TO have dogs or to NOT have dogs!

Should your dogs sail away with you? That's a good question! 

It’s all personal preference, but I can offer you insight into what we do and how we handle our dogs while onboard. 

First, if we could go back in time and make the decision to get them or not, we would choose to pass. At that time, we just didn't know we'd be sailing away. With that being said, we have them, love them and won't give up on them. It CAN work. 

The size of the dog is going to set the tone for how much impact the dog will have on your cruising lifestyle. If you have a large dog then you'll find more space being used for the dog on the boat. Along with more dog food, larger toys, beds, water/food bowls, etc. It can also be a pain to get a large dog through a companion way on a monohull...Which was another reason we liked the idea of a catamaran. The dogs had a lot to do with that choice. 

A dog also impacts what you can do while cruising. For example, if it’s sweltering hot outside then you are less likely to leave the boat all locked up. This may lead to a security issue if you were to leave the boat with everything open allowing airflow or you'll end up having the dog with you...Or you might not even be able to leave the boat at all. At times we've also found that some marinas don't allow pets.

If you’d like to head to New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii or a few places in the Bahamas and Caribbean then you can pretty much forget it. There are ways around this but it can be a bit pricy and hard to follow the rules/regulations. You'll find things like 30 day quarantines in spots, horror stories of dogs being shot on the spot and more. Having a dog onboard places a LOT more on you, that's for sure. You can do it but you may have to pass on a few locations. 

On the upside, dogs make great companions, many cruising get-togethers are dog friendly and lots of liveaboards have dogs. The best part of having your pet onboard is the companionship and maybe some security if someone were to try to board your boat. At least they'll bark at alert you! 

In order for dogs to work, you always have to be one step ahead. We did this by starting to potty train them to astroturf and small areas early. Our lives got a lot easier once they figured that out. You'll be able to make long passages and not worry about small dinghy trips for the pet to relieve themselves every single time. Although we do try to get them to shore at least once a day to run around. Usually in the evening when it cools down a bit. 

Most importantly, we make sure to have what we need in order to keep our pets safe. For us this means have a harness on at all times while under sail and keeping our bulldog, Tacori nice and cool. We constantly worry about heat stroke so we have cooling backpacks, chest plates and ice baths available for her. The new boat has LOTS of air conditioning so that'll help too. 

The way we see it is, Bella and Tacori are a part of our family so it's on us to figure it out! We've seen LOT of dogs on boats. I will say that cruising along instead of just living at a marina, which a lot of people do, does make it a bit more difficult but it IS very manageable. 

If you have questions about what it's like to have dogs onboard, let us know!