dogs on a narrowboat?

[cuillean_dubh]

I'm thinking of buying a boat....no, I will buy a boat.

 

I have two dogs, springer spaniels, mum and daughter. There must be loads of people who sail with dogs?

 

The only real problem I can foresee is dealing with the extraordinary amount of dog hair. At the moment I live in a grotty flat - complete with the neighbours from hell!!!) and the only way to keep the place remotely habitable is with a dyson used daily. I'm assuming that really isnt going to be an option on a boat. OK, I can invest in an inverter but the amount of hair these two produce would probably drain the largest bank of batteries.

 

These two really do moult - constantly - the last woman in my life developed an allergy to dog hair ( or so she claimed!). It would be good to live in an environment which didnt involve spitting out dog hair constantly.

[Keeping Up]

Good, buying a boat is essential. And having a dog is essential too (it's one of the licence conditions I think)

 

Yes dog hair can be a real problem. Last year my alternator burned out because the ventilation slots got choked with the stuff, and every time I change the engine oil I check the air filter and remove handfuls of hair from it. And that's with a fairly well sealed engine compartment underneath a cruiser stern; I hate to think what it would be like if I had an engine room!

 

Inside the boat the carpet (Flotex) gets absolutely covered if I leave it alone for a few days. I have found the need for a two-part solution. Firstly, every 2 days (or every day when they're moulting) I run down the length of the boat with a good old-fashioned carpet sweeper. Takes about 5 minutes and uses no electricity (I've often wondered about one of those rechargeable electric carpet sweepers - but the manual one does a good job and takes virtually no storage space). Then part 2 is that once a fortnight (or once a week when they're moulting) I use a proper hoover, an upright one with rotating brushbar, to beat out the embedded hairs thet the sweeper can't cope with. I've just bought a VAX V046 (recommended by someone else on the forum) and it's great - small, lightweight, and works really well even though it only takes 850 watts. It's just been made obsolete but you can still buy them (I got mine from an eBay shop).

 

Allan

[bottle]

Brush the dogs every day, they will enjoy it and also bond them to you.

[Radiomariner]

I'm thinking of buying a boat....no, I will buy a boat.

 

I have two dogs, springer spaniels, mum and daughter. There must be loads of people who sail with dogs?....

 

These two really do moult - constantly - ...

 

I also have two springer spaniels. Understand the problem completely. Not only are they hairy but quite mad!

 

Good, buying a boat is essential. And having a dog is essential too (it's one of the licence conditions I think)

 

I agree.

 

Yes dog hair can be a real problem. Last year my alternator burned out because the ventilation slots got choked with the stuff, and every time I change the engine oil I check the air filter and remove handfuls of hair from it. And that's with a fairly well sealed engine compartment underneath a cruiser stern; I hate to think what it would be like if I had an engine room!

This is very important. Springer hair is very fine and easily airborne, it seems to get to all those "inaccesable" spaces

 

I dont know how well you "manage" your dogs. When at home, mine never used to be allowed upstairs to the bedrooms, however, this fell apart after they found the accessability of all the rooms on the boat and how humans could be pushed aside to make room on a bed! The hair gets everywhere. There is also the problem of muddy paws. Holding the little darlings down while you wash their paws every time they return from a "jimmy riddle" is not a viable option

 

Mud, on carpeted areas we tend to let dry if it is not too severe, and use a stiff hand brush. For dog hair we use a soft brush, this reduces the amount of hair becoming airborne. A carpet sweeper as suggested by Keeping Up would probably be better. We have a small vacuum cleaner, "Goblin Iota" about 900w (We do have 2KVA inverter) which takes up very little storage room. We use this about every 2nd day. This does an excellent job. I only do this when the engine is running to reduce the drain on the batteries. The Vacuum operation takes about 7 to 10 minutes from which the batteries take about 1.5 to 2 hours cruising to fully recover

We also have throw over rugs to protect the bedding.

It is inevitable that dog hair will get over your clothing. We find that those sticky rollers are best for using on your "glad rags" before you go off to the pub.

If, like me, you like to lay out clean clothing on the bed before you get shower and get dressed, keep a towel or blanket handy that has identiciable sides, (Hairy side and clean side), always put it hairy side down on the bed before spreading out your cloths. Take care when putting it away that you fold it so that hairy side does not come in contact with clean side.

 

Brush the dogs every day, they will enjoy it and also bond them to you.

Very commendable, but you have to take them off the boat to do so without ending up with hair everywhere.Grooming the dog ten yards down the towpath is fine in nice weather! But...

