Moving home can be stressful time for humans, let alone dogs. We did our best to make the transition easier for Scrappy and would love to share our ideas to help you make it easier for when you move aboard with your dog.
Moving Around Above And Below Decks
When Scrappy moved aboard aged two and a half, he didn’t enjoy walking on the pontoons or on the boat surfaces as they weren’t what he was used to!
He was very careful with his footing and didn’t have much confidence on deck (probably because he REALLY didn’t want to fall in!)
Now though, he happily runs around all over the deck whether we’re at a marina, on a mooring ball or anchored out (NOT when we’re out sailing though!).
Once we’re stopped and safely anchored or moored up, he jumps up out of the cockpit and legs it down to the front…normally to bark at something or someone that has caught his attention!
This started happening very quickly as he gained confidence with walking on the new surfaces.
Inside our first boat, we had slippery wooden floors and we quickly realised that all Scrappy would do was walk all over the sofa unless we did something about it. (He was used to walking on carpet in the house we used to live in.)
Cue a trip to B&M bargains in Grimsby where I found some rather snazzy plush blue bathmats with a non-slip backing. I bought five and got told off by Dave for spending £9 per bathmat!
However, they fit almost perfectly and Scrappy quickly learned that the floor was good to use (and I got away with the expense!).
He did need a bit of persuasion to jump down off the sofas onto the floor to start with, but luckily I found the perfect toy to help… have you ever shone a laser beam onto the floor for a cat to chase? Turns out dogs enjoy it just as much (that or Scrappy is basically a cat-dog!) Watch this video and you’ll see what I mean! 😂
When in B&M Bargains, I found a mouse shaped laser beam cat toy. I don’t know what made me buy it but it is now one of Scrappy’s favourite games to play.
All I have to do is say the word ‘mouse’ and he shoots out of his bed and starts intently looking at the floor to see if he can spot that little red dot anywhere.
As soon as the little red dot appears, he’s off like a shot and it was an excellent distraction to walking on all these new surfaces! The next thing we knew, he was happily walking around on the floor (which meant we could claim our sofas back!)
We also bought aboard some of Scrappy’s favourite toys and made sure we played with him a lot down on his level.
The bath mats also made for great spots for Scrappy to lie and sunbathe on outside in the cockpit with us whilst we’re underway in good weather so he doesn’t slip off the seats.
Our new boat had carpets fitted to most of the floor area when we moved on board. You can tell he still doesn’t like wooden floors though as he avoids the non-carpeted areas like the plague!!
A Bed For Scrappy
When we lived in a house, Scrappy had a metal crate from when he was a puppy. He didn’t really use it much though and it spent most of its time folded away in the garage. I thought about bringing it with us so he had a safe area to go to but unfortunately it was too big for the boat.
When we moved aboard, his bed was made up of a couple of fleece blankets to make him snug at night… (instead of the folded double duvet AND fleece blankets he used in the house – spoiled: totally!)
Whilst we were in Jersey though, his bed was upgraded into a full-on snug pit dog cave that he LOVES!
It is a ‘Lazy Bones‘ bed that is made from fabric. The front and back sections are zipped into place and the whole thing folds down flat which is great to save space and makes it easier to transport. It also has mesh windows on the other two sides which can be covered by fabric or the fabric rolled up to allow for air flow. There is a fleece lined floor which can be removed.
We added a pillow and a couple of fleece blankets into it for Scrappy to snuggle in which he definitely approves of. He can be found in there more often than he’s out of it sometimes.
We did our best to help ease Scrappy’s transition onto the boat and make him feel at home and I can happily say he felt comfortable quickly in his new environment.
I’ve put together a list of the items we found helpful when we moved on board with Scrappy in case you wanted to take a closer look at them. It may be beneficial to buy a few of them before you move onboard so they are items he is familiar with in his strange new environment. Hopefully it will make the transition that little bit easier for them.
⦿ Bath Mats
⦿ Laser Beam Toy
⦿ Dog Toys
⦿ Lazy Bones Foldable Bed
⦿ Fleece Blankets
Another thing you can do before you move onboard is start toilet training your dog to go toilet in a particular place. I’ve written a blog post dedicated purely to that as we struggled with it so much. You can find that here if you want to make your lives a bit easier!
How does your dog find walking on different surfaces?