What’s in Kemah’s Kloset? ooooo-ooooh, wouldn’t you like to know!
OK, twist my arm. We’ll tell you.
A short list of Kemah’s favorite things can be seen here.
A couple of easy things we got out of the way were stuff he would “wear” aboard.
Fortunately, there are a ton of great companies who make life jackets for dogs. Kemah’s is from Ruffwear.
See that handle on top? SUPER helpful for tethering him into the cockpit.
He generally only wears it when we are underway – always in high seas and rough weather and at night. Basically, if we’ve got our harnesses on and are tethered in, K has his life jacket on and is tethered in (through the handle on top of his jacket).
He also has gotten great use out of his jacket when swimming in fresh water, like in the Rio Dulce, Guatemala. Because he’s a fairly dense dog – and was used to swimming in super-bouyant salt water – we found he really benefited from wearing his life jacket in those sweet waters.
Regarding the performance of the jacket, I’m mixed. There were actually no jackets in Austin K could try on (REI has a policy against dogs in the store . . .). So, I measured him according to Ruffwear’s specs. Kemah measured right on the cusp of a medium and a large (he’s got a deep, barrel chest and a big fat neck, but he’s not that long – apparently fitting a dog life jacket is like going jean shopping for women: hard!). Figuring too big would be better than too small, I mail-ordered a large. And, it fits, although truthfully, I think his jacket is a bit big for him: when he’s laying down in it, he can pull his arms in like a turtle in a shell and if we were to pull him up from the water by the handle, he could possibly wiggle out – no bueno. Tightening up the jacket or exchanging it for a smaller size is on the “to-do” list.
A couple other things we brought aboard that we don’t recommend include:
- A doggie rash guard/swim shirt – I know what you’re thinking: “shocker, your dog didn’t need clothes”. It’s true. I bought our dog a child-sized dry-wicking shirt from Target before we left. Why? Because he likes to sun bathe – like a lot. Like Magda from “There’s Something About Mary” a lot. And, because he likes to sunbathe, he’s had tons of skin damage. While we could care less about his piggy-belly covered in liver spots, we didn’t want the (12) growths and tumors he has removed over the years to develop into something more serious – all because he likes the Vitamin D a little too much. Once, a well-meaning vet recommended we put suncreen on him to protect him from the sun. But, we’re ready to confess: the sunscreen and the swim shirt get the same amount of use from our dog (none). If K dies like a raisin in the sun, I think that’ll suit him just fine.
- Shoes. Yep, this is the point where you are definitely convinced I’m a crazy dog person. But, seriously, Kemah has shoes. And, they are actually awesome – but not for this purpose. He first got shoes after he burnt his pads hiking on some sweet Texas boulders on one of Texas’ fine 100-degrees-for-100-days summer days. We figured we’d bring the shoes along for K on the boat: to provide grip on deck and also to protect him from hazards in the water (like urchins). But, like us, his bare feet provide more traction on deck than shoes and he just doesn’t do a lot of wading around in urchin-infested water (turns out).
K showing off his Texas-hot-concrete protection shoes
This ain’t all! Click here to get a full list of what’s in Kemah’s medical kit