Griff's First Time in a Boat

I have a 4 year old German Shepherd that was rescued out of a puppy mill. He had spent the first two years of his life cooped up in a 3 ft square "kennel", and couldn't straighten out his body or even run when first rescued. He also hadn't ever walked on anything but concrete and when he encountered different kinds of floor, it would terrify him and he'd lock up. It took weeks of patient work with him to get him to where he would walk from concrete to carpet, to hardwood, to tile and other changing surfaces. It also took weeks to get him to use stairs. But, my wife and I built a bond of trust with him and he has blossomed into a wonderful friend and dog.

He loves to run and play and has such a sweet, gentle spirit. Last fall we took him to a nearby lake and when we walked him out onto a pier, he locked up. But with gentle encouragement, he hunkered down and with his toes splayed out wide, he belly-crawled out onto the pier with us. Within a few minutes, he had conquered another unknown and was comfortable out there with us.

He's been with me the whole time that I've been fixing up my SeaArk, but I haven't forced him to get in it with me. I bought him a canine life preserver and have been getting him used to it for a few days. Actually, he took to it instantly. Never even the tiniest bit of apprehension on his part.

A couple of days ago, I was going out in the boat and decided to see if Griff wanted to go too. Of course, he's ALWAYS up for a road trip. After I launched the boat and pulled it up on the beach beside the ramp, he wasn't too keen about getting into it. But, I lifted his front paws up onto the bow and he got the idea and hopped in. When I hopped in and pushed off, I thought he was gonna bail out on me, but he quickly got used to the boat rocking.

The lake is a trolling motor or paddle only lake, so I deployed the trolling motor and off we went. Griff didn't seem to mind the movement at all and was more interested in exploring every nook and cranny of the boat. The he came and hopped up on the front deck and set down beside me, and watched everything around us with great interest.










"Hey Daddy, This is fun!"

After about 20 minutes, we met up with some friends out on the water (also a tin boater), and to my amazement, he hopped from my boat over to my friend's boat. He visited for a couple of minutes and then hopped back in my boat. After a few more minutes, this boat stuff became old hat to Griff and he laid down on the front deck beside me and rested his chin either on the trolling motor cable or the gunwale. Looks like I've got me a boat buddy.

Great story, thanks for sharing it.

That is awesome - My GSD loved to go out fishing. Glad to see you are using the life vest, my girl fell over while night fishing for stripers off Cape May, NJ and scared the hell out of me - thnk goodness for the vest.

She is now 11 and her fishing days are over

I got a free English Lab, she had been bred 3 times, then the owner gave her away. She had been in a kennel all her life too. When I first got her home she would only poop on the concrete.. and was very scared of things like water..she has never been in the lake or my pond..

That is a great story. Makes me miss my girl that much more. It's only been a week since we had to put her down. Keep Griff close. Unfortunately, it doesn't last forever.

Great pictures and a nice story!

I had several dogs that hated water! A basset hound, a pound rescue lab/terrier mix and a pug. The first two dogs could survive swimming but the pug floated like a rock! BTW, I had a backyard pool so I had to make sure they would survive if they accidentally fell in the water.

Great story. It is so great to hear of how you rescued and worked with Griff. Too many people don't want to put in the time and dogs may be one of the most wonderful animals God put on earth. They deserve a better life than they get sometimes and I am glad to hear Griff got a good one. I wish you both many years of happiness and fishing together. =D> =D>

Good looking dog.
One of the smartest/loyal breeds going.
WTG.

Great story.

Hope you dont mind if I add my own.
I took my oldest son's black lab (Max) fishing with me. First trip out, I launch the boat, get him in, and push it out into the lake, 100' anchor rope. Park teh truck and hear people laugh at the dock as I walk up. Max, the lab, runs passed me on shore. YEa the baot is still 100' out in teh lale. Max is soaked. Finally get him back in teh boat and we motor out into the middle of the lake. I mark fish, kill the motor and hear a big spash, speak out to Max, great spot, the fish are jumping. I look up and he's not there, quick survey of the boat, he's not anywhere in the boat. Heart drops, then I realize the splash could have been Max, sure enough. He's swimming, three laps around the boat and he decides its time to get back in. He hooks his legs over the gunwal and I managed to haul all 90 pounds back into teh boat. He never left my feet the rest of the day.

Now my fishing buddies are our two Shih-Tzus.
Similar situation. Im trolling down a bay and one of them bails out. I put the trolling motor in reverse to pick her up, grab her by the back of the neck and in the boat she went. 5 Minutes later, the other one did the same thing. Repeat the rescue process.

To this day, neither of the Shih-Tzus nor the lab have bailed out again. However when it does get hot, I do dip the Shih-Tzus in the lake to cool them off. Now when they get hot, they come up and paw at me, in the water they go.

Thanks guys! We love our dogs like they're our kids. I had heard that rescued dogs are special because they really appreciate their new homes. We've seen this in Griff. Every second and penny we've invested in him has been returned with love, loyalty, and companionship a hundred times over. And Zera, our female shepherd, who we adopted from the local humane shelter, has been the same way.

Griff, who we've nicknamed "Goober", is sorta like Forrest Gump at times. If he's on the other side of the pond and we call him, unless we yell "Go Around!" at him, he'll dive in the pond and swim across it to us rather than just running around it.

Hanr3, I know what you mean about the dogs learning their lesson about bailing out of the boat. Bo (in my avatar), a little rat terrier and a lab I had were the same way. They bailed out and swam till they got really tired out and then struggled to get back in the boat, and never did that again unless I encouraged them to do it. When we'd go swimming, I'd put an air mattress in the water and the rat terrier would use it for his swim platform. He loved it.