Besides all dogs do not enjoy grooming. One of our Springers definately dislikes it (I have the scars), and even gets upset when our other dog is being brushed. (Though the little bitch is as good as gold in the grooming parlour)

The other dog of course just loves being groomed.

 

If anyone out there has any tips on how to manage with dog hair on a boat, (or how to handle a dog that hates grooming) please comment.

[Supermalc]

(or how to handle a dog that hates grooming)

 

Please check I'm correct, but sure of one thing, make it an enjoyable experience for the dog. Probably try grooming with a soft brush while the dog is eating it's dinner, or feed the dog treats/it's meal while brushing. Only brush while the dog is eating and taking no notice, if it stops eating, or looks up, stop immediately. Repeat this for a few days and you may find your dog will then enjoy grooming, even if it has to be done at the dogs mealtime.

 

If one dog doesn't like grooming it's most likely because at some time, hair has been pulled out i.e. it has hurt the dog. I know people who don't mind having their hair pulled, I hate it.

 

Once again, consult a dog behaviourist for any unwanted behaviour. This does not necessarily require spending hundreds of pounds and travelling hundreds of miles to visit one, but just buying one of their books, or attending a local APDT training class, where they often have access to advice from these experts.

[kookie]

Most dogs I know quite enjoy the sensation of being groomed, and its a bad experience that heas left them hating it.

Make him enjoy it, a nice soft brush first, a matt comb is an excellent investement, as it helps to half tease half cut mats out so they dont pull on the skin. Dont concentrate on one area if the dog doesnt like it, but keep sneaking back to it, and always finish off with something he finds pleasuarable, like a belly rub, or behind the back of his ears.

You can get rubber brushes from places like P@H to pull the hairs out of the fabric, we use one on the car seats, its a bit of an arm aching excersise, but works well.

Or you can get them clipped, like me. Its not always the best fashion look in the world, but mine like being short now, and the amount of time they spend being wet, for me, short is good. Less time brushing them, and therefore happier for your dog? Oh, I have 5 cockers.

 

edited to add, sorry supermalc, looks like i didnt read all the posts before posting.

Edited November 4, 2007 by kookie

[Radiomariner]

Oh ours get clipped every two months, We do however leave some feathering on the legs, a reasonable length on the ears and small "flag" on the tail to maintain their "Springer" identity.

I did not tell you that the dog in question is totally blind. Anyone but family can groom her without any problem. She associates family grooming with the day the cat scratched her eye out. It is the noise of the brush that brings it on.

Even when my wife brushes her own hair the dog sometimes starts growling. The growls get louder and louder followed by a sudden "snap" When she still had one eye the snaps never made contact, they were just threats. However when she went blind in the other eye (at 3 years old) she misjudges sometimes. When this happens, I know we should remain calm, but with the blood and pain and panic, it is difficult to remember this! (when up to your ass in alligators one forgets the intention is to drain the swamp)

She has one or two other crossed wires, very posessive about things she knows she should not have. She will even show you first what she has before "daring" you to take it off her. Dog psycologist says to ignore this by turning your back and make it obvious you are ignoring her. Ha, she is blind and does not notice this!

The next suggestion was that because of her blindness we should touch and pet her so she was aware that we did not care! Mistake, I suspect she now growls and snarls to get attention! We have now gone back to ignoring her completely in these circumstances and hope that whatever it is that she is shredding to bits is not valuable. I did manage once to get my bank to accept a cheque that had been chewed and shredded into about ten pieces. It was not easy and I dont want to face the bank staff again!

Always behaves in public, except for one man and his wife who live a few doors away, always gets a growl when passing. (This family used to look after the dog for us when we had to go away, I suspect some sort of altrication occurred, though this is denied.)

She is otherwise a loveable and obedient dog, very good with other dogs and children.(But still hairy)

About children, we always warn children not to make sudden movements and to keep their fingers away from her mouth in case she mistakes little fingers for a tit-bit) but it seems un-necessary, she senses the presence of children and seems to recognise them as human puppies!

[Yoda]

Dog hair on a boat can be a major problem.It seems to stick to materials that we use. My cure was easy. I keep the dog on the roof and the wind blows the hair away!

[cuillean_dubh]

Dog hair on a boat can be a major problem.It seems to stick to materials that we use. My cure was easy. I keep the dog on the roof and the wind blows the hair away!

 

 

A kennel and run on the roof!......now why didnt I think of that.....just have to watch out for low bridges.

