Getting Dog from Water into Sailboat

[kcoffey]

I want to take my dog cruising this season. he is six months old now, well on his way to what will be about 70 lbs full grown, loves water and swimming, and is a good car traveler. One problem: how can I get the dog from the water back onto the boat?

My sailboat has pretty significant freeboard, and the transom is slighly past vertical. No problem for humans climbing the fold-down boarding ladder with standoffs, but there is no way that the dog will be able to climb a vetical ladder with small steps. So I hope that one of you has some experience with an attachable, stowable, device that the dog can use to climb out of the water.

[capnjim02]

I thought i had the site name of a co that made just such a platform attachment for a swim ladder. i believe i saw it advertized in (sailing magazine)been over the last 3 mo. if you can be patient i''ll see if i can find it again. we want to put one on our boat for our 85# yellow lab who also loves to swim. basically its a folding platform that folds down and the end part is submerged so they can get on it, then walk up the platform to get back on board.
stay tuned and i''ll see what i can find.

[katytoo]

My suggestion is to outfit your dog with a dog pfd which can be obtained from many sailing outlets, including West Marine or Boat US amongst others. The better ones have a handle on the top which allows you to reach over and pull the dog out. I have used one on my lab cross and it worked beautifully. I also think it solves the problem of what do you do if your dog gets tired in the water as the life jacket will keep the dog afloat even if he tires. Dogs can fall off the boat too. My personal belief is that if you really care for your dog you''d have a pfd for him the same as you would for your kids.