Any tips for convincing a new puppy to not tip?

I got a new buddy to travel with. Hoping we hit the BWCA next year. She’ll be about a year old by then.

My dog is very frugal and never tips no matter how good the service is :-)

Pactice with your pup, I usually make my dogs lay down in the canoe. They rest their heads on the thwarts or gunnels and look out.

Great looking puppy! I’ll admit it took years to get my lab to be mellow in a canoe. Lots of patience needed, these dogs are fools for swimming.

I’m not sure she’s frugal. She tends to allow me to spend for her at all times.

Issue is we need to find a place to practice before we go on a trip.

Get them out while they're young.


Give her a place to be in the canoe, a pad helps, and constantly work on the "sit" and "stay" commands. A paddle blade lightly across the backside helps.


Wear her out playing/running the portages so she sleeps on the pad.








Set the canoe in the yard, get in it with her and let her get comfortable in it before hitting the water for the first time.

Great looking pup, I just love yellow pups. What's her name?

Thanks for the tips/suggestions. I don’t have a canoe for her to play in, but I can get her in a kayak.

Her name’s Kitty. She’s a lab/golden mix. I’m looking forward to our future adventures.

Congratulations on your new puppy/paddle partner! I've trained two labs to paddle with me, and had both together for about 2 years. I did the usual familiarization with the canoe (and tent) in the back yard. Both of my dogs took to it pretty easily, and realized that their movements could move the boat. Both like to jump in and drink water over the opposite side, but by practice learned not to step too close to the edge. Recommend teaching your dog to sit and stay on shore someplace you tell them to until you give the command to get in. I always load my boat and get in, then let them in only once I have my paddle braced.

A second aspect of not tipping is assessing and working to control your dog's prey drive. When you paddle past another canoe with a dog, or land a fish in your canoe, or see wildlife, you need to understand how your dog wants to react and work to make them calm and steady. Every dog's personality will be different on this. My younger, smaller girl has a much stronger prey drive than her older brother did. We work to control it almost every day in the city parks where I can find plenty of squirrels to help us. She has learned she is not allowed to chase them (no matter how badly she wants to) unless I tell her it's ok. Mostly I make her walk right past. Teaching her to be still/calm when wildlife is around will help you both in camp and in the canoe.

Thanks, all! Whole lot of things for me to think about as I contemplate a trip with my new buddy.

Nice setup Jaywalker, what are you paddling?

LindenTree: "Nice setup Jaywalker, what are you paddling?"

SRQ 16 in le Tigre red. The flat Canadian style yoke with a pad is great for dogs to rest their chins.

Lots of time in the canoe. I don't let ours get in and out on his own, as I don't want him to think that's an option. Also put a mat of some sort down to help with grip. we use a yoga mat.

Congrats! Enjoy! and good luck with the training.

Lots of great advice above so I don't have anything new to add. I met one of Jaywalker's dogs and it was an absolute sweetheart and he did a great job of training. Definitely follow his lead.

Echo my lab mix is 12 years old now and did his first trip at 6 months. I'm really going to miss having him along when he can't trip with me anymore. I'll repeat how important that voice control is for the dog getting in and out of the canoe only on command and the prey drive. Echo completely ignores other dogs barking at him when we/they pass by and he ignores wild animals. One time 3 moose ran by causing the ground to shake and he just sat down and looked back at me as if to say "wow, that was cool". He's never barked or made a peep on a trip either. I also lucked out in the fact that he doesn't like the water. He's not afraid of it, he'll walk around in it, he just doesn't go swimming which is really nice because I don't have to worry about a wet dog in the tent or him jumping out of the canoe.

Training and practice are so important, but so is a little bit of luck. We have a 4 year old Newfoundland that I've tried to train for bwca tripping, but I don't think I'll ever be able to take him. He'd make too much noise if we saw other dogs, (he doesn't bark at them, but makes an obnoxious whining noise because he wants to go say hi) and he'd never sit still enough in the canoe. I'd for sure end up swimming. Still hoping he'll come around and calm down some with age. But for now, he won't be going on any trips.

Here's Echo in action being a good canoe dog.