I always love seeing dogs along for the canoe ride. But always wondered seeing huge dogs to little dogs. It takes control and training and maybe luck. I wonder if any of you dog trippers took a dip into the lake with a swamped canoe when like the dog sees a duck or loon or decides to streches his or her legs? Just curious.

Never! Before I have taken my dogs, I have made sure that they were well behaved, and ready to sit still in the canoe. I have had three different dogs on trips, and all three were well behaved in boats and canoes. Accidents do happen though, but before you take a dog on a trip, be sure they are trained first. Not just for behavior on the water, but in camp, and on portages as well. I would not consider bring a dog that is otherwise.

Once. 70# dog plus 15#+ northern in an Advantage (a fairly "lively" hull).

Lesson learned; don't fish with dog.

mooseplums: "Never! Before I have taken my dogs, I have made sure that they were well behaved, and ready to sit still in the canoe. I have had three different dogs on trips, and all three were well behaved in boats and canoes. Accidents do happen though, but before you take a dog on a trip, be sure they are trained first. Not just for behavior on the water, but in camp, and on portages as well. I would not consider bring a dog that is otherwise."

All good points

I've got one dog that meets Mooseplums criteria, but the other one...... not so much. It would break his heart to take the other and not him on a trip, so I haven't taken the plunge (pun intended) yet.

My 50 pouner got startled once when I accidentally tapped her head with a fishing rod. Her immediate reaction was to jump out of the canoe. She had her pfd on and just swam to the nearby shore where I picked her up.

I do worry about it happening on big water so tend to travel near the shore.

Never had a canoe swamped due to dog motion. My black lab jumped out twice in her lifetime, once when I threw a stick back towards some dogs on shore and another time when I picked up a turtle and it hissed and ran at her. But no water in canoe. One time we were crossing an eddyline in an evil Royalex Wenonah Rendezvous and the boat suddenly dipped a rail down into the water and my lab did a big weight shift and kept us from swamping completely. My current dog won't let me lean too far before she leans the other way to help keep us (really just herself) upright. Both dogs have been within a couple feet of wildlife many times and they just enjoy it the same way you do. The only addition command I taught the dogs for paddling is "settle down".

Never swamped with a dog in the canoe.

One time while paddling on my local lake I had three 70+ pound dogs in one 16 foot Smoker Craft canoe, things went fine.

I had a 100lb lab, Zach, that decided to jump out of the canoe on a brisk October Day on the Current River to investigate another canine at a campsite. Impressive testament for the secondary stability of the Wenonah Adirondack because it was two 250lb men plus Zach and the gunwales dipped down to the water, and popped back up with maybe a cupful of water? That was before I had a digital camera, so no good pics of him in the canoe, but I DO have one pic of him swimming BESIDE the canoe when he did it another time. After a few such close calls I decided he was relegated to Johnboats only!

Never. Like Mooseplums I've done a good deal of training, but I have to give most of the credit to my dog who is naturally calm, obedient, and has learned how his movements affect the boat. He never puts his paws up, or even close to the side. I also have to credit my SRQ 16 for its stability. Even when empty on day trips, I've had groups of ducks in a river shooting back and forth in the water and he stood still, landing lakers then having them flop around in the canoe as I unhook and he stood still. Every time he gets in the boat he always wants to reach over and drink some water over the side (its like a ritual for him) and he can do it without leaning us over.

I have gone swimming with my dog many times intentionally, and the funny thing is it is the one time he is regularly disobedient. I'll tell him to sit, stay on the shore and when I get past waist deep water he comes out to me every time. Anywhere else, around food, kids, squirrels, rabbits, other dogs, downtown, stores, etc, I can get him to stay, but he will never let me go into deep water alone.

@Jaywalker: just can't curb that protective instinct! that's some dedicated love.

My dogs have never dumped the canoe---but I have had them jump out after moose, ducks, etc.

once my hubby in solo came to meet me in solo going the other way.. The dog was with him but then the dog came to see me. Hubby and dog swam

Once dog left in favor of duck in front of boat but she did a perfect bow launch which made no boat wobble.

All boats involved were small dedicated solos. In a tandem probably would have been no issue

We have not gone for an unintentional swim yet.

When our last dog was young we were fishing with bobbers, and after the first cast, she jumped in to retrieve the bobber. Canoe wobbled but we stayed in. Our first dog liked to lick the fish when they got in the canoe. But both dogs were very good at staying in their spot, and did not get in or out without the command,

We now have a 3 month old yellow lab that is very feisty and doesn't sit still until she is really tired. We'll see how canoe training goes in the spring.

