Canoeing with your dog.

[Jixer]

Who canoes with their dog(s)? Both my dogs seem to do well in a canoe but I am not as sure how they will be on a longer trip.Has anyone done any tripping with their dogs? Are they helpful for portages?:icon1_lol:

[verno]

I used to paddle everywhere with my old sheppard lab cross. He loved the boat and as long as we didnt see a loon things were good he would just relax in the bottom of the canoe. The V hasnt been tripping because we had our son at the same time. And the boy is just getting to the age now where we could take him tripping.
Old Barney wasnt much use on a portage, I had saddle bags for him to carry his own stuff but that was about it. He would just sniff every crotch on the portage.
He had VonWilderbron syndrome and once his ear got a nick in it, they would bleed like mad every time he shook. We were about 3 portages in to the interior of algonquin one time and his ears started bleeding. So bad that there was blood in the bottom of the boat that you could see. We used our whole first aid kit and a roll of duct tape trying to hold his ears down. We ended up having to leave our buddies early and head back to my inlaws to fix his ears up for the trip home.
The best trip I ever had with him was early one May. Barney me and a boat, heading into the interior for a weekend. Theres something nice about waking up in the morning when there is no one around on the whole lake, and throwing a stick and watching the dog swim.

[nimkii]

Only if she were tied down, I'd be swimming for sure...

[Big Bird]

It is call the modifyied J stroke ---- that is one stroke of the canoe and a command sit for the dog, followed by a stoke of the canoe , followed by a paddle tap on the back of the dog,,, get where I am going :opps: over board

[Jixer]

:icon1_lol:
I was using that exact version of the J-Stroke on Friday night.




It is call the modifyied J stroke ---- that is one stroke of the canoe and a command sit for the dog, followed by a stoke of the canoe , followed by a paddle tap on the back of the dog,,, get where I am going :opps: over board

[verno]

Jixer if you are trying to keep your pup still while in the boat with you the first few times heres what I did: I put the dog in the boat and put it in just enough water to float it, then I got in. I braced on the lake bottom with my paddle and called the dog back to me. I gave him the sit command facing away from me but directly in front of me. Then I unbraced and let the boat float a bit till I felt him relax a bit. Then I gave him the down command so he was laying between my legs facing the same way as me and started paddling. If he started to get to excited I could put the paddle across both gunwales and lean on it. This steadied the boat a bit and stopped the dog from sitting all the way up. Smooth talk him a bit to calm him down and start paddling again. It didnt take too long to get him used to it. Till we saw a loon or I casted a top water lure....then it was time for swim.

[Huntingonthebrain]

Guess this means you finally found a canoe to buy eh Jix??? I sooooooo want to take my dog canoing some time in Algonquin- a 4 or 5 day back country trip. I will wait and see how your dog/canoe training goes and get any tips from you then. Hehe

[Jixer]

It isn't going too bad for me. It is a bit harder for my wife. Whichever dog is in her canoe seems to want to jump out and swim to mine???!:der:

[franklauzon]

My dog will canoe by herself before ever catching me in a canoe... Frank and little boats don't mix well...

[Huntingonthebrain]

The dogs always seem to love the one that takes them hunting eh??? Frank.. do you not have good balance???

[franklauzon]

lol, it's not a balence thing, it's an exceeding critical mass thing... Water just looks dangerously close to the side to me... lol...

I'm more or less just kidding, I've been in canoes enough, I just find them brutally unfomfortable, so why bother with them when I have a perfectly good boat sitting in the yard.

[Huntingonthebrain]

I here you on the "comfort" thing. I break all the rules on that one... I sit in watever way is comfortable and then adjust 10 mins later to "the next most comfortable" position. Hehe

[franklauzon]

lol, my sentiments exact...

Now to paint the boat, and get a blind on it... :)

[Jojoe]

The 5 of us spend the weekend on the French River. Wife, our two kids (8 & 12), myself and our pup Tucker (1 1/2yo YL).

I have canoed and boated with the pup quite a bit so he is comfortable with the motion - I can't remember ever having a major problem with him in the boat. He'll shift once in a while but only has to be repositioned to balance the canoe out property.

This trip was not a long trip - most time spent in canoe without a break was 2 hours. He was a little winey after the 1 1/2 hour mark. He was right in front of me in the canoe so it was paddle - paddle - wine - NO! - slap - paddle - paddle. Kept a good rhythm really :)

It was a great trip - Tucker even ran his first set of rapids - more of a chute really - not too bumpy.

We came accross another group with a Lab portaging up river while we were moving our gear down. Their middle aged over fed black lab took great interest in Tucker. Despite their pleading with him to "come'er" he continued to romp with our Tucker. Tucker HERE, HEEL, SIT - his butt hit the ground and I was a rather proud dog owner...the owners of the BL climed down the rock cut to collect their dog. Now, I mention this only because 6 months ago it would have been me collecting my selectively obedient pup.

As for the dog helping on the portage - I think it is more of a pain to put the pack on him than just pack the dry food with the rest of the gear. NOW, show me how to teach him how to portage the canoe...NOW we're talkin'

[Huntingonthebrain]

so it was paddle - paddle - wine - NO! - slap - paddle - paddle. Kept a good rhythm really :)

I hope that was the paddle slapping the water.. hehe

[Big Bird]

Guess this means you finally found a canoe to buy eh Jix??? I sooooooo want to take my dog canoing some time in Algonquin- a 4 or 5 day back country trip. I will wait and see how your dog/canoe training goes and get any tips from you then. Hehe

What access do you go in at... I have a place on access one at South River...You need to go by to go to Tea Lake

[Jixer]

The dogs always seem to love the one that takes them hunting eh???

That is the truth.

[Big Bird]

49

See it can be done...this was before I got wet

[Spear]

I took Trigger, my Brittany, for a week long canoe trip. Great dog for canoes. Small enough, my previous dog, a lab, took a lot of space. Trigger started off like this, easy to get in the canoe, sorry to leave the shore and wanted to jump out again once we pushed off, Whined for a bit, almost jumped out once going for a fly. Eventually he just layed down and slept until we got to the next portage and the routine would start all over again.

I love having my dog with me on Canoe trips. On portages I tied the leash to my belt and let him pull me up the hill. He loved sleeping in the tent with us.

[Jixer]

I've got 3 days of canoe camping booked off work in a few weeks. I just wanted to make sure both dogs were under control with the canoes first. I figured I'd just start them (and the kids) with a short trip and see how it goes.