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Greyhounds and boating


Windfola

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Has anyone here lived on board a narrowboat with a greyhound or large lurcher? My greyhound is elderly, very tall and has no experience of boats. I need to assess how well he may adapt to life afloat, in particular cabin steps, getting on and off the deck, ramps and so on. He is too heavy for my to lift and he panics if he thinks he is going to slip (for example he freezes on laminates and does the splits because the floor is such a long way down).

 

So I'll need to check out non slip surfaces and shallower gradients as part of any boat specifications.

 

Anyone else had to do this for a large, cowardly dog of little brain? How did it work out?

 

I haven't tried to put him on board yet, but would prefer to make any adaptations first, if possible. Can you buy dog life-jackets?

Edited by Windfola
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I had a greyhound on board for 12 months. No problem at all apart from his legs got in the way and he kept getting trodden on.

 

He too was (typical greyhound really) a coward and a bit nervous of getting on and off but he did get used to it.

 

On the whole he enjoyed it and seemed really happy. I mean let's be honest, all they do is sleep.

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We have 3 greyhounds, have the odd bit of excitement but generally things work well. I am going to write all I can think of but actually it is all pretty minor stuff which I suspect you would do anyway!

 

Blue (sadly died last year) was on our boat when we got our boat and he was only a few days out from Battersea at the time, he did really really well on the boat so 6 months later we got Lou and more recently Lynx who are both really good. The latest addition - jelly boy Ty well that is a story but he is seriously scared of everything and is a work in progress. His first weekend was when we went tidal to the Royal Docks and he was seriously scared. Since then he has had odd days but generally went to my mothers so not been on the boat so much. As we are now out of central London we will see how he copes this weekend

 

Things we have done:

 

Our boat was built with our old arthiritic Lurcher, Indie, in mind though sadly she never saw the boat. That means that we have relatively shallow rear steps and what is basically an enclosed cruiser stern. Easier to keep the dogs in but to be honest they are very good. As we tend to cruise quite extensively at weekends it is very stimulating for them and they then sleep most of the following Monday. If we are out all week they are really quiet for at least 2 days when we get back.

 

You need to have some sort of deck mat as on a hot day the surface gets too hot for them. We have Tesco door mats on the back which we had to staple together as a few times Lou did impossibly long jumps off the back deck and lost a bit of propulsion as the mat went flying backwards so she ended up having a swim.

 

You need steps at the back not a ships ladder. We stapled carpet tiles to the steps as otherwise the dogs found them a bit slippery. The front steps have no carpet tiles and are a little steeper so they tend to prefer the back which works better for us.

 

If you go somewhere like the River Weaver then beware of their plastic decking on the pontoons - they are extremely slippery so dog very much controlled and on a lead.

 

We try to avoid moorings where we need a plank but have had no accidents when we have had a plank out.

 

Jelly boy Ty has a harness as it is easier to control him and should, he fall in, then we will be able to lift him out easily. Yes you can get lifejackets - I would suggest going to a good chandlery and trying them on. I think we have the Baltic ones, one size down from the biggest but we only put them on when we venture into tidal waters. If you leave a message on our blog then Sue will get back to you with the exact life jacket model.

 

We have small (half) sheepskins for carrying into a pub as ours will not lie down on a hard floor. Actually that is no longer true as Lynx and Ty will lie down on a hard floor, Lou still looks at you as if you were mad but is all so much easier if you can put a sheepskin down and they just settle and wait for their sausages to arrive.

 

Loads of photos of them in various places on our blog: http://indigodream.wordpress.com

 

Also plenty of other greyhounds around eg Greygal now has 7!!!!, her blog is here: http://www.dogsontour.blogspot.com/ but she only blogs erratically nowadays. We had 2 slightly older guest greyhounds on board a few weekends ago and they were fine (though one mistook duckweed for a solid surface, one of Greygal's dogs, Miffy, has also done the same near Commercial Road Lock, you never have a camera ready when these things happen).

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On the whole he enjoyed it and seemed really happy. I mean let's be honest, all they do is sleep.

True!

 

I think it's a shame that rescue centres are full of sight hounds because people are afraid of the exercise they mistakenly think they need.

 

Tommy's idea of exercise was one sprint round a field, at lightning speed, then 23 hours of sleep.

 

Now he's 15 it is a slow hobble to the end of the garden, do his business, hobble back...then 23 hours sleep.

