Dog Stories

[Glenn MacGrady]

We've had threads about dogs before—e.g., what breed, how to train them, what kind of canoe for them, where do they sleep.

For this thread, just tell a memorable story (or two) about dogs and canoeing. It could be your current dog, a former dog, someone else's dog. The story could be joyful, sad, happy, tragic, funny, silly . . . anything memorable. Pictures always add interest.

I had dogs my whole life until about 10 years ago, but I never took them canoeing with me except for a couple short times with Sasha, our Lhasa Apso, so I don't have any really good dog stories. Here are Sasha and me in 2000 on my tractor:



One time in the early '90's, I was paddling my new Kevlar Swift Winisk a lake in Maine with my wife and Sasha, who had never been in a canoe, never swum, and never had even been in water. Sasha was a yap, yap, yapping little dog, and she began getting all excited and yapping at some nearby ducks. She got so excited that she jumped right over the gunwale into the water. I'm not sure she knew it was water. Well, she reflexively paddled for a few seconds before I quickly grabbed her back into the canoe. But she kept yapping and tried to jump out again, so I had to leash her down.

Never again.

The only other canoeing dog story that sticks in my memory is when someone else had a retriever in a fairly crowded campground on a river. That dog thought it was great fun to retrieve some object from other campers and run all over the place with it in his mouth. The dog's insensitive owners apparently thought that was fun, too, as they laughed while other campers tryed to catch the dog to get their possessions back. That dog stole the second hat I ever owned in my adult life, a Skunk Train engineers cap from Fort Bragg, California, and ran all over with it. I finally got it back all full of saliva and a tooth hole. It wasn't funny to me.

I never brought any of my Golden Retrievers or German Shepards in a canoe because, although I loved them and their companionship, I'm not sure other paddlers would have loved them, especially my protective Shepards. But they all were great tractor dogs, who would accompany me as I worked my 11 acres. Max the Stickaholic was especially talented at tearing willow roots out of the ground when he wasn't chasing deer or killing groundhogs. Here, I said goodbye to him when I moved to Florida in January 2007:

 

[SouthernKevlar]

When I got my first open canoe, a Coleman 16 foot "flexible barge", I took my 10 week old Black Lab, Gretchen, out for a paddle. She lay flat on the bottom of the boat as if to say "Oh, this ain't right"! She ended up as a great swimmer but never took to being in a canoe.

The next summer some neighbors were having a party at a beach on a lake. I took the Coleman and Gretchen: She loved parties and was a friend to all. Scott and I paddled the canoe out into the cove and when I looked behind me Gretchen was following and gaining on us. She grabbed my paddle with her teeth and pulled us a couple hundred yards or so back to the beach like a one dogpower outboard motor. She didn't want me out in that canoe. Others could paddle it without her interference, but she made it clear that she didn't want me paddling that thing. I guess Gretchen was just an anti-canoe dog.

 

[Ruttrowe]

I’ve never tripped with any of my dogs. They’ve all enjoyed going out in either canoe or tandem kayak at our camp. Our current dog Burnum a cattle dog red heeler loves the paddle around the pond, he knows he gets to swim when we return!

 

[Bob B.]

I have often posted trip reports and pictures of my tripping buddy Jake. We have shared 8 1/2 years of canoe explorations together so far and I have tons of stories. I fondly remember him proudly presenting me with walleye in camp … still connected to my stringer. I also remember perilous times as he protected me from marauding painted turtles that dared to invade the sanctity our camp.

The most recent was this past fall. We explored a new to us area on the eastern end of the BWCA. I mistakenly assumed that a mid September trip would have few paddlers. There were trippers all over the place, so it was crowded and some of the bears became habituated to humans. Jake saved my bacon when one was hiding on the initial portage trail … waiting for me to begin my first carry and take my left behind pack. Jake chased it away immediately. Latter on the trip, he chased a bear out of camp as I was retrieving my ration bag to get breakfast going. Another camp, he chased yet another bear that was sneaking around looking for packs around dusk. Lastly, on a cold heavily foggy morning, Jake and I were looking out on a water while I enjoyed my morning coffee. I kept hearing what sounded like a moose. I said to Jake, what do you think is making that noise boy, heck it sounds like a moose. He started to alert and I told him, go get it!

