Cruising With A Service Dog....everything You Ever Wanted To Know!

[guitarest]

Not to change the subject.....How's your friends wife?

 

Still in ICU, they took her off the ventilator and she is breathing on her own. They are unsure how long she is going to be in the hospital so right now her being able to breath on her own is a huge step to recovery.

 

Thank you for asking... Huge thank you for all the prayers

[rangeley]

I totally believe in the power of prayer. If I ever had a brother it would be Calvin; he was there for me and I hope I was there for him in the past. I know he needs me now at least in spirit and until I can get to Ohio. This past weekend Calvin (in middle) and his wife were biking (they are avid motorcyclists) and the details are fuzzy right now since I haven't been able to speak with Calvin and only exchanging information via text message right now. From what I understand Tonya ws riding her motorcycle and she dropped the bike; I dont know if she was hit or how she dropped the bike. What I do know is she is in the ICU and on a ventilator and others life support devices. I am currently trying to get things set up here so I can leave this friday to visit them. With this being a holiday weekend most people are either out of town or the vets/kennels are already over booked.

 

Please say a prayer for them.

 

Thank you.

 

 

Jocko on left, Calvin in center, Tonya on right

 

OMG What an awful thing to happen. I am glad she is doing better and hope she has a full recovery. I wish people would realize how dangerous motorcycles really are. John has been a quad for over 30 years because he got hit on his motorcycle. I hate them!!

[rangeley]

So, Brenda's going on her LAST CRUISE [her 15th] on September 24th. I have the most gorgeous collars [some of which she's never worn], that I'm going to bring. She will wear a different one every day.

 

I usually take, at least, one formal shot of her [either near the staircase, on deck 5, or with some really neat backdrop in the background] on formal nights. The photographers love me...I'm such a sucker for pictures of Brenda.

 

Do you guys have any great suggestions for this last cruise for Brenda? I'm running out of ideas.

 

The Meet & Greet group is absolutely amazing. It's huge and some of the nicest people have been blogging about meeting before and during the cruise. Sometimes, you get really lucky with the group of people you cruise with. I'm so happy that it worked out that I can take this cruise with my girl.

 

I hope we will be seeing some more pics of Brenny. You will need a tux like Wexys for the new baby. Check pics below. I didn't know if I had posted the one of Wex in the grass so I threw it in.

[wizard-of-roz]

I hope we will be seeing some more pics of Brenny. You will need a tux like Wexys for the new baby. Check pics below. I didn't know if I had posted the one of Wex in the grass so I threw it in.

 

I keep a picture of the one with Wex on the grass on my desk [it's 2 3/4" by 1 3/4"], next to little picture of Brenda. You had posted it a while ago. I just love the expression in his eyes as he's savoring the grass. His face is so different than Brenny's, they both have their own distinct look! I love it!

The tux picure is so cute.....I can't wait to find that outfit for "Successor!"

[wizard-of-roz]

Still in ICU, they took her off the ventilator and she is breathing on her own. They are unsure how long she is going to be in the hospital so right now her being able to breath on her own is a huge step to recovery.

 

Thank you for asking... Huge thank you for all the prayers

 

I pray she continues to improve.

[rangeley]

I keep a picture of the one with Wex on the grass on my desk [it's 2 3/4" by 1 3/4"], next to little picture of Brenda. You had posted it a while ago. I just love the expression in his eyes as he's savoring the grass. His face is so different than Brenny's, they both have their own distinct look! I love it!

 

The tux picure is so cute.....I can't wait to find that outfit for "Successor!"

 

I didn't know you had a pic of Wex on your desk, how sweet. The english labs do look alot different, I love their big square heads. Joe(hate to even mention his name) was an english lab and he was beautiful. To bad his personality didn't match. :(

[dobiemom]

I knew I could count on you!

 

True story: We went to the Captains Cocktail Party-we're sitting and waiting for the Captain to arrive-Suddenly, someone grabs Brenda's leash out of my hand [it was the Captain, onboard the Golden Princess] - He took Brenda on stage with him and said that she was his very favorite passenger EVER!!!!!

 

He was a great guy - what a great picture that was!

I think that's the cruise where I met Brenda (and you & Morey of course)! :) I have a picture too but the flash didn't work, and because Brenda is black she just blends into the background. All I see is her tongue and eyes (and the frou frou collar if I adjust the contrast).

[wizard-of-roz]

I didn't know you had a pic of Wex on your desk, how sweet. The english labs do look alot different, I love their big square heads. Joe(hate to even mention his name) was an english lab and he was beautiful. To bad his personality didn't match. :(

 

I do! Everytime I have a "time crunch" and have to finish something on my computer...I just look to the left and there's Wex & Brenny. The pictures "center" me!

You are so right about the difference between the English Lab and the American Lab. Brenda has a huge/boxy/square head, I love it.

Who's Joe?

[wizard-of-roz]

I think that's the cruise where I met Brenda (and you & Morey of course)! :) I have a picture too but the flash didn't work, and because Brenda is black she just blends into the background. All I see is her tongue and eyes (and the frou frou collar if I adjust the contrast).

