the swimstep. If your concern is lifting your dog from the swimstep to your sundeck I would suggest using a harness that will support his suspended weight properly. These are available from a number of sources. Unfortunately, I see from your avatar that your boat does not have a mast and boom, which is too bad as they provide a great way to do everything from haul a person aboard in an MOB situation to launch and recover a dinghy to haul a dog aboard. So I'm not sure how you would haul the dog up using the harness unless you have some sort of attach point up above the swim step that you could fasten a ready-made block and tackle arrangement to pull the dog up.

Two of Albi's favorite spots on the boat--- note that we were negligent in not putting his harness on. Bad us.




-- Edited by Marin on Wednesday 14th of December 2011 07:23:51 PM

Yep, he will probably go over the side sooner or later. *Even a life preserver can be of little help if you don't know that he has gone over. *A couple lost their retriever last year on Albemarle Sound. *He went over without their knowledge. *There was a big search. *Other boaters crossing the Sound were alerted. *I think even the Coast Guard from Elizabeth City tried to help. *A couple of weeks or so later his remains washed up on shore near Cooatan Sound. *He had probably died of hyperthermia and exhaustion. *A very sad ending for a good dog.

This was to just caution you to know where that great dog of yours is at all times. *If you have a swim platform, and your dog has a harness, you can get down to the platform and hook a line onto the harness. *Then he can be lifted aboard. *Our small dog has gone over, but his weight is no problem to lift aboard with one hand.

Beautiful dog you have there. *







-- Edited by Moonstruck on Wednesday 14th of December 2011 09:13:38 PM

Moonstruck wrote:
Yep, he will probably go over the side sooner or later. *Even a life preserver can be of little help if you don't know that he has gone over. *A couple lost their retriever last year on Albemarle Sound. *He went over without their knowledge. *There was a big search. *Other boaters crossing the Sound were alerted. *I think even the Coast Guard from Elizabeth City tried to help. *A couple of weeks or so later his remains washed up on shore near Cooatan Sound. *He had probably died of hyperthermia and exhaustion. *A very sad ending for a good dog.



-- Edited by Moonstruck on Wednesday 14th of December 2011 07:33:22 PM

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*Boo...Don....I didn't know the outcome.* I knew about the search. So sad.*

*

We had a golden I would tie a line on her life jacket and pull her up by hand, she was about 80pounds.....ofcourse that was before my back surgery



-- Edited by motion30 on Wednesday 14th of December 2011 10:28:09 PM


-- Edited by motion30 on Wednesday 14th of December 2011 10:28:50 PM

Baggiolini wrote:
So I have an awesome golden retriever who loves going on the boat.* I figure it is just a matter of time before he jumps off to chase a stick floating by at anchor.

I have a 35 foot tralwer that is pretty high out of the water.* It is an aft cabin so I could get him on the swim step but it would be impossible to get him up the ladder.* He does have a life jacket with a handle on it, I suppose I could rig a line to it.* But how to get him up?

Anyone have any thoughts?

*

Eric

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*One way to get him up is to practice with him.* Don't wait until it is needed to try it.* Sit on the swim platform with your legs in the water*and call him over to you.* Once he is there cup*both hands (palms facing you)*behind his ears so that you are cupping his skull. Pull him up between your legs. When his front feet get on the platform (and they will because he is swimming)*pull hard.* He will learn to push his head back on your hands and pop right out of the water.*This is how the dogs are retrieved at a water trial.* They learn it fast.*Be ready to get wet as he shakes.

I see no reason why he can't climb the ladder on to the boat.* My PWD went up and down the ladder on our sail boat and it was fairly steep.*Up is a lot easier.*But in either case with you behind him and teaching him to climb up the ladder he will learn quick enough.

Hope this helps.

Check this out http://www.alphacompservices.com/Boat/Articles/DogLiftArticle.pdf. If you ggogle " dog lift for boat" you will find more ideas.
This is probably not feasible on a boat but maybe something like one of those "invisible fences" a wire strung along the gunnels and a shock collar?? My son has one of those around his yard the dogs soon learn the boundary and you couldn't get them across it with a ribeye. Some folks string webbing or netting between the stanchions to keep pets, and kids, from going overboard.
I hope you never have that problem.
Steve W

Having a rottweiler that launches himself from the boat, at the kids in the rib every time they make a pass our DOB drill is very practiced ! He has a handle on the top of his lifejacket, grabbed and pulled up onto the bathing platform.. By me, as all the others refuse to spend the rest of the day smelling of wet dog. As the victim dog you then find your way to the interior of the boat through an unguarded door and dry yourself on the first bit of soft furnishing.

