Dog on board

[rlys]

Hello!
I have been poised a question from a potential buyer about the access of the flybridge for a mid-sized dog. Although I can answer a lot of questions about the 34, I'm at a loss here. Can anyone chime in with some feedback? I have tried to email Snow Cat (they boat with two collies) but haven't heard back yet. Is is possible for a golden retriever to maneuver the steps, up and down? Thanks!

[Ross Bowling]

Absolutely, Our Goldendoodle loves to be on the boat and climbs all over.

[maxicrom]

Having two westies as liveaboards for many years now (currently Morgan 6 & Murphy 4 - before them was Max our PDQ namesake "II the Max" who lived to be 17, Macabe, and Abercrombie), have not done offshore transits with them but many day and weekend trips. They do fine. As pup's we've found that they fall in usually twice if the water is moderate, only once if its in cold weather (they get careful quickly).

We've had a 34' houseboat, a 42' monohull, and now the PDQ 36' - they are very comfortable aboard - as you can see. When we are underway we keep their PFD's on. Murphy is funny, one time we "lost" him while we were out on the bay - after 10 minutes of looking everywhere out in the water we found him asleep on the bunk in the forward cabin. he had put himself to bed... They know the boat and unless it's rough we give them free run on deck.

Not sure how steep the bridge deck is on the Motorcat but our westies manuever all over II the Max without any problems, including into the dinghy... we did add a carpet wrap to interior steps for Morgan she is more cautious than her bruiser brother, it also protects the wood finish from paw scratches.

Have fun,

Mike

[h.Mika]

We have a 50lb Australian Shepherd who travels aboard. Most dogs this size would likely have no problem climbing up and down but our dog is not normal - he's pretty much terrified to climb up the ladder but once hoisted up it is his favorite place to be... climbing down is no problem. We have also tolerated (barely) 3 Westies aboard who raced up and down without hesitation. Probably has nothing to do with size or breed, but the individual dog.

[maxicrom]

I guess Westies are more at home under sail...

Mike & Linda

(Fyi: no matter what the boat is, it's hard to pass on good game of zoom!)