Sequoia and a canoe?????

[Denyce]

Ok my husband I were talking on the way into work this morning. You see...we are leaving on the 21st of this month for vacation. We are going up to Montreal to visit his family then on to Ottawa for a day and then over to Algonquin Park in Ontario for 2 days. I was at Algonquin over 10 years ago with my mom for a weeks vacation. I just loved it. My husband has never been there.

We are taking Sequoia with us on vacation. We want my husband's family to meet her and I didn't want to board her in a kennel. The cats my mom can take care of but I didn't want to stress her out with the responsibility of Sequoia. So I made the comment about how it is too bad we won't be able to rent a canoe while we are in Algonquin because of the dog.

My husband gets a gleam in his eye and he starts mulling over the possibility of this situation. I just can't keep from shaking my head and laughing. We can hardly get Sequoia to sit still for us on solid ground. I can't imagine what she would do in a canoe. And what if she saw a loon or two??? I know when mom and I were there we had a pair of loons diving under our canoe and coming back up on the other side over and over again. I can just see Sequoia leaping happily over the side of the canoe wooooing away...:eek: :D :D :D

I imagine the water up there will still be a tad cold for swimming. I also couldn't imagine trying to get her back into the canoe without tipping it.

Has anyone tried to canoe with a husky? My husband now has this in his head. I think I have him convinced that we could work on this over the summer and then NEXT year perhaps go out on the lake with her. Perhaps by then we would also have our own canoe and life jackets for us and the dog. I have been looking forward to the hiking trails and seeing Sequoia's reaction to her first moose. My hubby will be holding onto the leash for that!:D

Denyce

[elizabethann]

Funny you should post this. I was thinking of buying a kayak and wondering where I would put my 20lb. terrier, Fenway. I was thinking I would get him a little life vest. But kayaks are pretty wobbly and I can just picture him rocking the kayak and then - splash! We'd both go in! I'm taking Fenway up to Moose Alley in Pittsburg NH this September. I can't wait for him to see a moose too!

So if anybody has either canoe or kayak experience with their dog, I'd love to hear it.

:)

P.S. I hope I'm not "butting in" on your post. Feel free to let me know if I am.

[Glacier]

I've never canoed with a dog, but I have a friend who does it all the time. Takes his husky cross and his German Shepherd. He's never had any problems with them. They both know "stay" and are pretty consistent with it. I think the rocking of the boat keeps them still too.

You can buy kayaks with a spot for a pet or small child. I looked at a few of them before I bought mine. The salesman recommended that if I wanted to take a dog I should get a sit-on-top model. I don't like those though and kayaking is something I do without the dogs anyway. It's my down time where I don't have to worry about where they are or what they are in to! I'm hoping to try out the new kayak this weekend!:D

[ParNone]

Pick a safe place to give it a go, so that the worst that happens is everybody gets wet and go for it. :)

I've taken my Cairn, Maddie, canoeing and she did great. She sat calmly looking over the side or laid down sleeping in the bottom of the boat. Didn't try to jump out or anything, which is good, because the lake had alligators in it. The foolish friends I had with me decided it would be a kewl idea to trail an alligator around the lake. Common sense dictated this was not a good idea, but they didn't listen to me.

Their thought was (I'm hoping jokingly) to toss Maddie in to save themselves. Not a prayer in the world. Finally the alligator started to feel threatened... Imagine that... and turned and started towards us. The one girl started to panic. I was so afraid she was gonna stand up and dump us all into the lake. Talking calmly and quietly... "Don't panic. Just turn the boat around slowly and head in the opposite direction". Once we did, the alligator backed off. So lesson learned, alligators are best viewed from a comfortable distance.

Par...

[Oggyflute]

Good luck Denyce, I just can't see anything else but you two getting wet.:D

[tikeyas_mom]

if i were you i would test it out first.

i know Tikeya HATES boats and anything eles that has to do with water.


Just take the dog down to the lake with the boat and try getting her in it.. rock it around a bit and see what she does...

the last thing you would want is your husky jumping out of the canoe in the middle of the river etc.

[cyber-sibes]

Wow, a husky in a canoe....that's almost mind-boggling, at least if Sequoia is as "fond" of water as my Star and Sherman are- NOT!
But I've seen a few huskies at the dogpark that love the water, so you never know. That suggestion about trying her out in a boat is a great one - you probably have a park around that rents boats. That way you'd know for sure before you go.

[senorita02]

It Sounds like a fun experience make sure to bring an underwater/waterproof camera , im sure everyone would love to see pics of your sweet canoeing Husky!

Were thinking of taking our Rott this year too, he loves the water, so he probably will tip us and go diving into the water.LOL

[Denyce]

No...you are not butting in on the post.

I have to agree with everyone here so far. We have a really beautiful park just a few miles from us called Black Moshannon. I don't know if they allow dogs in the boat rentals but it is worth checking out.

I have no idea whether or not Sequoia likes water. We haven't really tested her on that. We did take her up to Black Moshannon one morning and were walking on some boardwalks across the bog to get to a lookout area. We did have a hard time keeping her from jumping into the water. So she might like diving in. But the point of the canoing is for her NOT to dive in. I shudder to think about how difficult it would be in the middle of the lake to get her back into the canoe.

I am pretty sure I have the hubby convinced that this trip is not the one to go canoing. Perhaps next year after we have tried her out with it and have a week or so there we might do that. Now I am not talking about any rivers or rapids here. I am talking about calm lakes and such. Fast moving rivers and rapids would just be suicidal.

The whole thing just makes me laugh. I picture the chaos and just start to giggle. I would love to someday get back into shape and do a portage trip but they don't allow dogs in the interior of the park anyway because of the bears and wolves. It really is a spectacular park.

Denyce