Marin, your dog if Gorgeous. It sure looks like a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. I have a 10 year old Toller and he is a fantastic dog! Very smart, great dispostion and very loyal. When he is on the boat I always have a life jacket on him with a harness. Fortunatly, he has never jumped or fell off the boat.

This is Puff. The last time she went over I used the dip net.

OK, it looks like we need a thread of boat dog pictures. *I'll move it over there. *Bring your pics along.

Thanks everyone, I've got some good ideas. I love that so many of us have dogs on board!

cpw5 wrote:
It sure looks like a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever.

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He is.* I hate the current breed name, however, so I use the original breed name which is Little River Duck Dog.* We got our first one from a breeder in White Rock, BC in about 1986 and have had this breed ever since.* Albi is our third one.* He is named for the town in south central France where Jean Francoise de La Perouse was from.* Our boat is named after La Perouse and the buildings in Albi-- which we have visited--- are made largely of red brick.* And my father was as French as they come.* So the dog's name is appropriate in several ways.


-- Edited by Marin on Thursday 15th of December 2011 03:51:53 PM

Friends trained their Irish Setter to climb the boarding ladder from the dinghy, up the transom of a C&C 30.

There is a couple I have seen several times at angel island that have a ramp for their dog to get out of the water.* Their transom is just as steep as the PT's but maybe not quite as tall.* I'll see if I can find their set up online and send you a link-- it is plastic and it seems to hook onto the boat at the top and float in the water at the bottom.* They have a big golden and he seems to have no trouble with it.* My inlaws goldens (three) climb the companion way ladder on their sail boat with ease but it is not as steep or as tall as the transom ladder on the PT.

I had bought a doggie ramp with two bib floats...never got to use it the girl friend left and took the dog GAVE IT TO A BUDDIE

motion30 wrote:
I had bought a doggie ramp with two bib floats...never got to use it the girl friend left and took the dog GAVE IT TO A BUDDIE

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*Bet you sure do miss that dog.

Through the transom door you can see where it is stored. Google paws aboard. Works with a 90# Lab!

Boarding of a dog off the swim platform has become a major deciding factor in the style boat we are looking at next and really has resulted in us all but ruling out an aft cabin vessel. Our dog is medium size- I can pick her up like a suitcase from the dinghy since her life jacket has a handle on it. Our decks are only 3 steps up from the swim platform so I typically pick her up suitcase style and hand her to my wife just as the dog gets her feet to the deck level. If it were an aft cabin I don't know how i would do it except hoist her down in a sling from a davit!

