Traveling with a Dog

Katie in Alaska

Other boaters have asked what it is truly like to travel with a dog on a boat to Alaska. Our answer would probably be that it does present some challenges, but worth it for us as Katie, our mixed-breed terrier, is great company and part of our family. In other words, we could not leave her at home. The three biggest challenges are getting her ashore for her exercise and bathroom needs, not being able to take her everywhere with us (such as museums, stores, restaurants, and on other boats), and lastly, dealing with the space that she and her “stuff” take up on our boat. Katie had to get used to a different schedule than at home in Bellingham. On this trip, many mornings we had to leave a dock or anchorage very early to take advantage of calmer waters. This meant that Katie had to be taken to shore before we left. Picture waking her as early as 5 am, putting on her much-hated life jacket, jumping into the kayak with her, and going to a rough shore area for a quick opportunity to do her morning constitutional—sometimes in the rain! She is always very ready to stop for the day—sometimes six or seven hours later—and have a longer walk on shore, if possible. (Of course, the human passengers needed this too!) An advantage of traveling with Katie is that people stop and talk to us, especially cruise ship passengers who are missing their dogs back home.  So far, Katie has been a wonderful sport about everything, and we think that she is having almost as much fun as we are! An extra for Katie is having Roxie on board Xanadu, the boat with which we are traveling. Roxie is teaching Katie tricks. So far, Katie has learned to do a circle when asked to, sit up “pretty” and shake hands. They are working on rolling over for a treat. Katie gets very excited when we go on Xanadu  and she sees Roxie!

Katie sends her greetings to all of you and will show you her tricks when we get home in late August.