I just read the P-net article on Dog Paddling by Shawn James and although ok, I find it incomplete.
Since the article is a reprint, the link-after-link to contact the writer is so complicated, I gave up.
Basically, although he ‘suggests’ a PFD for your dog, none of his pics SHOW his dog in one. My Min-Pin always wears his PFD. He hates it but knows that when I pull it out, he is going paddling and gets excited.
Maria and Robert also insist on their dogs wearing a PFD when they go paddling.
The Article suggests a dog-bed for the bottom of your paddlecraft. BUT, anything made of cloth will absorb water and get wet and cold and no dog likes to lay in a cold & wet bed. I put blue-foam pads in my kayak and canoe as it gives the dog a secure footing which they love and any water settles beneath the pad to keep his feet warm and dry.
Training a dog ranges from easy to difficult. With Ladybug, she hated the kayak so I simply bribed her with slices of home-dehydrated apple until she would enter and sit on command.
With my Pug it was more difficult as he fell into a swimming pool and almost drowned so is terrified of water. I had to get him used to his PFD, then get him used to standing on a pool floatie and so on until he learned that he wouldn’t actually BE IN the water. So now he loves to go kayaking and stands on the deck as a hood ornament. When the water gets rough, he returns to sit in my lap until we reach clear water again.
At one paddle-fest, he learned that he could walk through shallow water to a sand-bar where he would stand in his PFD and bark at passing boats until they gave him a ride.
I think the article needs work.
How was your dog/paddle experiences?