I am out of town right now but later I will post a copy of the article by the st. pete times when my 125 lb rottweiler fell overboard on my 281 Chris Craft Catalina on my annual pilgrimage to the keys for 6 weeks of fishing/diving/fun. Granted this was 20 years ago but he was my first dog and my best friend, appropiatley named Mercury (after the motor) he fell over approx noon time after we switched shifts at the helm. It was flat calm and he had been standing on the gunnel next to the helm where I was rubbing his head for hours. After switching shifts I went down below to break out Hibitachi grill to grill some burgers on the back deck and about 30 minutes later I realized he wasn't there begging and I went running around boat in panic looking for him (not many places a 125lb Rot can hide on an old Chris Craft or many other boats for that matter.) He did sometimes go up front and lie down and it was hard to see him but after I realized he fell over in flat seas we marked the spot with a buoy and worked our way back in a straight line (before GPS but we had Loren with shabby reception). We went back 10 miles and came back zig zagging and then circles for 4 hours and exhausted any extra fuel we would of had and had to make decision to continue onto Key West. I honestly fell to my knees in tears once I realized he was gone. I knew he was a strong swimmer and could last for hours in the warm water of the gulf but what a tasty morsel he would present to a Bull Shark so I was just hoping he went fast. After heading to Key West we were cruising at 8-10 knots to conserve fuel and after hitting a storm that slowed us to 4-6 knots and took us 12 hours to make the last 60 miles we finally dropped hooked at 3 or 4 am just off key west little Alligator cut I think it was called on the north side of key west. In the AM I turned on VHF Radio and the Coast guard had been calling me all night oops that was before I knew to monitor emergency channel. The coast guard told me to call home ASAP and my Dog was found (they didn't mention alive or dead). After calling home and finding out that my family thought we had been lost at sea and called coast guard, the dog had been found around 4 pm some 30 miles off Naples. Mercury had swam up to a small family fishing boat and they pulled in him and they said NOT a boat in sight and WE never saw a boat ever while searching so who knows how far he swam or current carried him but he lasted 4 hours at sea. The rescuer called animal shelter number on his tags (which I replaced day the before trip due to the last tag clip rusted off from swimming so much in salt water). The animal shelter called my vet and the vet called my family and they assumed the boat went down in the storm we hit and the only thing that survived was the dog. My dad and my Uncle were on boat so family thought they lost their son/husband and brother in one fell swoop, they were devasted all night until of course when I called in AM.
Dog ended up at Ft Myers Coast Guard station where he quickly became their Mascot for two days before a friend stopped and picked him up on way to keywest where he was meeting us for some fishing. Anyway long story but Happy Ending! Mercury lived another 7 years until 12 years old and he swam almost up to end in our canal out back and finally passed away at about 60lbs a tired old man that loved his master very much...



-- Edited by Otisguy on Wednesday 21st of December 2011 08:15:53 AM


-- Edited by Otisguy on Wednesday 21st of December 2011 08:21:39 AM

We keep a harness on both dogs at all times while on the boat or on the dock.* Our young one likes to fall in quite often or just jump in for no reason so the harness is like a handle and you can yank him out pretty easily from a floaging dock.* In theory*you can use a boat hook to do this from higher up, so this is why we keep the harnesses on.* We tried the doggie PFDs but they just tear or bite them off.

I do have a story that might be helpful.* We were recently in a marina that had a big current, and reeds and other debris would collect on the upstream side of the floating docks.* To a dog, this debris looks like solid ground.* Our young one tried to retrieve a marsh mellow (I'm not making this up) from the pile of reeds that had collected in an upstream facing boat slip and of course fell right in.* He swam for maybe 10 minutes before I noticed he was missing and luckily I found him there.* And boy was he proud of himself!* The locals told us we were lucky an alligator didn't eat him and this has been reinforced by everyone who knows of this place and has heard the story.

What I mean by this is, the docks can be just as dangerous to pets as the boat.* Keep tabs on them at all times.

Attached is a photo of both dogs in their natural habitat, low country SC.


-- Edited by Egregious on Wednesday 21st of December 2011 09:02:02 PM

The first time little Puff went into the water.

I was sitting at the dock popping shrimp heads and tossing them into the water. Puff sat on the gunwale and barked (She is a pom or*little barking dog)*at every shrimp head I tossed past her. Eventually one came close to her and she snapped at it. Right over the side. I couldn't reach her from the deck so I jumped into the dink. ( an inflatable soft bottom zodiac) when I did this the front of the dink went down and the back came up and down right on top of Puff. when she surfaced she was just out of reach I grabbed the dip net and scooped her up. She was a little wet and cold but no worse for wear. She seems a little more cautious when walking the gunwale now.

This is her spot on the dashboard. sort of like a living bobble head.

SD

*

I was part of a near miss rescue of a large (70#+) short haired dog. *He was along with a visiting family and was not wearing so much as a collar went he jumped into the water.*The dog, some sort of lab mix, was relaxed and swimming but could not get out.*We had two adults laying down on the docks looking for any grabhold and it took about 15 minutes to land the tiring dog. *

Please put a harness on your dog at all times.

Penny Lane wrote:
*He was along with a visiting family and was not wearing so much as a collar .....Please put a harness on your dog at all times.

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******** Good advice. If he has, at least, a collar, you can hold his head above water until the "crain" gets there.

Egregious wrote:Attached is a photo of both dogs in their natural habitat, low country SC.

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*Woody,

Are your Boykins from Pat Watts in Leesville*SC?