The Accidental Sailors: Boating pets...part 1

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Boating pets...part 1

Luna, before she went to Brandon's

So the general response when I tell my friends that I have moved onto a 26' sailboat is always the same, "With your dogs?". Well, yes, with my dogs. I am then looked upon as if I have lost my mind. That's ok with us. We love Bert and Sara and are very glad that they adapted to live aboard The Mystery with no real problems. We are sorry that Luna, our Belgian Tervuren, was not able to adapt to marina life, but we were able to place her with a good friend of mine that also has a Belgian Tervuren and she's extremely happy there.

But, onto the original topic, boaters and their pets. Most boaters travel from marina to marina and "migrate" to southern, warmer waters during the winter. Traveling back to northern, cooler waters during the summer. This makes for a very solitary lifestyle for most people. Yes, you do make friends, but you may only know them for a few months at a time and then your new friends are gone. Having a pet makes a ready-made friend that never changes and never judges.

Boaters love their pets and they make a good, common ground for building new relationship. Who doesn't like to talk about their furry kids? In this marina, right now, there is a huge mix of dogs and cats on board various boats.

Not only is there Sara and Bert, our German Shepard Dogs, on our dock, but there's also Max (aka: Maxie since there's my Max, that Max and "big" Max, a pitbull mix) a schnauzer right next to us.

On the next dock down the way, you can find Maggie, a chocolate Labrador Retriever and Roscoe, a 16 year old Pomeranian sharing a small quarters with 2 brothers that I've come to know. At the end of that dock there's a cat that resides with her owners on a rather magnificent sailboat.

There are still many other pets to cover in the marina, but these are the one's that I have photographed today. Tomorrow, I'll try to get the rest covered. Until then, enjoy:-)