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True!

 

I think it's a shame that rescue centres are full of sight hounds because people are afraid of the exercise they mistakenly think they need.

 

Tommy's idea of exercise was one sprint round a field, at lightning speed, then 23 hours of sleep.

 

Now he's 15 it is a slow hobble to the end of the garden, do his business, hobble back...then 23 hours sleep.

 

but 15 is a grand age, well done.

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I have a whippet who is tall so bordering on a greyhound. He was 11 when I took him on a boat for the first time, he is fine, apart from occasionally being in the way, he doesn't cope well with going backwards so in the narrow sections we have a bit of a tussle till he can find an area to wind (sometimes in both senses of the word!) I have carpet throughout and wide steps out to the stern, he mostly leaps then in one graceful movement even now he is 12.

 

He does get a bit stressed when we cruise but I have a door that closes to the stern, very important as most whippets/greyhounds seem to like standing just behind you, and then they scream when they get trodden on! So I don't let Jack out at all when Im steering.

 

Yes they really don't need much exercise, Jack loves to sprint on soft sand because he has delicate feet but then is exhausted for the rest of the day.

 

I too have various beds for hard surfaces when we visit and I always end up sounding like some neurotic dog owner when I explain he needs softness and coats in the winter.

 

Wonderful dogs to train, they do what you say right from the off and behave perfectly in company making you look like the best dog trainer ever rolleyes.gif

 

not good with children though, children often nip their soft skins or handle thin ears a bit too roughly....

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He's not done bad, considering the near misses he's had.

 

I know he hasn't got long left but, as he was found, 12 years ago, hanging from a tree, nearly beaten to death, he can't complain.

 

Even more impressive. Stay well Tommy.

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Has anyone here lived on board a narrowboat with a greyhound or large lurcher?

 

We had a greyhound-deerhound bitch and a (nice but dim) greyhound-wolfhound dog concurrently on our working boats. They generally ran free on the towpath alongside the boats when we were on the move, i.e. most days. Unfortunately I suspect this may not meet with general approval in today’s “keep dogs on a lead” ethos. They did not like water - they would even walk around a puddle - but had no fear of the canal as such and only slipped in a couple of times.

 

The most important commands were “over the lock” and “on the boat” - we had to use the latter even to get them into the car if we were going somewhere by road. If they started off along on the offside as we left a lock they would very trustingly return and cross the lock to get back on the towpath if told to.

 

They had a phenomenal sense of direction and would frequently disappear for ages, only for us to see them peering over a bridge parapet to locate us as they heard the sound of the engine.

 

We did have to be careful if we were near sheep. They were generally very obedient, but only to about 2-3 boat’s lengths away. After that you could see them look at each other and play deaf to whatever we were telling them to do.

 

Our son also had a brilliant lurcher dog, and most of UCC’s crews had them as well. There is certainly no serious problem keeping them on board even with the small cabins on a working pair.

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After that you could see them look at each other and play deaf to whatever we were telling them to do.

It's a well known fact in some circles that a dog's nose is attached to its ears. You will see this phenomenon manifested whenever a dog smells something particularly exciting to him - he goes completely deaf.

 

Tony ;)

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Interesting reading. Your tales sound more encouraging than I expected. For ages I couldn't get Beren to go upstairs, because he once slipped down a bare wood staircase. I can just about persuade him up carpeted ones now.

 

I cannot decide whether I should take him along to a boatyard and ask if I can try him out on deck before I am actually ready to start seriously looking to buy. And that is assuming I can get permission from the broker/owner first. I don't want to put him off from the start if he slips and panics, but obviously I can't very well put none slip surfaces on a boat that doesn't yet belong to me. And I don't yet have any boating friends I can ask informally.

 

So I am a bit stumped as to the best way to go about assessing Beren's needs!

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Interesting reading. Your tales sound more encouraging than I expected. For ages I couldn't get Beren to go upstairs, because he once slipped down a bare wood staircase. I can just about persuade him up carpeted ones now.

 

I cannot decide whether I should take him along to a boatyard and ask if I can try him out on deck before I am actually ready to start seriously looking to buy. And that is assuming I can get permission from the broker/owner first. I don't want to put him off from the start if he slips and panics, but obviously I can't very well put none slip surfaces on a boat that doesn't yet belong to me. And I don't yet have any boating friends I can ask informally.

 

So I am a bit stumped as to the best way to go about assessing Beren's needs!