 

This dog hair business does seem to a a bit of a problem on boats

 

I do groom mine just about everyday AND they usually go for a swim too but it doesnt make any difference.....they're not particularly long haired either

[cuillean_dubh]

The growls get louder and louder followed by a sudden "snap" When she still had one eye the snaps never made contact, they were just threats. However when she went blind in the other eye (at 3 years old) she misjudges sometimes. When this happens, I know we should remain calm, but with the blood and pain and panic, it is difficult to remember this! (when up to your ass in alligators one forgets the intention is to drain the swamp)

 

reminds me of when I used to fly hawks and in a moment of carelessness on my part a very large and powerful female redtail grabbed my bare arm in her talons. Hawks kill by crushing and the pain was excruciating, made worse by the sight of 1" talons firmly embedded into my flesh and my blood pumping out in spurts. The more I struggled the more the hawk's instincts told it crush. Eventually i leant against a tree fighting off the need to faint and she eventually, bored with my lack of struggling, released me with a contemptuous glare and immediately began preening herself. I was a little more careful after that.

 

Springers, as with most other "real" working dogs, collies in particular, are extremely intelligent beings. If that intelligence and instinct is not made use of then all kinds of undesirable traits can manifest themselves.

[Oliver]

We've got 2 cavalier king charles spaniels. We keep them clipped apart from a bit of feathering. When we had the boat built we thought about the quantity of dog hair and the mud and decided to have a wooden floor rather than any carpets. It has proved easy to keep clean, quick sweep through every evening with one of those Addis(?) brushes which also has a sponge attached to it. Wash the floor at intervals with Soapy Wood Cleaner and one of Magic Mops Woolies sell which leaves very little moisture on the floor.

 

Only drawback we have found of wooden floor is the click of their claws when they wak about at night.

 

We've got a cover which goes on the sofa through the day to protect it from muddy paws/wet dogs if we are busy up top and they are down below.

[anthony]

Its getting closer and closer now till we actually lay our deposit down on our boat and ive not thought of dog hairs yet .

 

In the house we have laminate floors which makes cleaning up after the dog a breeze and the bedroom is totally off limits,so something like laminate for the boat looks certain.

However getting him to walk onto the boat is going to be a whole new ball game.

When we tried to get him to walk onto the back of our fiberglass cruiser on a wide plank he trotted off down the tow path as if to say ''sod off''.

We got him on in the end with some dragging and shoving,just hope he gets used to it.

[cuillean_dubh]

Its getting closer and closer now till we actually lay our deposit down on our boat and ive not thought of dog hairs yet .

 

In the house we have laminate floors which makes cleaning up after the dog a breeze and the bedroom is totally off limits,so something like laminate for the boat looks certain.

However getting him to walk onto the boat is going to be a whole new ball game.

When we tried to get him to walk onto the back of our fiberglass cruiser on a wide plank he trotted off down the tow path as if to say ''sod off''.

We got him on in the end with some dragging and shoving,just hope he gets used to it.

 

i've recently stayed in a friend's flat which was an ocean of laminate flooring. Not only did the dogs spend the time skidding around but the youngest pulled a muscle as she kept slipping. I dont think laminate flooring is the answer....at least not for my dogs.

[onthecut]

Hi Radiomariner

 

If you have dogs made by Springer, do you have to get them replated eventually ?? (Sorry -- couldn't resist it)

 

Mike.

[anthony]

i've recently stayed in a friend's flat which was an ocean of laminate flooring. Not only did the dogs spend the time skidding around but the youngest pulled a muscle as she kept slipping. I dont think laminate flooring is the answer....at least not for my dogs.

Yeah you are right our dog slips a bit and has learnt not to be a tear away in the house and kind of tip toes around.

The plus is its easy to clean swings and round abouts really.

[Maverick]

Nobody's mentioned the smell! I know, I know, the dogs will just have to get used to it

 

Had a dog myself for 13yrs but now the first thing i notice when I go onto other folks boats is the smell if they have a dog.

 

And dogs on the bed????? Dirty Ba******s.

 

Unless she's name Sharon and has long blonde hair don't even go there. Got enough hair up me own crack without adding some of a flee bitten mongrel

[carlt]

Nobody's mentioned the smell! I know, I know, the dogs will just have to get used to it

 

Had a dog myself for 13yrs but now the first thing i notice when I go onto other folks boats is the smell if they have a dog.

 

And dogs on the bed????? Dirty Ba******s.

 

Unless she's name Sharon and has long blonde hair don't even go there. Got enough hair up me own crack without adding some of a flee bitten mongrel

My dog didn't smell until I gave up smoking. Now I notice it far more but, after visiting a smokers home, I'm always glad to get back to my doghouse.

 

Edited to say: I don't know if it's the new central heating but my mutt, this autumn, has so far, moulted enough to build three new dogs.

Edited November 10, 2007 by carlt