David Bahnson has taken his dogs on drives, flights, and boat rides, so it’s not that surprising that he wanted to bring his pups out on his kayak with him, too.
While he’d seen some boaters just put their dogs in their laps and head out on the water, he thought that would be uncomfortable. So he came up with a creative solution: he turned the baggage compartment into a doggy seat.
“Our dogs have always loved to travel with us… building a way for them to kayak with us just seemed like a logical choice, and the boats are fun to build anyway,” he told Huffington Post UK. Bahnson started with one pup, Susie, and then made further changes to the craft when he and his wife got their second dog, Ginger.
“I decided to just build another identical hull but to modify the baggage compartments to accommodate both dogs, adding coamings to both instead of the flat opening for a baggage compartment.”
Both dogs were strong swimmers and trained to stay safe in the kayak. They respond to verbal commands to get in and out of the boat and never jumped out while on the water. Plus, they loved going out on the kayak.
“They get excited when we’d pull the kayaks out and see that we were going,” Bahnson told The Dodo. “They just really enjoy going places.”
Unfortunately, both Susie and Ginger have passed since the original doggy kayak was created, but Bahnson’s wife still uses it when she wants to go out with their newest golden retriever, Piper.
