Take care of your dog near water.

[Clarky]

We are sitting beside a canal in Belgium and there have been two scary incidents of dogs in the water in just a couple of hours.
The first wasn’t serious but could have been.
A couple of women were walking five dogs along the towpath opposite when one of them (a dog not a woman ) decided to run down steps and into the water. Usually not a problem you would think, but this dog then tried to climb out up the concrete sloping bank. Having slid back into the water it continued to swim away from its owner who was now standing at the bottom of the steps calling frantically. The next lot of steps were a long distance away and one could foresee the dog tiring well before reaching them. It tried again to climb out but was never going to get a grip on the slippery concrete.
Having swum round a couple of times it eventually went back to the steps it had gone down and all was well, not helped much by the owner and her friend who were calling the dog from different directions.

The second could have been much more serious.
A Belgium MoHo pulled up behind us on the quayside. There is a sheer drop of 6-8 ft into the water with only a vertical ladder to escape.
They parked about 8 ft from the edge and when they opened the door their old, half blind dog jumped out.
Not seeing very well she went straight over the edge and dropped into the water.
Disoriented, probably panicked and not a strong swimmer the dog almost drowned.
Luckily a couple of local fishermen saw what was happening and had nets with long extending handles. They managed to get the dog to the side so that it’s owner could reach its collar and drag it up the vertical ladder.
The poor dog was in quite a state but after being dried off and given lots of fuss seemed to regain its equilibrium.

The moral of this rather long winded post is please, please think about the possibilities before opening the door or letting the dog off the lead.

Richard.

 

[RogerThat]

Those poor dogs

 

[TheBig1]

Sadly, many people have died trying to save dogs that have fallen/jumped into the water. often with the dog surviving despite the tragedy

 

[rb62]

We can never understand why they park that way on,we're always the easy one to spot being the odd one out

 

[Nigel Crompton]

Don't underestimate a dog's ability to swim, our Border Terrier has easily swum in excess of 1km, several times French canals, alpine lakes, Atlantic, whatever; he can be a bugger to entice back to terra firma. The whippet swims like a torpedo, but doesn't like rough water

Lots of continental canals have frequent access/egress points for wildlife. Wild boar are known to use these deliberately to cross the cut (rather than using them to scramble out after accidentally falling in) Deer seem to be particularly clueless in this regard, given the number or corpses ....

BTW, which canal, where ??

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Nigel Crompton]

Ah, that looks like Thieu, I think ? Seen the big ship-lift and the light show on the antique version.
There's also a large colony of ring-necked parakeets thereabouts.

 

[rangi]

Don't know whats happening your end of the country, but down here in anticipation of the usual idiots arriving, that think the sea is the same as a backyard swimming pool, the RNLI are running a "RESPECT THE WATER" campaign where the main impact is on saving human lives.

 

[Clarky]

Ah, that looks like Thieu, I think ? Seen the big ship-lift and the light show on the antique version.
There's also a large colony of ring-necked parakeets thereabouts.

Correct!
The man wins a coconut.

Richard

 

[Nigel Crompton]

The man wins a coconut.

Prefer cigars, really ....

 

[Riverbankannie]

We can never understand why they park that way on,we're always the easy one to spot being the odd one out

View attachment 310785

Unless you forgot to put the handbrake on and leave in gear. This happened to the guy who parked behind us a day or two ago. I’m not sure who was the most shaken, me or him but at least the dent was on his MH.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Hollyberry]

Years ago my Springer chased a duck out of some undergrowth. Running after it, head up she went straight into the Kennet and Avon. Immediately tried to get out and of course couldn’t as the water level was a good couple of feet below the towpath. I had to lie on the path and lean over to drag her out by her collar. She was young and healthy so could have kept swimming but I was glad when she was back on dry land.
It must have been a family thing as her mother once swam out into a river and tried to climb into a boat belonging to the local rowing club. Brought their practice to a standstill, mostly because they were all laughing at her.