 

That's right. The Golden is where we first met you. That was a fun cruise, with a great group of people onboard!

[mondiale8]

Hi everyone! What a great forum, and you all have given me such a good idea about what it is like onboard with a service dog. I'm cruising for the very first time, so...

May I ask your advice?

(The dog is actually my young child's and I am just amazed by her myself and what she does!)

 

Does the boat moves a lot? -- because our vet said it is better to leave her in a kennel -- because dogs tend to get motion sickness and be ill a lot. We are travelling on Royal Caribbean, from Europe in the Eastern Med, and I think all the RCI boats are very large and stable enough, but I'm not sure how rough it could be. I reallly want her to travel on the plane with us so my child is happy, but I don't want to leave her in a kennel I don't know overseas.

 

The second question is whether or not it is time-consuming or bureaucratic to leave the ship when in port, in a foreign country, with the dog, or whether it is better to lkeep her on the ship? She has all her rabies shots, all shots and titres, but some of the Mediterranean countries have strange requirements like that our dog must have a vet sign off on her health certificate within five days of arrival, but of course we will be either at sea or in another foreign country so how on earth would we be able to get a vet there to sign a new more recent health certificate!! Our health certificate will be a week old when we get on the ship, but then the ship sails for 11 days!

 

Do you come off the ship with your dogs when in foreign ports?

 

We are going to Turkey, Israel, Greece and France.

 

I hope this is not too difficult, as my son really loves his dog, and we all do.

 

I imagine we could just keep the dog on board when in Israel and Turkey, and maybe be able to disembark in Greece?

 

What's your experience been like? Thanks so much, as I'm new to all this but want to try for my son's sake.

 

Lorena

[wizard-of-roz]

Hi everyone! What a great forum, and you all have given me such a good idea about what it is like onboard with a service dog. I'm cruising for the very first time, so...

May I ask your advice?

(The dog is actually my young child's and I am just amazed by her myself and what she does!)

 

Does the boat moves a lot? -- because our vet said it is better to leave her in a kennel -- because dogs tend to get motion sickness and be ill a lot. We are travelling on Royal Caribbean, from Europe in the Eastern Med, and I think all the RCI boats are very large and stable enough, but I'm not sure how rough it could be. I reallly want her to travel on the plane with us so my child is happy, but I don't want to leave her in a kennel I don't know overseas.

 

The second question is whether or not it is time-consuming or bureaucratic to leave the ship when in port, in a foreign country, with the dog, or whether it is better to lkeep her on the ship? She has all her rabies shots, all shots and titres, but some of the Mediterranean countries have strange requirements like that our dog must have a vet sign off on her health certificate within five days of arrival, but of course we will be either at sea or in another foreign country so how on earth would we be able to get a vet there to sign a new more recent health certificate!! Our health certificate will be a week old when we get on the ship, but then the ship sails for 11 days!

 

Do you come off the ship with your dogs when in foreign ports?

 

We are going to Turkey, Israel, Greece and France.

 

I hope this is not too difficult, as my son really loves his dog, and we all do.

 

I imagine we could just keep the dog on board when in Israel and Turkey, and maybe be able to disembark in Greece?

 

What's your experience been like? Thanks so much, as I'm new to all this but want to try for my son's sake.

 

Lorena

 

Lorena, your cruise sounds really awesome.

 

If you have all your paperwork in order for your Service Dog entering into the ports should not be a problem. If a specific port [immigration authorities stop you and insist on some other form of id] then just walk your dog back onboard and see if you can take turns going ashore. I have left Brenda with staff members who offered to "dog sit"....I have never left her alone in the cabin [Carnival supplied me with a "do not disturb" sign for the door, specifically made for a Service Dog], in case we wanted to leave her by herself in the cabin, [again, I don't suggest leaving your dog alone in the cabin.]

 

Certain countries [and even Hawaii], have laws that pertain to someone who is flying in rather than cruising in with their dog, which takes much more time, and the various titer tests, etc., may have to be waived for cruise ship entry, only!

 

Your Service Dog may go into the airplane with you and then must curl-up, like a pill-bug, either at your feet or under your seat. Offer ice chips for your dog to lick rather than giving him lots of liquid [he can stay more comfortable while trying to hold off his potty breaks.]

 

Your Son's comfort zone with his dog is ultimately important and should be treated as such by EVERYONE!

 

Most cruise ships today have stabilizer's that make their movement minimal, even in rough seas. There is still movement from side to side and may even be some "pitching" from back to front but nothing like it used to be. The ships do most of their fast speeds during the evening and, usually, slow down for the dinner hour.

It's a wonderful way to vacation and once you do it, you'll soon be hooked!

 

Brenda has been on 14 cruises, she's a 65lb English Lab and is 11 1/2 years old. She has NEVER gotten sea sick. She plays with her tennis ball onboard, goes for long walks on the promenade deck and sleeps really well as the ship is moving along. It's important that you allow your dog some "down time"......time to walk and play and release some of his energy.

