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Anyone who has owned a dog, or three, during their lives will tell you that there is always one of them that stays in your mind.
William was a Springer Spaniel and, true to his breed, was solid, broad-headed, brown and white, a butch 'mans' dog.
He was taken on his first sea trip when he was still a pup of about nine months old. As we boink-boinked our way round Poole Harbour, Willie stood in the bow, hair, ears, tail, etc. streaming in the wind, with an expression of 'This is my reason to live' on his face.
"This is all very well" I hear you say, "lots of dogs do that" and so they do, but what happened next I have never seen before or since.
After a while, we came to an area called South Haven which is the harbour side of Shell Bay. There used to be a beach café there in those days. We dropped the hook and rowed ashore for a cuppa' (Ed: cup of tea) and a sticky bun. Willie came with us and, as he was not allowed inside, we all sat on the sun deck next to the beach. As soon as he was told he could go, he was off into the sea, and we left him to play in the sand and amongst the rocks. It was then that he started what became a lifetime pursuit.
Swimming out into the sea, with his head in the water, he started looking for 'stuff'. A slight pause (no puns, please) for breath and Plop! He was under the water, swimming like mad. Soon, Whoosh! Up he came with a rock, a beer can, a shore crab or a flip-flop. In other words: 'stuff'.
He then swam to the beach and anxiously searched for the 'right' place, peed on it, dropped his treasure onto that patch, peed on that too and went out into the sea again. This operation was to be repeated for as long as we let him continue, his pile growing ever bigger as, too, was his audience of holidaymakers.
When we left and called him to the dinghy he ran frantically to his pile, tail wagging furiously, pawing and picking up things only to discard them until he found one he wanted. This was brought aboard with him and then to the cabin where he curled up to sleep with his chin on his bit of 'stuff'.
He lived to a ripe old age, eventually too old to go 'stuff' diving but, until he felt it was too much, he was out there every time he went to sea, the only under water sea dog I've ever known.
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| Of course it isn't always possible to take a pet sailing and you may find a visit to the Pet Sitters website useful. To see whether the service is available in your area Click Here!
Are you a cat-lover? Don't miss the Fine Art Cat Print Collections we've found for you!
Last but not least, our tribute to Muttley, ship's dog aboard Leopard Normand III, who died at the age of 22 in Adra, Almeria, Spain on the 16th of December 2004. We miss him still, even now, and this little photo album will open in a separate window.
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As we said in the first issue - if you care to send us a photograph of your pet, we may even start a pets gallery. We are particularly curious to know what unusual pets our readers travel with... 
