Large Dogs

[Brooksie]

My current dog is 70+ maybe 78 wet. We have always had dogs onboard. To me 1/2 the battle is having a harness on them whenever aboard. I can hoist her up over the side with the handle out of the water or dinghy. So we put this on whenever we are aboard not just when we think she is going in the water.

 

[ranger58sb]

Yep, very good point about the harness. Best has a "suitcase" handle on the top, and sufficient wrapping/padding underneath so as not to break ribs when lifting...

-Chris

 

[Lollygag1]

Our Great Pyr was afraid of the dock and never made it in the boat. We now have a little guy as he is easier to handle on the boat

 

[Dougcole]

Yep, very good point about the harness. Best has a "suitcase" handle on the top, and sufficient wrapping/padding underneath so as not to break ribs when lifting...

-Chris

Good point. We use a life jacket from Ruffwear that satisfies those requirements and floats as well. It’s really well made and has padding under the chest.

 

[backinblue]

Our Great Pyr was afraid of the dock and never made it in the boat. We now have a little guy as he is easier to handle on the boat

What do you have now? We have a new Jack Russel pup so definitely a smaller dog. Getting on/off won't be a problem, I more worry about how she will change our boating. We don't always stay at marinas.

 

[kingthrob]

We just got our first Trawler and have an 80 lb. Golden Doodle. We got an extendable Doggy Ramp on Amazon. To get him onto the boat we just put the ramp into the deck area and lift his front paws onto the ramp from the dock and give him a gentle lift and walks right on, Reverse to get him out..works great. We just started this last week and hopefully he will get more comfortable with it but seems to work fine.

 

[JohnEasley]

We had a 107 pound Lab and faced the same situation. We ended up having custom stairs installed that came off of the factory ladder step, made a 90 degree turn and then descended parallel to the stern down to swim platform level. The stairs were made of 3/4" starboard and the frame was made of welded stainless steel tubing. Easy enough to customize to your own boat. You'll probably wants to put some outdoor carpet or fabric on the stair treads so the pup will feel secure footing.

 

[Chuck in WA]

My 75 lb German Shep gets on/off my "sundeck style" boat by raising/lowering the tender (11' Boston Whaler) with her aboard. Via a Nick Jackson style davit. I have a ramp that I lay down so she can trot between the two boats when the dink is in the "up" position. I'm on a mooring most of the time, but when at a marina she can still (at age 8) jump on and off through the side door with 2 step ladder. That won't be the case much longer at her age, so I'll be looking to build some type of 90* side step for her.