I recently picked up a new buddy, say hello to Crawford.
And I'm considering doing a Boundary Waters trip with him this summer, and it looks like it would be just me and him, a solo trip of 10 to 12 days. Crawford would be 5 months old at the time I'm thinking of, late June into early July. With my last pup Ruger I took him on a 4 day local river trip when he was just 5 months old and he did great. And at a little over a year old Ruger did his first Q trip with us and I know he loved it. I know a long solo trip with a 5 month old pup would be much different. Regardless if we do a trip this year or not, I will get him out in my canoe and get him used to it for the years to come.

So my question to all of you great folks on the Solo Forum is: If you solo trip with your fur buddy, what age was your pup when you first took him/her with you on a BW trip, how long was the trip, and how did your pup do?

Thank you in advance. I also posted this in the Doggie Paddle Forum.

What a great pup! Best of luck to the two of you this summer.
Taking my first solo late this May with my 1 1/2 year old chocolate lab.

Looking forward to the other responses from those with more experience.

That is one nice looking lab pup.

My border collie was 2 for her first trip, an 11 night solo. Then we went again in 2016 for a 12 night solo. She did real good. The worst that happened was she dug up some food scraps from a shallow hole in the woods. She stunk pretty bad for awhile. She gets scared when someone is portaging a canoe on a trail towards her too. It's the only time she barked at someone

2 for Bernice. As long as she minds well. But if you have any reservations on how she'd do I wouldn't. I wouldn't want my trip cut short because of your fury friend. Lots of pups will do fine with a good upbringing.

Litteralzone,

How did you get your screen name?

My college degree in Natural Resources taught me that the Littoral Zone is. (The area of rooted aquatic vegetation).
Is that where your screen name came from? Just curious.

Littoral Zone.

What a gorgeous pup! We lost our lab about 6 months ago, and seeing yours just makes me want another. They are amazing dogs, and take to canoes pretty easily. Ours was close to 100lbs at his slimmest so it was like having another person in the boat!

quote LindenTree3: "Litteralzone,


How did you get your screen name?


My college degree in Natural Resources taught me that the Littoral Zone is. (The area of rooted aquatic vegetation).
Is that where your screen name came from? Just curious.


Littoral Zone. "

LindenTree3,

I just find the area close to shore (streams, rivers, lakes...) interesting. The interplay of dry land and water, from the high water mark to several feet deep. No formal education in that area. When changing my original username from my first two initials and last name I thought LittoralZone would be a fitting username for this forum.

quote bfurlow: "What a gorgeous pup! We lost our lab about 6 months ago, and seeing yours just makes me want another. They are amazing dogs, and take to canoes pretty easily. Ours was close to 100lbs at his slimmest so it was like having another person in the boat!"

bfurlow,

Thank you. On December 20, 2016 I put down my 12 1/2 year old Yellow Lab Ruger. Ruger was a great canoe partner and my best buddy. He too was 100 + lbs. I still miss him dearly. I could not take it, the house seemed so quiet, cold and empty without Ruger. I went to check out some pups back at the end of March and when I met Crawford (a Golden Labrador) I knew I was bringing him home that day. Crawford (named after one of my favorite little Q lakes) is turning out to be another good buddy and took to canoeing just fine.

Today is my self imposed deadline to decide on doing the trip or not, as my RABC would need to get in the mail. I'm not quite at 100 percent to do a solo trip with him this year. Still lots to consider...

bfurlow,

And l'm sorry for the loss of your lab. They're not just pets/dogs, they are family.