Brad has it right... get them trained in the canoe. With old Bernice I’d paddle my little old town across the lake to visit my dad (or better yet Joan when I caught wind of something good coming out of the oven). I let Bernie bring a ball and she’d play like hockey with it every time. The first time it was an oh oh we’re going in... but we never did. And after a couple times doing that she could play her games without any tipping whatsoever. She also learned discipline which she took quite seriously. Good dogs like to behave... we dumped once due to my error not hers.
But one time on Pocket Creek a beaver came flying out of the weeds at us. Bernie reacted like she was going in. Then looked at me like oops I almost screwed up. Haha.

nctry: " Good dogs like to behave...
But one time on Pocket Creek a beaver came flying out of the weeds at us. Bernie reacted like she was going in. Then looked at me like oops I almost screwed up. Haha."

Yeah, I think it's important to praise dogs a lot for good behavior and not come down too hard when they screw up. When I see where Luna might want to get out of the boat for whatever reason but thinks better of it I always praise her with a "good girl". Dogs love to please you but it takes a lot of positive reinforcement.

The only issue I ever had was Luna wanting to get out at landings before it was a good time. She learned the hard way when she jumped out and landed on a submerged boulder and really hit her chest hard. Good thing she was wearing a padded PFD or I fear she could have broken ribs. After that she always waited for my command "ok!" before jumping out.

I've never had an issue with my dog. He likes to sit up and take in the sights, sounds, and smells while in a canoe so we have him ride up front in front of the bow paddler. That bow paddler is usually my wife so there is generally plenty of room for him. This allows him to sit up and look around but confines him to a small area and doesn't give him much room to shift weight. He's also easily within reach of my wife who can grab him if he looks like he may want to get crazy and jump out. So far that has never happened on all the canoe trips he's been on but its a good fail safe.

My buddy and his wife did once take their dog along with us on a river canoe trip many years ago. That does was pretty poorly behaved when outdoors. Inside it was a lazy dog so they never really had issues so they never bothered to put much training effort into it. Well put that dog in a canoe and it didn't know what to do. It tried to jump out of their canoe and into my canoe at the worst possible time when we had to navigate a small set of rapids. Normally easy to canoe through but not with an 80 lb dog jumping from canoe to canoe. As she jumped I was able to move my canoe so she missed my canoe and she ended up in the water with my buddy and his wife and all their gear. Then they spent the next half hour chasing the dog up and down the banks of the river. I tried hard not to say I told you so.

I have used dogs in canoes for over 50 years only twice have they put me in the water both time big labs going after ducks.

No thanks to having a dog in one of BWCA canoes unless the dog was really small.

I have used dogs in canoes for over 50 years only twice have they put me in the water both time big labs going after ducks.

No thanks to having a dog in one of BWCA canoes unless it was really small.

I still miss my lab.

riverrunner: "I have used dogs in canoes for over 50 years only twice have they put me in the water both time big labs going after ducks.


No thanks to having a dog in one of BWCA canoes unless it was really small."

Which is why we try to get the smaller labs--68-72 pounds. Still is considered a large dog, but we have found that is manageable in a canoe.

We spend most of our trips in 'Alumaircraft' carriers lol. In 40 years, I've only seen one capsize once, and that was when it got sideways in the current on the st. croix river.

We used to bring our 70 lb golden retriever with every year. Rookie loved the BWCA. He'd spend about 50% of the trip in the water. I can't imagine not bringing him back then.

There were at least a couple occasions where he jumped out. One was a little scary. We have a little triangle back on the canoes, and attach motors for trips across sag to American pt. We were motoring through the narrows, and he decided to jump out, for some reason I can't recall.

He didn't get far enough out from the canoe, and was tracking right down along the side. Fortunately I wasn't going very fast. I was instantly terrified that he was going to get into the prop, and didn't have time to think. I just reached over, grabbed two handfuls of fur/hide, and hauled him back in. It's amazing how much water that spongeball could soak up in seconds. But at least he didn't get in the prop.

He was a great dog around camp. He'd just sleep when we went out fishing.

An old springer spaniel we used to have was a little different. That dog would swim out 300-400 yards following us out, until it got tired, and turned around. I was always worried he was going to drown.