Jake went behind my tent and his inflection went from caution to aggressive protection. I soon showed up behind the tent and there was a mature rutting moose. Jake would not let me get anywhere near the moose, placing his body between the moose and I. We were lucky as the moose quickly moved off back to the marshy area he came from. Jake was on self imposed guard duty patrolling camp until the fog burned off. We then broke camp and found another area to complete the last 5 or 6 days of our trip.

 

[yellowcanoe]

I tripped with my retreiver a few times. But she would run off and once came back with no collar.. It got tangled up somewhere in the bush. We were lucky she did not strangle

There is nothing like sharing a tent with a wet dog.

There is nothing like sharing a one and a half person tent with your spouse and a large dog.. The small tent and the suitably large tent had the same color bag. Guess which we brought on a Flagstaff Lake weekend?

Our current dog is more compact and the tent is the only orange bagged one we have. He likes Lobster Lake.

And he stays put in the canoe.. The retreiver always wanted one gunwale in the water followed by the other five seconds later.

 

[ppine]

I love taking dogs on boats. I have taken three at a time on canoe trips.

My favorite boat dog story involved my two cow dogs, and my brother's giant Dachshund from Texas, Dieter Bob.
While rafting the Klamath River in no CA, Dieter Bob was ejected from the raft and swam a Class III rapid like it was nothing. Then he ran into a family of otters sitting on the river bank. They all scolded him for being on their river. He didn't even bark.

On about the sixth night we were making dinner at the water's edge. Soon a black bear showed up on the opposite river bank. We decided to sleep in the open because it was a warm night. We were about 100 yards away from the kitchen. Long about 0300 I heard some twigs break, then some grunting and sniffing. Within 30 seconds it was on. My two dogs a Border Collie and a an Aussie/Heeler cross were barking and chasing the bear out of our sleeping grounds. In the moon light, as the bear was leaving never to return I could see Dieter Bob in the lead chasing the bear as fast as he could. I really miss that dog.

 

[Clint]

Never had any canoe dogs myself. All ours were great danes, and I was never able to get them in a boat. We just put our last big dane down about a month ago. I help with a great dane rescue that specializes in getting the double merle danes out of the shelters or wherever they may be. So most of mine are deaf/blind or both. My mix breed dane that I have now is blind and loves to go outside with me and run around but gets nervous when she doesn't know the territory.

Sofie and Shyla

Sasha

One time we was fostering a mix that we was shipping to Alaska. So we was doing some basic training with her. We did work with her to get in and out of a canoe. She seemed to like it a lot.

 

[Tsuga8]

My 65lb mutt likes canoeing enough for me to size my canoe for our combined weights. It's taken him 6 years to not lean excessively after his nose...most of the time.

We've tripped together several times. He's not as bad as many dogs I know about finding things to roll in. But in the ADKs, he has a real knack for finding and rolling in otter latrines. I've had to start packing a kit of wet wipes and paper towels specially for these instances. Not a smell you want to share a tent with. He must find it irresistible.

 

[ppine]

When I changed my tandem small OT Canadienne over to a solo boat, I put the seat a little further aft to account for my Border Collie in the bow.

 

[WilluCanoe]

I have often posted trip reports and pictures of my tripping buddy Jake. We have shared 8 1/2 years of canoe explorations together so far and I have tons of stories. I fondly remember him proudly presenting me with walleye in camp … still connected to my stringer. I also remember perilous times as he protected me from marauding painted turtles that dared to invade the sanctity our camp.

The most recent was this past fall. We explored a new to us area on the eastern end of the BWCA. I mistakenly assumed that a mid September trip would have few paddlers. There were trippers all over the place, so it was crowded and some of the bears became habituated to humans. Jake saved my bacon when one was hiding on the initial portage trail … waiting for me to begin my first carry and take my left behind pack. Jake chased it away immediately. Latter on the trip, he chased a bear out of camp as I was retrieving my ration bag to get breakfast going. Another camp, he chased yet another bear that was sneaking around looking for packs around dusk. Lastly, on a cold heavily foggy morning, Jake and I were looking out on a water while I enjoyed my morning coffee. I kept hearing what sounded like a moose. I said to Jake, what do you think is making that noise boy, heck it sounds like a moose. He started to alert and I told him, go get it!