 

Ah greyhounds and stairs. Lou was the worse, I don't think she had ever seen a set of stairs before so she thought we were trying to murder her. Mind you stairs were easier then swimming lessons - Blue was the funniest when he had swimming "lessons". Up near Oxford on the Thames I waded out with him as far as I could then let him go. To start with he tried to run on top of the water, somehow got to the bank, Sue ran round trying to catch him then I did it again till he learnt to relax and doggie paddle. Whilst this was going on, innocent walkers looked on and wet themselves laughing at our antics. PM sent.

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We've been on all sorts of boats with our dogs, currently two lurchers and a greyhound, and there's no doubt it's the getting on and off that is the problem. Our oldest will stand and tremble at a gap of a few inches between the boat and the bank/pontoon and our sadly deceased dog in his latter years had to be carried. Fortunately (?) he had lost a lot of weight by then.. Having pointed this out, we have managed with two quite large lurchers on a Springer Waterbug, once on the boat they seem very happy curled up on a comfy bed/sofa. One thing we have found is they don't like being left below if my wife and I are on deck, so a cruiser stern boat is probably best, and if you can find one of those that has the nice offset "stair" type companionway that would be the best combination IMO. Another point worth bearing in mind is that with the Springer, being a Vee shaped hull meant that we could always get right in to the side when other flat bottom boats couldn't, making life a lot easier for the nervous dog. We are currently between boats and our next purchasing decision will be heavily influenced by the fact that we have one old dog who is going to find it increasingly difficult to get on board under her own steam. It sometimes feels as though my entire life choices are dictated by our dogs but I wouldn't have any other breed. Greyhounds and lurchers are definately addictive for some reason.

Anyway, consider this - some years ago on a hire boat we came across a couple continuously cruising with two Great Danes and if you think a greyhound is a big dog, well... Saw them being fed one morning with the dog food in a couple of washing up bowls! Fantastic.

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An update:

 

Yesterday, my brindle greyhound, Beren, had a brilliant day out on a boat with 5 other greyhounds and 2 cocker spaniels. He was totally laid back about it all. Richard and Sue's boat is kitted out perfectly for greyhounds and I now have lots of tips about how to make a boat more greyhound friendly (enclosed cruiser stern, shallower grippier steps, grippy deck coverings and so on).

 

Thank-you, thank-you Richard and Sue! :cheers:

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An update:

 

Yesterday, my brindle greyhound, Beren, had a brilliant day out on a boat with 5 other greyhounds and 2 cocker spaniels. He was totally laid back about it all. Richard and Sue's boat is kitted out perfectly for greyhounds and I now have lots of tips about how to make a boat more greyhound friendly (enclosed cruiser stern, shallower grippier steps, grippy deck coverings and so on).

 

Thank-you, thank-you Richard and Sue! :cheers:

 

You're welcome. I did love the comments from other people, particular that little boy as we went through the Grove who lost count of the number of dogs as we went past!

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An update:

 

Yesterday, my brindle greyhound, Beren, had a brilliant day out on a boat with 5 other greyhounds and 2 cocker spaniels. He was totally laid back about it all. Richard and Sue's boat is kitted out perfectly for greyhounds and I now have lots of tips about how to make a boat more greyhound friendly (enclosed cruiser stern, shallower grippier steps, grippy deck coverings and so on).

 

Thank-you, thank-you Richard and Sue! :cheers:

 

Looks like your fella is the long lost brother of our Harvey...

 

Another thing we have found cruising with Greyhounds/Lurchers is they seem to carry a lot of "street cred" when we meet youngsters. We've never had any problems with unruly kids/adolescents as they are always fascinated by the dogs - "are they racers", "how fast do they go", "can they catch rabbits", etc etc.

 

Long dogs for a long boat I reckon.

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  • 3 weeks later...

True!

 

I think it's a shame that rescue centres are full of sight hounds because people are afraid of the exercise they mistakenly think they need.

 

Tommy's idea of exercise was one sprint round a field, at lightning speed, then 23 hours of sleep.

 

Now he's 15 it is a slow hobble to the end of the garden, do his business, hobble back...then 23 hours sleep.

 

And ironic that people buy Basset Hounds thinking that they are couch potatos who don't need exercise whereas they actually need quite a lot to keep them fit. They're not fast, but they were bred for stamina so a quick whiz round the garden just doesn't cut it :(

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