1st December

Yep, when he and the kids were younger I would throw the lot of them off the boat and make them swim to shore, good swimmers all. The kids had to swim back , Baz got a ride in the dingy looking like the proverbial drowned rat.

Good times.

Funny!* My golden retriever liked to race the kids from one end of the pool to the other chasing a tennis ball.*

She'd stand at the shallow end with front paws on the edge of the pool decking watching me and the girls would position in a similar fashion with their hands on the edge.* I'd say 1-2-3-go and throw the ball to the deep end and it was race on!!

She'd win about 50% of the time when the kids were under under 10.

Good times!

Cheers to Baz!* Cheers to Maggie!


-- Edited by FlyWright on Sunday 25th of March 2012 10:53:12 AM

Andy,
Sorry to hear of Baz`s demise, 14.5 yrs is a good innings but still a bereavement. "Bloat" is stomach torsion, the stomach twists, like a strangulated bowel. Unless treated quickly death from severe pain/shock/necrosis follows. We`ve seen it twice (in different dogs); first time saw it early (awful to watch) and got help, second time was while boarding in kennels who were quick to spot it and get vet help. Fix is major surgery to "untwist"(provided necrosis due to stopped blood flow has not begun),and stitching the stomach to the inner abdomen to prevent recurrence($3000 approx). Very nasty, common in deep chested dogs,and anxious ones.
Life goes on,we met "Indi", a cross greyhound//basenji on board Steve`s Markline 1100, at the Basin at Pit****er last week. Holly,our Shepherd-Kelpie cross hates kennels(escapes,hunger strikes,finally the stomach torsion) so we had a dog-sitter live in. BruceK

No idea why Pitt water (join the 2 words), got censored. Wonder what will happen this time?


-- Edited by BruceK on Sunday 25th of March 2012 09:30:09 PM

Thanks Bruce, the vet took us through it all, told us at his age, Baz was not likely to survive and if he did would probably develop some nasty complications, couldn't do that to him.14.5 is a good age for a OES.House seems very quiet though.

Re Pit****er ,the auto censor always takes it out. My theory is that the really good cruising areas must be kept secret, a salty world wide conspiracy!

Do you ever take Holly on board?


-- Edited by Andy G on Sunday 25th of March 2012 11:24:40 PM

We lost our 18 yr old Jack Russel last year. He'd had a stroke in my wife's arms and rushed him to the Vet. He loved the boat and more importantly loved the ride over to Hunts Inlet. Where I might add in his youth he climbed a tree chasing squirrels. My wife "rescued" a cute little puppy ,from a life in a glass box in a pet store. Our new little addition thought she would take a short cut around the dock and fell in. She looked like a "drowned rat"! Had to warm her up in sink as the water temp was about 38o F , Pleased to say she STILL loves the dock and the boat.

Cheers to all of the canine crew that have passed and are in a peaceful anchorage in the sky.

Hi Andy, we feel for you,you did the only thing possible. A dog can be a real family member.I`ve held too many paws at the end, each one stays in memory, but it gets easier with time. Steve at P/water (another try) was given Indi by his kids when he asked for grandchildren! He brought her onboard when visiting for fear of separation barking (howling actually);she was most welcome.

Holly was about 7 when we went back to boating,a bit old,and big, to take aboard so we didn`t, I regret not doing it. We got her age 4 from Paws&Hooves as a rescue,she is now over 12, unusually fit due to the cross breeding ("hybrid vitality"),looks like a slightly smaller Shepherd.Years back I did obedience training with the German Shepherd League,both as handler and instructor, at French`s Forest.

all the best,

BruceK

I took Baz to dog training at the age of 9 months, he (we) failed the course. Trying to make light of our less than stella performance, I said to the lady running the course(a real Maggie Thatcher type) Oh well Baz wasn't the sharpest knife in the block, still we love him.

She looked me straight in the eye and said 'on the contrary, Old English Sheep dogs are very intelligent, it's the owners we have trouble with!(Game, set and match, thank you linesmen, thank you ball boys)

The really intelligent OES dog never bothered with classes again.

We had a toy poodle called Sophie, who lived to 19 yrs. She was so intelligent, she refused to do un-lady-like stuff like chase thrown balls or sticks. She would just look at you with an expression which said..."think I'm dumb enough to run and fetch that? If I do...you'll just chuck it away again...go get it yourself." She did not particularly like the boat, but would go under sufferance just to keep us happy. Mind you, that was back in our yachting days, and the heeling made her slide around a bit - I think she would have loved Lotus.