Jake went behind my tent and his inflection went from caution to aggressive protection. I soon showed up behind the tent and there was a mature rutting moose. Jake would not let me get anywhere near the moose, placing his body between the moose and I. We were lucky as the moose quickly moved off back to the marshy area he came from. Jake was on self imposed guard duty patrolling camp until the fog burned off. We then broke camp and found another area to complete the last 5 or 6 days of our trip.

Those were great dog stories. Thanks for sharing!

 

[JCH_Ski]

Ellie says “You say we are going to do WHAT?!?”

First dry-land session in the new canoe just now. Had to leash her to get her in, but then she did just hop right in and sit down. Getting her leashed in the first place is the hard part sometimes, even after a 3 mile run in the heat. She’s kinda , and hard to catch. Absolutely everything is a game. Just turned 2.

Our previous dog was a bit older, and while still high-energy, she wasn’t as feisty as this girl. She was also 15-20 lbs smaller, so she fit in a rec kayak better.

Ellie’s boat experience so far only includes kayaks. Which is exactly why I decided to get a canoe . A few dumpings have occurred, and a lot of stress and anxiety on the part of the paddler. So I want to get her used to the boat before taking her out, and also want to start on a small, shallow lake first. We’re at our camp on a river right now, which might be a sketchy place to start.


With Hubby last summer, immediately before a doggie-induced capsize.



And 2 years ago, when she actually fit in my small boat, and couldn’t cause a capsize yet

 

[Tsuga8]

Starting on dry land sounds like a good idea.

Somebody on either here or the Pnet forums had the good suggestion of putting the dog in the canoe by themselves, in shallow water, with you wading next to the boat and holding a bow line to keep it from floating off or prevent any real disasters. The idea is that the dog hopefully learns that her movements have consequences for the balance of the boat, without you acting as counter-balance, ballast, or unknown/unpredictable (to the dog's mind) influence.

She looks like a cute pup - have fun out there!

 

[Chip]

After our first night camping on Maine’s St. John, my friends small dog wanted to stay. She wouldn’t get near the boat. she was too quick for us to catch and we ended up shoving off without the dog and returned a half hour later. The dog was then happy to see us and anxious to get aboard.

For the rest of that trip, when we started packing out, that dog kept a keen eye on her kennel, and when it was loaded atop the rest of the gear, she‘d get in it immediately. She was a quick learner, and didn’t want to be abandoned in the North Woods.

 

[JCH_Ski]

Somebody on either here or the Pnet forums had the good suggestion of putting the dog in the canoe by themselves, in shallow water, with you wading next to the boat and holding a bow line to keep it from floating off or prevent any real disasters. The idea is that the dog hopefully learns that her movements have consequences for the balance of the boat, without you acting as counter-balance, ballast, or unknown/unpredictable (to the dog's mind) influence.

We tried that yesterday! Great tip! At first she was standing, and wobbling the boat violently back and forth, but she got the hang of it pretty quickly. After her solo practice, we paddled for about 45 minutes. She definitely leans against the side, but I was just grateful she’d sit at all. Now I need to figure out some weight for the stern, because every little puff of wind would swing the boat around. I had 45 minutes of extreme correction practice.

Apologies - this isn’t really a dog story. Just didn’t know where else to put it.

 

[Tsuga8]

Fabulous, so glad it worked out! My 9yr old 65lb mutt has gotten better and better about keeping still(ish). But he still sits leaning to one side at times, and he still sometimes ends up at the front, which is really dastardly in a strong tailwind. Heaven forbid something interesting is in the wind.

I've thought about bringing a water bag to put behind me that I can shove to the stern when he goes up front, and pull back to just behind the seat when he comes back to sit btwn my knees. The mechanics of all that haven't seemed worth it thus far. We're usually just toodling on the local pond so I deal. If we trip, I'll have a much heavier pack to put behind the seat to counteract him.