@spiritboat said:
Overstreet wrote, “…He has his own kayak…”
I thought black labs had webbed feet–What’s he need a paddle for?
That kids kayak is OK for pictures, small kids but best use is as a drink dispenser at parties. Think ice and drink cans.
The dog is a flat coat retriever. Similar to what you’d get crossing a lab, and golden retriever. He often rides in the back of a SOT fishing kayak. He’s good for 6 or 8 miles then he needs to stretch …which puts everything out of balance. He’d rather swim which means a 75 pound dog getting up and swimming at unscheduled times can be gator hazardous. He usually only goes in home waters. He used to compete hunt test and agility. He is an independent thinker and refuses to paddle, and bring the duck back to you when he’s ready to rest.
Overstreet wrote, “…swimming at unscheduled times can be gator hazardous. He usually only goes in home waters. He used to compete hunt test and agility. He is an independent thinker and refuses to paddle, and bring the duck back to you when he’s ready to rest.”
“Gator hazardous”–YIKE! (That’s something we never have to think about up here in the Northeast…Although I did once get “bumped” by something rather huge, while paddling with my dog atop an SOT down on the St. John’s river in the Sunshine State.
–And btw, if he’d bring me a duck back that’s ends up getting crisply roasted in orange sauce, I’d say he more than earns his keep! .
Merry Christmas to everyone and their furry aqua pals!
Have never been comfortable around Alligators. When I spot them - just like to keep my distance. Seems (hope I’m correct in assuming) they don’t like to be close to my canoe, either.
Max is laid back. He spent the first seven years in a state of great exuberance. Then be flipped a switch and has spent the next seven + years cool and calm. He’s currently pinning down the sofa while resting his eyes.
@RikJohnson said:
“Everyone needs a hood ornament.”
I’m sorry to hear Pug refers to you as a hood ornament–Hopefully it won’t get in the way of your friendship, and the two of you will continue paddling together.
Buried Maggie yesterday at the pond on our land. We spent many a fine time (14years) in a canoe and walking the woods there. She went paddling Sunday there with me. Fair thee well my good friend. There is an emptiness in my life today. I posted photos at the top of this thread of her in the canoe. I am posting a few more today.
@spiritboat said:
…Although I did once get “bumped” by something rather huge, while paddling with my dog atop an SOT down on the St. John’s river in the Sunshine State.
St John’s is 310 miles long. Some areas are gator active. But your bumping event was likely a tree or a Manatee. The manatees often sleep near the surface and spook easy. If you bump a gator there is a lot of thrashing.
@castoff said:
Buried Maggie yesterday at the pond on our land. We spent many a fine time (14years) in a canoe and walking the woods there. She went paddling Sunday there with me. Fair thee well my good friend. There is an emptiness in my life today.
Am sorry to hear you lost your good friend and paddling companion.
@castoff said:
Buried Maggie yesterday at the pond on our land. We spent many a fine time (14years) in a canoe and walking the woods there. She went paddling Sunday there with me. Fair thee well my good friend. There is an emptiness in my life today.
My condolences too. I know all too well what it’s like to lose a great dog.
St John’s is 310 miles long. Some areas are gator active. But your bumping event was likely a tree or a Manatee. The manatees often sleep near the surface and spook easy. If you bump a gator there is a lot of thrashing.
It weren’t no tree. And I doubt it was a gator as my location at the time was near the Mayport Naval Station, where the St. John’s confluences with a rather large briney body of water known as…(take a guess);-
Thanks y’all! We had a daily routine, and I knew what was expected of me. She went with me just about everywhere. Time heals and fond memories will become daily smiles, but right now she is sorely missed.
@castoff said:
Buried Maggie yesterday at the pond on our land. We spent many a fine time (14years) in a canoe and walking the woods there. She went paddling Sunday there with me. Fair thee well my good friend. There is an emptiness in my life
@castoff I love her puppy picture. I had two dogs that looked like her. One 19 years ten months and another 19 years eight months. This two dogs took me from basically 8 to 48. I have had many other pets also. Sorry for your lost of Maggie RIP. You know you gave her the greatest life possible with so much fun and love. Time makes me just learn to live with it. Hopefully another dog will enjoy the same things with you when your ready. There’s no better bond. Jake in my picture always when on my Boston Whaler with standing up on the flat deck like a hood ornament. Somehow the boats not the same even after two years nearly. We have some little ones but with Jake he could be the captain with no worries. I knew him from the day he was born.
I have been blessed by many canine pals in my life, and am familiar with the emptiness of their loss. You would think it would get easier, but it hasn’t for me. Maggie understood every thing I said to her, and she spoke to to me in her way with equal understanding. There aren’t many dogs you can set what you are eating down and walk out of the room to return and find it still there unmolested. She house broke in record time. She only pooped in the house twice. Just a firm no was more than enough. My son called her Maggie Melodrama because she would take it to heart. She always wanted to please and i felt the same way with her. He also called her Maggie Mayhem because of her exuberance when young, but she didn’t chew on things that were not hers. I have been blessed with several quick learners. She was one, but she was at the top of the pack when it came to good manners. I only used a leash where it was required or we were walking near traffic. She obeyed what I told her to do, and came when I called. She was a Chow and Lab mix according to the vet.
I don’t know what she may have been through before she was found hiding in the culvert on a dirt road in the woods, but she mistrusted most strangers all her life. She would warm up to people, but in her own time. Dog fighting is an unfortunate reality here in rural areas with dogs being stolen for the pit and/or breed and trained for fighting. It’s an illegal and disgusting practice. I suspect she was abandoned because she didn’t have the right temperament. I also suspect it made her leery of strange men. Children and women she warmed up to much more quickly. I only used a leash where it was required or we were walking near traffic. She obeyed what I told her to do, and came when I called.
She loved the woods, and hiked many miles of the AT with me as I backpacked the mountains. She came to love canoeing too. However, I think what I miss most is our everyday routine from her greeting me first thing in the morning to our last walk outside in the evening as we “patrolled” the perimeter of the yard before bed for her last chance to relieve herself. She always knew so much more about what had transpired, and what animals had passed through the yard. Her nose always knew more than my eyes could reveal. Mostly I miss the little daily things we did together.
Thank y’all for your condolences. I wish each of you the friendship Maggie freely gave me.
Castoff i am so sorry for your loss. I lost my black lab Jessie in 2009 and still miss her. She was well known on the Huron river in Ann Arbor but she barely made it to 9 before lukemia took her. I stopped paddling for a while since it did not feel right without her.
So Maggie was a good canoe dog that had her own human to take her places and lived to be over 100. If that’s not a perfect dog life i think it’s pretty close.
.
