Kemah’s Wild Kingdom: animals encounters while on board

caption this?

Those chompers are intimidating! (the hat? not so much)

Kemah has what you call a high “prey drive“. In layman’s terms, that means that quick movements from other animals intrigue him. And by “intrigue” I mean quick movements from other animals make him want to chase said animals. If, he were to be so lucky as to actually catch one of those animals (it’s never happened*, but we hold the faith for you, K!), I’m 100% certain he would “catch” that animal with his big ol’ mouth.

*so far, he’s only caught my tushie on a swing – youch!

Knowing this about Mr. K, we normally limit his interaction with other animals by keeping him on the boat, in remote areas or in the case of areas likely to have other dogs, he is always on a leash and highly-controlled.

However, nature being what it is, there have been some interesting surprises, including:

  • the time on a Bahamanian sand bank where K took off for half-a-mile after a trigger fish (so glad it wasn’t a poisonous fish!)
  • the time we were in open ocean on passage from Jamaica to Providencia, were being followed by a pod of pilot whales and Kemah – who happened not to be harnessed in for some strange reason – decided to investigate from the lowest swim-step on the hulls, inches away from the 6-foot seas!
  • learning that K can actually smell dolphins causing him to bound into the cockpit to “sniff & scan” the horizon for his flippered friends (FYI – he is obsessed with dolphins! So much that’s he lingers on the bow during passage potty time compromising all of our safety. Thanks, dude!)
  • learning that K’s sensitive skin would rather tolerate jellyfish sting than the vinegar commonly used to neutralize the pain
  • K’s dis-interest in fish we bring aboard – What is it about a huge, thrashing fish within reach that he could care less about? But, show him a whale and forget about it: he’s giving up his ghost!
  • K trying to teach a visiting swallow about it’s namesake

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