Dooley the Demented Terrier

Bendernz wrote us that his lady likes the dog photos. We have LOTS of dog photos. He has been one of our major sources of entertainment down here. We have had him since he was six weeks old, and he is part of the family.

We worried about bringing the dog down from the US with us, how he would fit in here. Tropical climate, boats and water, beaches. We lived near a large lake in New Jersey, and he hated it. Would pull you to the other side of the street on a leash rather than even walk near it. Swimming in it was out of the question. So imagine our surprise when we took him to the beach here, and he splashed through the waves on day one. I don't know if it's the smell of the ocean vs. a fresh water lake, the warm water, the buoyancy, or what. But he instantly turned into a quarter scale version of a Portuguese Water Dog or something. This was the first place we took him, and this was an hour after he got off the plane on the first day in the TCI;



"I don't think we are in Kansas anymore, Toto..." He took to the water. He took to the boat. He took to fishing. He took to becoming a pain in the butt. We worried about him. He would jump overboard if we threw a fish back. He was fearless running around on the gunwales while we were underway. He would jump overboard and climb on our backs when we were snorkeling. We mail ordered him a life jacket, and he was none too happy about wearing it, at first:



It doubles as a carrying handle, good for fishing the little terrierist out of the drink:

We leave his life jacket on the boat with the big people life jackets. We found out that he actually swam just fine. Very good, in fact. Not one of those ker-plonk ker-plonk type swimming dogs, who swim like they are climbing an invisible ladder. This one swims more like an otter. He loves it. Likes chasing tennis balls:



So, I engineered him up a raft so he could stay out longer without getting tired. Had to come up with a way to stabilize a boogie board. Went through a couple improvements along the way. First proto was still a little tippy:



Second proto added more flotation to the sides and stabilized the bow.



Had to add a boarding ladder:





He could climb the Boston Whaler boarding ladder, just fine. ( there's a short video of that on another post here). He can't handle the Armstrong ladder on the new boat, though. Now, two years later, he jumps into the ocean every chance he gets. He thinks every single fish we catch is a keeper and belongs to him personally. And of course, he absolutely loves riding on boats: