Doggy Boat Ladder / Ramp

[flyfig]

I have two Golden Retreivesr that loooooove to swim, one of them would stay in the water all day if we let her.
My main concern is dog safety and the ability for them to go in and out of the water via easier means/way(s). Normally, I swim with them and then help them out with a quick push up the ladder. If you've done this before, I imagine you've gotten a few scratches from your furry friends, I have. In addition, have you ever tried to pull a wet dog out of the water while on the swim platform? (They seem a lot heavier than 80 lbs).

I'm looking for advise and suggestions on what the best option would be, especially with the limited space on my 260 Sundacer platform. I'd rather not drill anything on the boat but will entertain any options.

Thanks

 

[Summer Fun II]

Theres afew doggy ladders on ebay. No drilling required. :thumbsup:

 

[Walz]

A friend brings the family golden lab on the boat, so he bought one of the Paws-On-Board ladders. We have never seemed to get it attached correctly to the swim ladder. And when it is on the ladder, humans can't use the ladder. And when you have kids on board that's not an option!

 

[Sundancer]

Our Golden Retriever learned how to use the ladder on our 250 DA. The ladder's last rung had a little bend in it and she was able to crawl out of the water. She tries to do the same thing on the 300 DA, but the last rung is straight down and she can't quite do it. So we just put one hand behind her head and she leverages herself up. We don't have to lift her. I've been thinking about getting a ladder like our 250 DA had so we don't have to help on all the time.

 

[Four Suns]

I have two Golden Retreivesr that loooooove to swim, one of them would stay in the water all day if we let her.

We must have the same dogs. My female Golden will not stay out of the water... she will search for a mud puddle for miles and lay in it.. My male Golden just follows her because he likes her.

It is very hard to lift them out of the water when they are wet. I learned that the hard way.... make sure they have harnesses on when they are near the water as you can lift them up then. No harness = no handle.

I have a hydraulic platform so that solves the problem but the female has jumped off before. I call her a Golden Retrevee..

and

Note the harnesses... even if they fall off the dock (or jump in), you need to have a handle on them.

Shall we discuss how they bring fleas and ticks onto the boat?

 

[Stray Cat]

The one in the top picture, on the left, looks like he/she might know the secret recipe to Bush Beans......

 

[chumbley]

No idea on the solution - but I'm interested in options as well. I think all these goofy retrievers are nuts for the water. Had to put a fence around my pool to keep her from laying in there all day at home... Sheesh!

 

[wetpaint]

Gary.......

Status of book?
Blog?
Any trips planned?
Sorry to hi jack thread

 

[wetpaint]

I must be the only one not to bring my dog on the boat.....I am too anal..........Hair, shedding, fleas, smell, ticks, dirt.......RESALE VALUE!!!

And I love my dog equally (if not more) than my kids!!!! Just love my boat more than all 3........kidding

 

[VTSeaRay]

" and leapt on to the gunnel. "

and no scratches? Wow. Our dog is not a water dog, and she's a bit of a princess (Australian Shepherd show dog). So, we have to coax her onto the swim platform, and then into the cockpit area. Once there, she's content to just sit there.

 

[Gunn]

Like Gary said, a handle to lift them out of the water is the way I try to do it. We have a dog life jacket for our Chesapeake Bay Retriever, it's sole purpose is for the handle that is on the top of it. I can call her over and then abruptly grab it and hoist. She starts climbing and scratching for anything to get her paws on and then she's up. She weigh 85lbs, so it is a fun process... but better than any kind of ladder I'd have to stow and rig up so far.

Tom

 

[garryowen]

Our Golden Retriever learned how to use the ladder on our 250 DA. The ladder's last rung had a little bend in it and she was able to crawl out of the water. She tries to do the same thing on the 300 DA, but the last rung is straight down and she can't quite do it. So we just put one hand behind her head and she leverages herself up. We don't have to lift her. I've been thinking about getting a ladder like our 250 DA had so we don't have to help on all the time.

our boys are the same. they could clime right up the ladder on the 230 but the angle of the ladder on the 310 doesn't work as well and the need help with the last 2 steps.

upside for us is all it takes is tug on the collar to keep them from falling back and we dint have to lift them on

 

[ChuckW]

My 75lb Golden Retriever has been trained to come to the ladder and get all 4 paws on it and just sit there. He does it waiting so patiently. I then reach down and grab his front paws and lift him right onto the deck. Works for us.

 

[wetpaint]

Do you take performance enhancing drugs and i dont mean viagra

 

[HUMPH]

I must be the only one not to bring my dog on the boat.....I am too anal..........Hair, shedding, fleas, smell, ticks, dirt.......RESALE VALUE!!!

And I love my dog equally (if not more) than my kids!!!! Just love my boat more than all 3........kidding

I have brought my dog, a chow/shepard mix, to the boat one time. She hung out on the dock and visited with some of the neighbors but never got on the boat. She didn't like the idea of jumping from the dock to the platform. Good thing probably since she sheds so much. The Admiral would kill me!

 

[LifeisGood]

We have a Yellow Lab. I would call him dinghy trained. He will not jump off the swim platform unless he is getting into the dinghy. He also waits until I lift him out of the dinghy to play fetch on the beach. He is even very good about jumping from the dingy back on to the platform. I was very afraid that he would jump in going down the channel, but now we are very confident.

 

[ChuckW]

Do you take performance enhancing drugs and i dont mean viagra

Not knowingly. It's not that bad, between the buoyancy and his hind legs climbing the ladder, its quite easy. Took a while for him to ge the hang of it, but now its a cinch!

 

[dgrumm]

Our lab goes up the ladder on the 400db without much trouble. It sits in the water about 10 degrees from vertical. On our previous boat the ladder didn't have enough angle, so she kept falling backwards. I used a couple of those plastic things that clip on the camper top bars to protect eisenglass, to increase the angle of the ladder... it workred well to increase the angle so she could climb up on her own. I tried rigging many things but nothing seemed to work (short of one of those hugeplastic ladders) better than simlpy changing the angle of the ladder.

 

[flyfig]

Our lab goes up the ladder on the 400db without much trouble. It sits in the water about 10 degrees from vertical. On our previous boat the ladder didn't have enough angle, so she kept falling backwards. I used a couple of those plastic things that clip on the camper top bars to protect eisenglass, to increase the angle of the ladder... it workred well to increase the angle so she could climb up on her own. I tried rigging many things but nothing seemed to work (short of one of those hugeplastic ladders) better than simlpy changing the angle of the ladder.

dgrumm,
Do you happen to have any pictures of those "plastic things that clip on the camper top"? I want to see what you're talking about.
I may spend some time teaching the dogs to climb the ladder, while avoiding jelly fish (not yet, but they'll be here soon :smt009)

Cheers

 

[dgrumm]

I don't have a pic of them holding the ladder out, as that was my previous boat. But I can send you a pic of the plastic pieces I am talking about. I have them on my current boat to hold the eissenglass off the bars. They just snap on the bars. Pm me your email address. I am on the boat now.
Teaching them to climb the ladder is really the only way to go.