Living Aboard with Dogs

Luna, watching our neighbors

The first comment I hear whenever I tell friends we moved onto a sailboat is "With the dogs?".  Yes, we are slightly crazed and have moved our 2 German Shepherd Dogs (Bert and Sara) and the Belgian Tervuren (Luna) onto the boat.

We had a feeling that Luna, who was pack-raised and practically feral when we got her, would have a hard time adjusting.  I had made previous plans for her if she couldn't adjust, which she isn't.  Luna does extremely well on the boat, but walking her through the marina is a nightmare.  Every person she sees is a "threat" to her and she is simply not settling down.  The kindest thing we can do is take her to my friend Brandon, who already knows Luna and is comfortable with her little "quirks".  After a full week of painfully watching her try to become "invisible" to everyone, we are making plans to take her to Brandon's where she can be much more comfortable.

Bert and Sara have settled in nicely.  Both are extremely social dogs and don't know what a stranger is~lol  They are happy being below decks and have both worked out how to get on and off the boat with very little problems.  I don't think we'll ever be able to get them into a dinghy, but we'll worry about that when the time comes.

Bert and Sara have taken over a portion of the quarter-berth as "their place" and happily nap there between walks.  Since they are both older adults, they actually don't require as much walking as you'd think.  They are both very happy with 2 decent walks a day and a couple of extra "potty breaks" in the afternoon.

Both have decided where they want to eat and the only problem we are having right now is that of keeping enough water out through the day.  With the limited floor-space, we can only leave out a small bowl, instead of the large bucket we used in the house.  As the days go by, I am certain we will get this problem worked out, but if anyone has an ideas, please let me hear them!