I don't know if that golden could have drown if he tried. When he got older, he was nearly blind, and didn't hear all that well either. We would take him down to Lake Demontreville for a swim. When we threw a stick out for him to fetch, he would go out looking for it. But as he couldnt see very well, he'd just make overlapping circles, gradually working his way out until he found the stick. One time, he went past the stick. We were calling for him, but I don't think he could hear us anymore. He just kept circling farther and farther out. I was getting very concerned at that point, as he was in his teens, and I didn't know how much endurance he had. Besides, I didn't want him to get runover by a ski boat or something. I grabbed one of the neighbors, and we went out in the pontoon, to try to guide Rookie back to shore. By this point, he had been out there probably 15-20 minutes, and I was really concerned he was going to drown. When we got out there and stood above him in the pontoon, while he was swimming, you could see that he was barely kicking. His back half was very boyant, and while his front legs were paddling at a steady pace, his back legs were barely kicking. He was clearly just having a very casual swim. Not overextending himself at all. We got a pretty good laugh about my overzealous concern. He probably could have stayed out for an hour without any problem.

I do have a little bichon yorkie now that I've thought about taking to the bwca. But she barks at strangers alot, and I don't want to disrupt someone's experience, and I'm a tad worried about coyotes, wolves, eagles, etc. I don't want her last days on this earth, to be someone's dinner. She's not real fond of water either.

I love the various stories-comments. A nice easy entertaining forum.

A really fun read.

TomT: "

nctry: " Good dogs like to behave...
But one time on Pocket Creek a beaver came flying out of the weeds at us. Bernie reacted like she was going in. Then looked at me like oops I almost screwed up. Haha."

Yeah, I think it's important to praise dogs a lot for good behavior and not come down too hard when they screw up. When I see where Luna might want to get out of the boat for whatever reason but thinks better of it I always praise her with a "good girl". Dogs love to please you but it takes a lot of positive reinforcement.


The only issue I ever had was Luna wanting to get out at landings before it was a good time. She learned the hard way when she jumped out and landed on a submerged boulder and really hit her chest hard. Good thing she was wearing a padded PFD or I fear she could have broken ribs. After that she always waited for my command "ok!" before jumping out.


"

Maybe a little off topic, but one time on Ogish all we heard all evening from around the corner at another campsite was a guy saying bad dog bad dog... Bernice looked at me like no dog could be that bad!

nctry: "
Maybe a little off topic, but one time on Ogish all we heard all evening from around the corner at another campsite was a guy saying bad dog bad dog... Bernice looked at me like no dog could be that bad! "

I had an Aussie who was - let's say "independent". He could take being admonished and it didn't phase him. I've had 2 border collies and they are a very sensitive breed. Both will almost get depressed if you raise your voice at them in a mean way. My current female I never ever have to raise my voice. She knows just by my tone that she did something unacceptable. She really responds well to positive reinforcement. It's one of the things that have me sold on the breed.

I'll tell a story about her chasing wildlife. She would go after rabbits and squirrels a bit when I would walk her but she quickly learned not to do this. In 2016 I was on a solo in Quetico with her and camped on Sunday Lake. She was napping in a grassy area near the fire area. Suddenly 2 squirrels started chasing one another up and down trees and through our camp. The squirrels raced down a tree one after the other and literally zoomed right by Luna. They practically had to jump over her. She barely flinched and just watched them. I could not get over that.

TomT: "

nctry: "
Maybe a little off topic, but one time on Ogish all we heard all evening from around the corner at another campsite was a guy saying bad dog bad dog... Bernice looked at me like no dog could be that bad! "

I had an Aussie who was - let's say "independent". He could take being admonished and it didn't phase him. I've had 2 border collies and they are a very sensitive breed. Both will almost get depressed if you raise your voice at them in a mean way. My current female I never ever have to raise my voice. She knows just by my tone that she did something unacceptable. She really responds well to positive reinforcement. It's one of the things that have me sold on the breed.


I'll tell a story about her chasing wildlife. She would go after rabbits and squirrels a bit when I would walk her but she quickly learned not to do this. In 2016 I was on a solo in Quetico with her and camped on Sunday Lake. She was napping in a grassy area near the fire area. Suddenly 2 squirrels started chasing one another up and down trees and through our camp. The squirrels raced down a tree one after the other and literally zoomed right by Luna. They practically had to jump over her. She barely flinched and just watched them. I could not get over that.



"

My first chessy (back in the late ‘70’s) was laying like you sa Tom. A squirrel ran a bit close and she just reacted and CHOMP dead squirrel! Ruby looked up with sad eyes like what did I do?
Related... same dog... I was going down the kettle river anyways, so when a guy and two gals came to rent a canoe and go I offered to paddle with and share my canoe with one of the gals. They were drinking and when the gal in my boat stood up she fell in... ruby looked at me like... leave her, let’s go!

