True
Didn’t mean to sound like a purebred snob (I’m not) but was just surprised to find out mine was pb, and to learn about the breed club and how it got started (German Shepherd club disqualified “whites” as a critical defect). Interesting stuff.
My other dog is a happy little lab/whippet/? mix… a very sweet dog, but she hates water. Lab mix who hates water. Hmmm. Oh well. She’s great at mole-catching, so that makes up for it!
Bell Morningstar
Sounds like a good choice from what you describe. I will keep an eye out for a used one around here. I have been told some outfitters allow “test drives” of kayaks so I might try that also, although I don’t know if I can be a good judge of anything without the dogs in the canoe. At any rate, this is a good start and good information. Thank you all.
Thanks also to donna4995 who responded to my inquiry about kayak groups. There was another person who responded also, so it sounds like I have some possibilities to get out with other dog lovers.
As a new person here, I have been impressed with the quality, quantity, and timeliness of responses to my post. I may come back here!
Mark J.
Cincinnati, Ohio
My feeling exactly.
I wouldn’t want to try a serious paddle with a large dog loose in the canoe. I didn’t have much trouble with my two since they were controlled. Anyhow, if you’re just goofing around and having fun, why not take them. I’m hoping I can figure out how to control the new third dog since my wife says she’s not going out with three dogs in the canoe. Even with the two under control, we end up giving them a lot of dope slaps to the dogs when they see something they want to bark at and then lunge for the gunwales. Oh well, with the gas prices so high, I won’t be going paddling too often anyhow.
Old Town Osprey
Cincy, the Old Town Osprey is a relatively light boat that could haul your 2 dogs and you – big carrying capacity. I have an old Osprey 14-footer that supposedly weighs 54 pounds; Old Town now makes a 15-footer. The Osprey is wide, stable, and slow – a good dog-boat! The price new is now over your price limit, but you might find a used one for less. I’ve used my Osprey on lakes, Class 1 rivers, ponds, and saltwater marshes from Maine and Minnesota to here in North Carolina. I have a calm old female Lab who loves to ride in the canoe and a rambunctious young male Lab mix who is soon to go out with us on a local river – a 2-dog trip. So I think the Osprey would do you fine, and it wouldn’t break your back when you load it on the car. Good luck. Something special about canoeing with dogs, isn’t there? (Glad I only had one dog aboard the time she smelled a bear along the shore of the Scuppernong River! Grabbed that collar and held on for dear life.)
Ginger in NC
p.s. on the Osprey
Old Town web site shows the Osprey with a middle seat. My boat doesn’t have one, and you surely don’t want one if you’re going to haul dogs or, for that matter, coolers or camping gear.
dogs
Maybe consider an inflatable. I have an Aire tandem IK (12’ or so) and it handles fine with dogs who would be a nightmare in a canoe. My 50lb dog usually rides standing on the front tubes (all 4 feet) and has been known to run down one tube from bow to stern and back. The boat doesn’t even bobble. Another nice thing is that we can haul her back into the boat very easily if we need to. Timid dogs are usually much happier in the IK than the canoe because it is more stable.
So far, we’ve had no damage to the boat from her claws, some minor scuffing is all. I have a camping pad cut to cover the floor, which is thinner material.
My IK is a river boat (we do up to Class II-ish with the dog) but you can get other models that are for flat water. Definitely slower than a canoe but the advantage is safety - if I somehow flipped my boat a half mile off shore and me and the two dogs were in the water it wouldn’t be a problem at all.
You can paddle some IKs with a canoe paddle like the SOAR or the Aire SuperLynx. Never tried it in mine but I’m sure it’s possible.
btw- even in an IK it’s important to teach them not to jump out unless allowed to. a) it’s a pita when you don’t want them wet and b) a 50lb dog taking a flying leap off your bow spins a boat 90 degrees meaning you hit a lot of stuff exactly sideways of how you planned to hit it c) if you can’t get them back in they could get tired and drown.
dogs
I only paddle with one 70 pound lab but here are a couple of points that may help you.
- I think you want a shallow arch hull and not a shallow vee. In shallow vee hulls like a Penobscot very movement from the dog forces the boat to move…the shallow arch design like most modern boats including the Morningstar is much more tolerant of dog movement.
- you really want the padding to not move at all. A camping pad works quite well; I spoil my dog with her own kneeling pad…the t-shaped pads from Bell or CookeCustomSewing work super well; they never move. Maybe you could look out for a couple of used kneeling pads for the puppies.
Personally I’d be leery about a permanent coating since it might add weight and it might chew up your feet and knees.
And of course you can use a combination of the advice you got…a yoga mat for main coverage and a bathroom rug at one or both ends to anchor it…I usually paddle solo but when I go tandem I use a yoga mat plus a few kneeling pads to get total coverage (she likes to move around and visit everyone since she’s a lover and you never know who might have a dog cookie).
Dog recovery
I have yet to find a good way for a solo paddler to get an 80-pound dog back into a canoe after he leaps out after a rising fish or some other silliness. The safest thing is to just head for shore with the dog following, and reload on shore.