Dogs

My girl tossed an anchor at me that may limit future cruising. My girlfriend (for all practical purposes wife) wanted a dog. I love dogs, but know life is easier without them. And I told her what I thought but also I would not stop her from getting one, and would be nice to it if she got one. So she got a pup, and having been just removed from his mother and siblings and the only humans it knew, it was really upset and confused when it first came home.

We let him sleep with us the first night, and it fell out of bed in the pitch black and started to weep, if a dog can weep. My girlfriend picked him up to comfort him, but he pulled away and came to me. He held his head to my chest and stopped sobbing and we fell asleep with his head on my chest. Long story short, he is now my dog, or I am his human.

So he is 50% German Shepard, and the other half roughly equally Great Pyrenees and Rottweiler. So not a small dog: he turns 6 months next week and is 70lbs. So I see nothing but pitfalls in taking him sailing. Maybe day sailing not so much, but I see cruising, even weekend cruising as a problem. The upside, he is a really smart dog, and he can hold going to the bathroom for a long time – ten or twelve hours.

Does anyone here cruise with a dog or know anyone that does? I am hoping it is not as bad as I imagine…

Dogs