Water Dogs

We took this video in Palm Beach Gardens in early 2020.  It amazed me that the dogs in this video had learned to take on such big waves.

This inspired me to write about two types of water dogs.  The kind that are bred to swim and bring back things in the water.  And the kind that my dad and I see on live-aboard boats. 

Let's start with breeding.

Recent molecular evidence shows that dogs are descended from the gray wolf, domesticated about 130,000 years ago. Years of breeding by humans has resulted in a sort of "artificial evolution."  We bred dogs to serve us in special ways.   

This domestication may have happened twice.  The second time was around 12,000 years ago. 

So dogs descended from two unique common ancestors.  

Breeding explains why huge dogs like a Great Dane are related to little dogs like a chihuahua.   

The tallest dog breed in the world is the Great Dane.  And the tallest of the Great Danes

was Zeus. He stood at 3 1/2 feet (44 inches) tall and weighed over 150 pounds. When he stood on his hind legs, he reached an amazing 7 feet tall (84 inches)!  Zeus died at only 5 years old. Big dogs like this can have skeletal problems.

This Chihuahua was called Milly.  She was the record holder for being the world's smallest dog, and stood (LOL) at less than 4 inches tall (9.65 cm).  That's the hight of an iPhone.  She weighed about 1 pound and holds the world record for the most cloned dog. She lived 14 years.

Of course there are many other dogs bred to do things around water.  The other day, my dad and I visited the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.  The museum had many exhibits about the different ways people have used the Chesapeake for centuries.  They had a waterfowl building which mainly had to do with hunting.  Inside, there was a fantastic collection of guns and locally made decoys.  Outside the building was a statue of a Chesapeake Retriever.  Here's what I researched about that breed...

Their nickname is "chessies."  They are about 21 to 26 inches tall. The males can way up to 80 pounds. Their fur has these colors: chocolate brown, deadgrass (reddish brown, which actually looks like... dead grass), and sledge (which is a redder version of brown). They have a wavy, almost curly coat which is oily to the touch, repels water, and makes them even better swimmers. They are great gundogs, good watchdogs, and a great companion with lots of expression.

(By comparison, our wonderful dog, Po, who died last year, had big webbed feet.  That means she came from breeds that were good swimmers.  It was hard to believe this, though, as the only water she seemed to like was in her bowl.)

On to boat dogs...

On our travels, we have seen and met several boat dogs. How do you train a dog to do its business aboard a boat that might be on the water for many hours or days?  We learned that the process is quite a bit like how one trains a puppy to be house trained.  In the puppy's case, the owner trains him or her to do its business on a newspaper (before learning to go outside).  The puppy gets lots of praise and learns it's what you want it to do.  In a boat dog's case, the owner trains the dog to do its business on a piece of astroturf, in the same way.  Yes, it means the owner has to pick up the mess after.  But it works.  And the dog and the owner get to stay together.

Boat dog bathroom.  Astroturf.  Does the owner yell "touchdown?!"

My dad has taught me that no matter how rushed someone is, it's worth stopping to pet a dog (after asking if it's ok to do so, first), because the happiness one gives and receives is always worth the time that takes.

 

P.S.  We met this Chinese Crested on the Hudson River in Kingston, NY last fall.  This is the dog breed that I least like to pet.  It felt like warm, raw, hot dog.  :)