I remember once hearing that a man is allowed one great hunting dog in his lifetime. Mine was a retriever named Caleb (Hebrew: faithful one). I got him as a pup when I was single and in graduate school, so I had ample time to spend training him. He was a great pheasant and duck dog, and he would follow voice, whistle, and hand signals. It has been almost 30 years without him, and I still miss that dog.

He was trained to jump out of a canoe on command, and did so countless times to retrieve ducks. He never dumped me into the drink, but there was this one time:

My hunting buddy, Norm, was in the front of the canoe and we were paddling around a large marsh that had a number of interconnected open pools between the extensive cattail stands. We entered one of these pools and flushed a flock of mallards, and Norm dropped one in the dense cattails. He stood up in the front of the canoe and pointed and shouted, “get the duck!” Caleb ran to the front of the canoe and launched himself into the water, and in doing so he took Norm’s legs right out from under him. Norm went head first into the water, still holding his shotgun. Norm then came rocketing out of the water, spewing profanities, and I was in the back of the canoe laughing to so hard I may have lost a little urine. And yeah, Caleb came back with a duck in his mouth.

For year I took my Lab Hank on our Quetico trips, and he was amazing. A rock solid, calm canoe partner. He'd sometimes get the "Labrador lean" going on by sitting against one side of the canoe but other than that he was marvelous. Only jumped out once when he wasn't supposed to and he was very graceful. He made 11 Quetico trips before time caught up with him in 2017 and now at 13.5 year he prefers the couch.



Bonnie joined our family last year and I figured it was her time to replace Hank on the trips. In September she was 11 months and I'd worked her in the canoe so I was fairly confident she'd be good. Wrong. When Hank was calm, Bonnie was hyper. She wanted to lean this way, jump up on the packs, lean that way, jump onto the bow. We crossed Nym Lake in a cross wind the first day with her doing everything she could to see our trip ended there. I learn quickly to keep her on a short rope. She loved the trip though.

Sorry, I can't see tying a dog to the thwart. No matter how good a paddler you may be, if you capsize the dog will drown.

jdmccurry: "Sorry, I can't see tying a dog to the thwart. No matter how good a paddler you may be, if you capsize the dog will drown."

jdmccurry: "Sorry, I can't see tying a dog to the thwart. No matter how good a paddler you may be, if you capsize the dog will drown."

We considered that. You can't really see it in the photo but I used quick-release knots. I figured if we went over I'd be able to get her free right before or after. And the goal of tying her was to keep her calm and controlled and not capsize. It worked: once she realized she was on the short leash she stopped being so wild and saved it for shore, where she had a great time. And it was either tie her up or go home (or go swimming).

old topic-but has your dog decided to swamp your canoe? I am amazed at some dogs discipline when seeing wildlife.

My older dog was a natural canoe dog. She understood what was going on, knew how to get in and out, never rocked the boat, pun intended. A 35 pound heeler, so perfect size.

She’s 13 and blind now, so I’ve added a new heeler. Even at one year old, I can tell that all the training in the world won’t turn her into the same quality canoe dog as the old one.

The old dog is part person, the young dog is all dog.

As far as wildlife like moose and bear... Bernice enjoyed seeing them as much as any human... she woke me up one night to the sound of something slopping up the shore. We got out in time to watch a bull moose walking through the water up the shore. Bernie just sat and watched like wow, that’s cool! I saw more moose with her then any time a lone... except with magic paddler. In two weeks we saw several up in WCPP.
Never went over board because of a dog. Two of my dogs were good enough you would have had to work pretty hard to swamp a canoe with them in it. They had a natural sense to keep it upright. But we worked on that beforehand.

My golden has never swamped us. I did tip her out once when I slipped on a wet slimy boulder while getting myself in .

I find that in the solo she really can't go far from center. When she is in a tandem I use items to keep her centered. For example a rod case, spare paddle, net etc. along the sides to keep her centered. It works like a charm, but she is an awfully good and calm dog.

The most worried I got was our first trip together. It was a solo when she was 7 months. I caught a smallmouth which startled her when jumping and when landed. I really laughed when she looked into the water for a long time when I released it.

A dog has never swamped our canoe, but 3 dogs back, we had a springer who could not swim at all, so we made him wear a PFD. One day we were fishing, and a floating bog broke loose and was drifting in the lake. When we got close to it, the dog jumped out of the canoe onto that floating bog and disappeared right under it. A few seconds later, he popped up because of his life jacket. He was a mess, so we headed back to camp and got him cleaned up.