 

[denisejoe]

We are sitting beside a canal in Belgium and there have been two scary incidents of dogs in the water in just a couple of hours.
The first wasn’t serious but could have been.
A couple of women were walking five dogs along the towpath opposite when one of them (a dog not a woman ) decided to run down steps and into the water. Usually not a problem you would think, but this dog then tried to climb out up the concrete sloping bank. Having slid back into the water it continued to swim away from its owner who was now standing at the bottom of the steps calling frantically. The next lot of steps were a long distance away and one could foresee the dog tiring well before reaching them. It tried again to climb out but was never going to get a grip on the slippery concrete.
Having swum round a couple of times it eventually went back to the steps it had gone down and all was well, not helped much by the owner and her friend who were calling the dog from different directions.

The second could have been much more serious.
A Belgium MoHo pulled up behind us on the quayside. There is a sheer drop of 6-8 ft into the water with only a vertical ladder to escape.
They parked about 8 ft from the edge and when they opened the door their old, half blind dog jumped out.
Not seeing very well she went straight over the edge and dropped into the water.
Disoriented, probably panicked and not a strong swimmer the dog almost drowned.
Luckily a couple of local fishermen saw what was happening and had nets with long extending handles. They managed to get the dog to the side so that it’s owner could reach its collar and drag it up the vertical ladder.
The poor dog was in quite a state but after being dried off and given lots of fuss seemed to regain its equilibrium.

The moral of this rather long winded post is please, please think about the possibilities before opening the door or letting the dog off the lead.

Richard.

Was that first dog at thieu by the boat lift because we were watching it as well

 

[denisejoe]

We can never understand why they park that way on,we're always the easy one to spot being the odd one out

View attachment 310785

We were there first a couple of weeks ago and faced the water and everyone else followed our lead

 

[Allanm]

Looks like you’ve parked the wrong way round, you should follow the example of the other vehicles there

 

[Clarky]

Was that first dog at thieu by the boat lift because we were watching it as well

Spot on.
Where are you now?

Richard.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Clarky]

Looks like you’ve parked the wrong way round, you should follow the example of the other vehicles there

When we arrived everyone else had parked side on to the canal with their chairs out beside the van. Last time we were here we parked head on th the canal but as usual ‘when in Rome’.

Richard.

 

[Allanm]

When we arrived everyone else had parked side on to the canal with their chairs out beside the van. Last time we were here we parked head on th the canal but as usual ‘when in Rome’.

Richard.

We’ve been to a few aires like that where whoever arrives first denotes which way round they all park.
Even when the bays are marked out!

 

[mitzimad]

We can never understand why they park that way on,we're always the easy one to spot being the odd one out

View attachment 310785

a much more sociable way to park you share the river bank with your neighbours rather than fencing iy into chunks

 

[rb62]

a much more sociable way to park you share the river bank with your neighbours rather than fencing iy into chunks

When we're sat in the van we'd rather see whats going on on the canal rathe than the back of the next van and when sat outside we sit out in front of the van

 

[Casper46]

When Casper was young we were walking him in the middle of nowhere when I realised that there was a stream in front. The shout of catch the dog,was not fast enough and he jumped in. Sheer banking and he couldn’t get out. He had a harness on, I hung onto to himselfs feet, whilst he dangled over the side and managed to get his harness. He stunk (Casper) and it was only when we had to take him to the vets the following day, that we realised that the stream was actually the drain from the village at the top of the hill.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[TerryL]

When our Westie, Jamie, was a couple of months old we took him to a local NT site for some exercise (us, not the dog!) Whilst walking around we came across a steep-sided pond marked "Caution: Deep Water". Jamie thought it said "Nice To Drink", stuck his head over the side and promptly fell in head first. He managed to swim back to the edge okay, proving dogs are natural swimmers, but couldn't get out. Fortunately he was wearing a harness and I had the other end in my hand so I just hauled him up. He dried off naturally, by shaking of course and soaked us!

Thing is, since then he's been reluctant to go anywhere near open water, although we are now gradually managing to coax him.