Tips on Taking a Dog Canoeing

In this video, Darren Bush talks about what he did to get his black lab happy and comfortable in a canoe.

A lot of people like to paddle with their dogs in a canoe and this is no exception. This is my dog, Gracie. Hi Gracie. Black labs aren't known for being calm, so we had to train her to get inside a boat, and how to get in and sit still. The way to do that with a lab is with the all-mighty treat. So Gracie, come on, get in the boat. Jump in, come on, here you go. Good girl, lay down, down, down.

So basically, the reason I put the bath mat in there is dogs don't like to have the slippery bottom of the boat. They like to have something they can grip on, they feel more comfortable that way, so if you've got a boat that has a slippery inside this is a good way to do it. So, she's pretty calm in a boat, she's pretty comfortable. Lie down, lie down.

So when she was little, we'd take the boat and leave it on land, and we'd let her get in the boat and kind of hang out in it and she got used to it. We'd push it off the water a little bit and then let it sit in the water. Pretty soon, she's pretty comfortable in a boat no matter what. So, good canoe dog now.