Does anyone have a pet on a liveabourd sailboat?

Question

if so how di you go about training them to use the bathroom and not jump off the ship

Answer 1

I often go for extended cruises on my house boat. I bought a kiddie pool, cut a hole in one side so it would drain over the side, put rocks in the bottom and bought sod for the top. My dog knows it is her place, and I just water the grass daily and rinse the clumps into the grass. I actually had to by a weed wacker to mow it, the grass grows like crazy, the dog is happy, and I went out for two weeks and never had a problem! I live aboard, so usually she even uses it at the dock. Oh, and she is an 80 pound lab!

Answer 2

The first response is a good one to cover the cat area.  Dogs, in my experience, are a totally different set of problems.

First and foremost, it is cruel to keep a dog in such a confined space without adequate shore time.  It is an unnatural environment for a dog to live on water without getting it's toes in the dirt.  You are faced with trips to shore several times a day for the dogs sake, finding a place on the deck and training the dog to do it's normal dirt based functions on what, astroturf?  Then what does the boater/owner do with the results?  Bag it or flush it overboard are the options, guess what usually happens.

On the plus side, you can have a built in burglar alarm, wonderful companionship and a perfect excuse to get your butt off the berth and go for a walk.

In making a decision remember the pet doesn't get a vote.  If you really care for the animal, walk in it's paws for awhile.

Answer 3

I didn't(train him). just the same as living in a house yet the crazy thing was if we were in a marina a certain dog had to go for a walk ashore for his "morning constitutional" yet at sea he'd just poke his **** over the side and let rip, or poo next to one of the scuppers and wait for the ship to roll. Yet once he fell of a few times (especially when on the hard for annual botty scrub) he wasn't in a hurry to do that again. A friend of mine who had two cats used to hang a piece of carpet over the side so the cats could get back on

Answer 4

As a previous poster indicated, cats seem to be much easier to manage on a sailboat.  We did not ever keep a pet aboard ourselves, but we knew three diffferent couples who did keep a dog, and each situation was different.

One of the dogs, a Portuguese water dog, happily did her business on the bow whenever she needed to and her owners simply washed it over the side or bagged it, depending on where they were.  She would usually just go to the bow of the boat when she needed to go.  This dog wouldjump off the boat if her owners went ashore without her, so they had to confine her below to keep her on board.  Then she whined the whole time they were ashore, and so she was not very popular in the anchorage because of that, but of course, that was not her fault.  They were never able to teach her not to jump in the water if they were going ashore without her, but those dogs love the water.

The second dog was a collie, hated the water but was very happy on the boat because he was old, and not able to get around very much, and preferred to just lie and sleep a lot of the time.  However, he absolutely refused to do his business on the boat.  His owners tried everything, including the patch of turf, and he would not go on the boat unless he was desperate.  They took him ashore at least twice a day - when they could - that was not always possible - and it involved lifting him up the companionway, lifting him into the dinghy, etc., because he was arthritic and just not as nimble as he used to be.  He hated getting his feet wet!!  He was about six years old when they adopted him, which might be why they were never able to make him feel comfortable doing his business on the boat.  If he was in the cockpit when they were sailing they kept a doggie life jacket on him in case he fell overboard.

The third dog was a tiny Yorkie and was very easy to manage on the boat.  They "paper trained" her as a puppy,  and so she readily adapted to life on the boat, and did not ever try to jump off.  She was very easy for her owners to take with them whereever they went - she sat with her head poking out of a backpack when they were in the dinghy.  

It seems that different things work for different dogs, and if you get the dog as a puppy I think it is easier.  Paper training first seems to help also.  And I would think the turf idea would work for some dogs.  Praise the dog for going in the right place.  General obedience training might help with the jumping overboard problem, particularly when you are present.  Does your dog have a special place to be when on deck?  It might help to encourage him to stay in that place by giving him treats only when he is there.  

We loved dogs, but we made a decision to not ever have one on the boat because  we wanted to be freer than a pet would allow.  I hope these thoughts are of some help.

Answer 5

I have a cat so there are no problems with going to the bathroom or falling overboard most of the time. although some times when he gets too playful with the rigging he ends up in the water so i put on a very long leash when we go to sea which isn't often. The leash acts like a life line I put a bell on the part closest to the mast so if the leash goes taught like if he were being dragged behind the boat the bell will ring alerting me to haul in my catfish wanna be so far I have only done this on two occasions. I wouldn't have a dog there is just no room for such beasties besides they don't know what a kitty litter box is. very nasty to find that in the night.