Attention dog owners…..Accident on the river

Last night 7 PM I decided to venture out on the Mississippi north of Sartell with the family for an evening cruise. With the wife , kids and my German Shorthair in tow we set off down stream. Everyone was enjoying the breeze on the face and scenery when about five miles into the trip things went bad. While going full speed, my dog decided the water looked too good and leaped. Not off the side, directly over the bow. The dog went under the boat and was hit by the skag and the prop. I thought I hit a log but when i looked back I saw that it was my dog. I quickly turned the boat around wondering the whole time, about 30 seconds, what my hunting partner was going to look like. When I got her into the boat she had a gash 8″ down her left leg and a 4″ gash across her chest. She didn’t want to put any weight on her leg so we assumed it was broken. As fast as I could push my 14′ with the 25 HP we made it back to the landing loaded and headed to the St Cloud Pet Emergency Hospital. After 4 hours of waiting at ER the outcome wasn’t too bad; she has about 100 staples and stitches, bruised lung, slight bleeding in a lung, other minor cuts and scrapes and has to wear a splint on her leg. Then came the bill…$984. This could have been a lot worse! So please, use my experience and make sure your dogs are on leashes when moving in your boats.

Not good, glad it turned ok

Glad to here your buddy is alright

One of my pet peves is dogs riding on the bow of the boat, way to easy to hit something and knock the dog over the bow and the same thing happens, next comes the motor. I have seen three dogs injured this way during duck season, my spinger is all ways at my feet when we are running. One suggestion, do not strap your dog to the boat, if the boat goes down or flips the dog will go with it. They are our buddys, but most of the time we have to think for them.

My lab did this to me last summer at our cabin, WOT across the lake. ran up to the bow and jump in. Thank god I timed her jump as I was able to swerve and miss her as she skipped across the water… She wasn’t hurt except for her fear of boats now!!!

Yikes! That will certainly knock the wind out of you. Glad you pup made it through OK. I solved that problem quite a a while ago. Jump in the boat, let the dummies swim after you for about an hour, then pick them up. If they still have enough juice in them after that to do anything but lay on the floor and go to sleep, I repeat steps 1-3 again.

We had a lab jump off the front of a pontoon one day on the river. The guy driving the boat saw her go and went neutral right away. Dog popped up 20 yards down stream scared to death but unharmed. I don’t let my dog ride on the bow anymore either. This is a good practice.

So glad to hear things turned out ok

My shorthair doesn’t like water which I thought was a bad thing; but now I’m thinking it might not be such a bad thing…. Glad things turned out OK.

dd

I have 2 Corgis’s that love to go with me and they wear life jackets. Eddie the older one sits back by me when we are moving. His stepbrother needs more training, but they both are back with me ( I have a 15hp tiller). Yes they can swim, but with the extra fur coat weighing them they can’t swim as far as we think. More importantly I really have to keep and eye on they when dock, the little guy wants to hang over the side, now that could ugly?

lee

glad to hear the dog is alright. Thanks for the story though, i can definatly see my lab doing this.

Ouch, my heart sank when I read that, good thing the pup is ok

I’m fairly certain my dogs wouldn’t go up front or jump in and normally I leave the hairy beasts at home, but it sertainly something to think about.

Thanks for sharing

P.S. I had to laugh thinking about Calvin’s dog skipping on the water I would think that learned them a lesson or two

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We had a lab jump off the front of a pontoon one day on the river. The guy driving the boat saw her go and went neutral right away. Dog popped up 20 yards down stream scared to death but unharmed. I don’t let my dog ride on the bow anymore either. This is a good practice.

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Your best bet would be kill the motor in gear. In neutral the prop would still spin if the boat was in motion!

Sorry to hear about your pup!!

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Your best bet would be kill the motor in gear. In neutral the prop would still spin if the boat was in motion!

Sorry to hear about your pup!!

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Good point I never thought of that

While traveling to my duck hunting spots in shallow water less than 2 ft. I have to order my 80lb GR to the front of the boat “Front of the boat” it kicks the prop off the mudd a few inches. it helps! While running my dog has learned that if he rides the bow he might get air born. I think it only took a few waves, where Riley was air born, about 6in or so off the deck, to realize that the best place to ride while running in my 14ft jon 25hp merc was by my feet. The more time you spend with your dog in the boat the more they will understand the rules.
The thing is, you always have to keep an eye on them. because like Brianc said dogs get focused on things, real or imagined, then they bolt or jump or dash
Glad to hear your dog is ok!