I had a Norwegian Elkhound who would just launch herself out of the canoe whenever she wanted. Only once did she almost flip me though and that was when I was solo trying to pull her back in. My first time trying to bring her in solo I should add. Was not fully aware of how much that was going to flip me but I recovered thankfully.

Now I have a dog twice her size so better chances for me to flip in the near future.

Nope. As others have said it takes some training and a special dog. Echo is a 90lb lab mix that is an amazing canoe and tripping partner.

Our 1st two dogs were both barkers.. grrrrr so never made the cut. They even got fired from any campground camping after 1 try. It will take a miracle for Yogi our 3 year old and 115 LB Newfoundland to ever make the cut. He would for sure tip us over because he can’t sit still and he wouldn’t be good on portages or in camp. He’s friendly, but overly friendly and a spaz.

Echo has done many bwca trips with me solo as well as tandem with my wife and with each of the ducklings. He’s calm and rides well in the canoe even when fishing, lays down on command, and only gets in or out on command. He stays close on portages and in camp ( He wears an e-collar which I rarely need to use and I also have a leash in my pfd pocket that I put on him when others are on the portages so they don’t worry about him). He doesn’t bark (we’ve had other dogs bark at him and Echo looks at me like what’s wrong with that obnoxious dog). Echo doesn’t chase wildlife (even the squirrels that taunt him and one time 3 moose ran by and he just sat down and looked back at me like wow that was cool). He also doesn’t like to swim which makes bed time nice. He wade’s in the water but doesn’t swim. The only time he has gone swimming was when I was using the SUP and kayaks at Rockwood and he didn’t like being left behind so he swam out to me and tried to get on. I’m the only one he does that to so I sit on shore while the rest of the family plays.

He loves it as much as I do and I’m going to be extremely sad when my 11 year buddy can’t trip with me anymore. Whenever I get dressed to leave on a trip he knows it’s happening and goes straight to the the door waiting to leave. This past summer I took our then 3 year old son on his first father/son camping trip to the rustic Kawishiwi Lake campground and Echo was depressed while I was gone. My wife said he spent most of the 3 days pouting by the front door.

The dog knows, my old cocker spaniel loved to hunt and if he seen a gun, he went crazy. To go hunting without him I had to sneak the gun in the vehicle before I left. Yes, he would get pouty if left behind.

How did you feel about that NW Solo? Assume it handled that pack and dog no problem...

NikonF5user: "How did you feel about that NW Solo? Assume it handled that pack and dog no problem..."

Love it and wish I owned one. It’s a joy to paddle, extremely stable, holds a CCS Guide pack behind the seat and a 90 LB lab fits in the bow. Ive rented one 3 times. Entered at Morgan and exited Lizz. Kawishiwi Lake to Malberg and back. And A figure 8 loop up from Mudro to Moosecamp and back. The first time was a July trip and after that I was confident enough in it’s stability and Echo that the other 2 trips were a few days after ice out in early May.

Ditto ducks! Training and a special dog. They aren't all cut out for this type of canoe-camping. Our old Chessie was the consummate canoe tripper. It did not start out well: as a pup she was not good in a canoe, so I wasn't sure this would pan out. Her first BW trip was a May 1, gosh the weather is nice, let's go to the BW type trip, last minute. Needless to say, the water was COLD. She was calm in the canoe, but whined all across the first lake. I think it was olfactory overload. She settled, and we had a great trip. That dog canoed with us every year from her age of two until her passing at nearly 15 y.o. She learned relevant commands, esp "wait" - as in wait to exit or enter the boat. She once got 1/2 way out before I was ready, which resulted in her pushing the canoe away from shore, and doing some mildly painful "splits". Never again. She sat in front of me in the stern, and I put a cut piece of closed cell foam on the boat floor for her. This doubled as a door mat on shore. We brought a fleece blanket, which stuffs to almost nothing, for her bed in the tent. She never barked at anyone. Didn't mess with people or other dogs on the portages. Almost never chased wildlife (once a grouse, and once a duck that hovered around our camp on Sag, at one point I looked up and she and the duck were swimming quite a way out!). She took to the tent if the black flies were bad. She loved every aspect of canoe camping, and if she knew we were packing up to go, she'd park herself by the truck -- she wasn't about to get left behind. Some of it is pure luck: she just loved canoe camping, and was good. It doubled the joy of our trips. Never swamped, and this includes in some truly awful conditions. I soloed with her too, in a Bell Wildfire. Quite a bit more tippy than tandem, but by then she was seasoned, and we did just fine.