Want to know how you set up your canoe for your four legged friend. Also same for your tent. Specifically in shoulder months when it can be cooler temps and rain. Please be as specific as possible. Thanks

I don't do much for Echo. He rides up front in the bow and sits/lays on the bottom of the canoe. I know some people use a pad in the canoe for their dog. In the tent I have him lay on my pack. It's a CCS hybrid pack so it has a pad in the back. The first trip I did with him I just had him sleeping on the floor of the tent and I woke up with him shivering. So I laid out my pack for him and that did the trick so I've done it ever since. Most of his trips have been in May and early Oct.

I and my buddy Mississippi Dan both use a closed cell foam pad for our dogs. I bought the current one for a song from Aldi's. This also worked with my Lab, Zach, but he had a penchant for deciding to abandon ship too much! When my little girl gets chilly, she'll come back onto my kneeling pad and snuggle up next to my knee.

I trip with my lab in an SRQ 16. I put my gear forward and my dog in the section just in front of the thwart so he is close to me. This way he has a lot of room to turn lay where he wants and move around. He likes to cool feel of the bottom so I don't typically put anything down for him, even last spring just a week after ice out. I bring a large tiling sponge so I can easily mop up bilge water from under him. I also typically bring a mid sized towel or large pack towel that I can use to toss over him in case of intense sun or bugs (can spray the towel instead of the dog). If it's cold and rainy, that's a bigger problem. Then I'd likely go with a closed cell foam pad in the bottom and would try to cover my dog with an extra rain coat.

In the tent is easy. I have a small closed cell foam pad I fold in half and pack into my Duluth Pack next to my back. It provides warmth if needed and cushion from rocks. I also bring a portion of an my old Boy Scout sleeping bag (I just cut the top third off and use that). He usually sleeps on top of it, but if cold I could flip part of it over him or toss one of my jackets over him.

All that said, if I were going in weather like your big trip last fall a few more precautions could be in order. I'd likely bring a dog jacket I made that's wool and thinsolate.

I'd love to take my beagle canoeing, but she'd never stay in the boat, and she'd bark at everything that made a sound :-\

Maybe my next dog, I'll break her in to canoeing early and teach her outdoors etiquette.

Our dogs always liked the coolness of the canoe floor, so we never put anything down. In the tent we found that our last dog would stay in her corner when we brought an old kids length thermarest for her.

Not sure what kind of pad I'll use with our new pup. We have new exped pads ( for us people, not the dog) which are wider, so I'm not sure how much room there will be in the tent for a dog pad.

A pad on the canoe floor for dog traction. Stability. Ours have never liked sliding around and its good insulation for cold rainy days.

We actually once had a dog raincoat.. She hated it. I had bought it because the old dog before her was shivering during a previous three day trip when it rained constantly.

Haven't used my spray cover yet for dog protection but that might work in the rain..

I should have mentioned before - in case you are not aware, there is a special interest forum dedicated to canoeing with dogs called Doggie Paddle. A lot of topic have been covered there. You can join it by going through the special interest groups on the bottom of the main page, or have a preview by following this link.

BWCA.com Dog Forum

For the tent, I have a travel dog bed made by Chuck-It. It comes with a stuff sack but I put it in a small waterproof compression sack to keep it dry and compress it as much as possible. I also bring a lightweight fleece blanket which he carries on portages.

In the canoe, he just sits on the bottom of the canoe. He doesn’t seem to mind unless there’s a bunch of water on the floor. I think I’ll just get a sponge to keep it mopped up.

Chuck-It Travel Dog Bed

Goldenbadger: "..... I think I’ll just get a sponge to keep it mopped up.
"

Go to Lowe's, Home Depot, etc, to the tile section. They have great big cheap sponges used for smoothing grout that suck up a whole lot of water.

Jaywalker: "

Goldenbadger: "..... I think I’ll just get a sponge to keep it mopped up.
"

Go to Lowe's, Home Depot, etc, to the tile section. They have great big cheap sponges used for smoothing grout that suck up a whole lot of water. "

That’s exactly the type I’m looking for.

Milo travels in style. The canoe is an 18’ prospector, room for an elephant

Zoey is a coonhound mutt that's very hard to keep warm in the winter since she's a southern breed with a very thin coat. I'm primarily a day paddler. The pics show our basic setup with a base of good solid kneeling pads for stability and insulation, and then a fuzzy dog bed or a synthetic blanket and sometimes like today I cover part of her with the loose end of the blanket. She hates clothes but sometimes I wrap my scarf around her neck. Next I plan to experiment with just clamping a folded blanket to the gunnels with 4-6 clamps to make a little shelter for her. Her position is pretty well defined since she is quite tall so must lay lengthwise in solo canoes like a big hot dog.

Ruffwear has a nice dog bed/mat for inside the tent. It has a peachskinlike microfiber top & rubberish type of backing making it waterproof on the bottom. It rolls up like a bedroll. It's nice when you have a wettish dog, it keeps the wet off of you, the tent floor, your sleeping bag. It dries fairly quickly & the microfiber top makes the fur cling some so hair doesn't just fly off of it till its shaken out.

Ruffwear mt bachelor pad

This past Sept. I used the new "pup tent" I bought and set it up under my sleeping hammock and tarp. It worked great and Luna seemed to really take to it. Inside I used a polyfill mat of sorts and covered it with a small fleece throw blanket.

Inside the canoe she wears her pfd but that's it. She's not fond of being rained on but has no problem swimming. There's also the pic of her napping. She really enjoys canoe trips.

This system has a lot of promise for us. It worked well first time out. Just slit pieces of clear tubing from the hardware store. It even slides back and forth. I want to get different clamps for the front since the dog could pop one of these off.

Just FYI I also bring a few extra rags so the dog jumps onto a rag instead of her "bed" which I try to keep dry.

Thanks all for the info and pics. Wondering how you guys secure pads to canoe or do you pack it or carry at portages?

minnmike: " Thanks all for the info and pics. Wondering how you guys secure pads to canoe or do you pack it or carry at portages?"

You can get a cheap pad at Wal Mart.. Its blue and about ten bucks and very light.. Just strap it on either the boat or a pack