 

Have your dog practice in a potty box [4x5], it will then be second nature when he's cruising. Bring "litter" bags to pick-up the pooh, and look out for folks onboard who are either terrified or allergic to your dog.

 

Remember, the various ports that you will be visiting may have stray dogs; no leash laws and citizens who are very fearful of your amazing dog. They don't realize how trained he is and expect him to jump; bark; bite and act like other dogs they may have encountered! Also, the ADA Laws are not applied in a foreign country so be ready to be asked to leave shops, restaurants or other public places.

 

Most of all, make sure that your dogs behavior, in public, is exemplary; you represent all of us.

 

I hope this helps a bit. Have a wonderful cruise. I hope your son's dog enjoys it as much as Brenda does.

Edited September 3, 2011 by wizard-of-roz

[guitarest]

So guess whats on the forecast for today, more fricking rain........

[rangeley]

I do! Everytime I have a "time crunch" and have to finish something on my computer...I just look to the left and there's Wex & Brenny. The pictures "center" me!

 

You are so right about the difference between the English Lab and the American Lab. Brenda has a huge/boxy/square head, I love it.

 

Who's Joe?

 

 

Joe was the "attack" service dog we were given before we discovered CCI. The one who attacked my Bailee :mad:

[rangeley]

Hi everyone! What a great forum, and you all have given me such a good idea about what it is like onboard with a service dog. I'm cruising for the very first time, so...

May I ask your advice?

(The dog is actually my young child's and I am just amazed by her myself and what she does!)

 

Does the boat moves a lot? -- because our vet said it is better to leave her in a kennel -- because dogs tend to get motion sickness and be ill a lot. We are travelling on Royal Caribbean, from Europe in the Eastern Med, and I think all the RCI boats are very large and stable enough, but I'm not sure how rough it could be. I reallly want her to travel on the plane with us so my child is happy, but I don't want to leave her in a kennel I don't know overseas.

 

The second question is whether or not it is time-consuming or bureaucratic to leave the ship when in port, in a foreign country, with the dog, or whether it is better to lkeep her on the ship? She has all her rabies shots, all shots and titres, but some of the Mediterranean countries have strange requirements like that our dog must have a vet sign off on her health certificate within five days of arrival, but of course we will be either at sea or in another foreign country so how on earth would we be able to get a vet there to sign a new more recent health certificate!! Our health certificate will be a week old when we get on the ship, but then the ship sails for 11 days!

 

Do you come off the ship with your dogs when in foreign ports?

 

We are going to Turkey, Israel, Greece and France.

 

I hope this is not too difficult, as my son really loves his dog, and we all do.

 

I imagine we could just keep the dog on board when in Israel and Turkey, and maybe be able to disembark in Greece?

 

What's your experience been like? Thanks so much, as I'm new to all this but want to try for my son's sake.

 

Lorena

 

 

Hi Lorena and welcome to our little world here. I just have a few comments to add to Rozs info. Our vet told us that if your dog does NOT get car sick, good chance they won't get seasick. We got pills from our vet to bring with us just in case.

 

Although Carnival gave Roz a sign for her cabin to leave the dog there, most of the cruiselines will not let you leave the dog unattended in the cabin.

 

We are going on our 3rd cruise with our service dog, and it has been wonderful. Everyone loves him and he just loves all the attention. Best of luck!

 

Cindy

[rangeley]

So guess whats on the forecast for today, more fricking rain........

 

Send the rain to Texas they really need it!

[guitarest]

Your the second to ask for rain, I have my fan outside pointing westward; it does not appear to be working yet.... Sorry.

[wizard-of-roz]

Joe was the "attack" service dog we were given before we discovered CCI. The one who attacked my Bailee :mad:

 

Oh! No! Bailey must have been so frightened! That was a very bad thing!!!

[wizard-of-roz]

Your the second to ask for rain, I have my fan outside pointing westward; it does not appear to be working yet.... Sorry.

 

That's very funny! We had a pretty bad wild fire here in a suburb of L.A. [near the high desert] - They could have used some of that rain. The saddest part was that some sheep and cows who were penned-up and couldn't run away were killed in the fire.....it was so sad to watch as the fireman tried to drop retardent from a plane......I couldn't watch. Too sad!!!!

Ever since Brenda has come into my life I can't watch any animal shows, where they show the "food chain" and you see animals being killed......I'm ultra sensitive to it now!!!!!

[guitarest]

That's very funny! We had a pretty bad wild fire here in a suburb of L.A. [near the high desert] - They could have used some of that rain. The saddest part was that some sheep and cows who were penned-up and couldn't run away were killed in the fire.....it was so sad to watch as the fireman tried to drop retardent from a plane......I couldn't watch. Too sad!!!!

 

Ever since Brenda has come into my life I can't watch any animal shows, where they show the "food chain" and you see animals being killed......I'm ultra sensitive to it now!!!!!

 

I agree, while I in no way support Peta and their tactics which many times borders on illegal activities IMO. I am a card carrying red meat eating individual and I hope that the meat I consume was dispatched in a humane way. What gets me is watching things on animal planet and seeing what individual people do to their own pets, IMO there is a special place in he11 for those people. Allowing the pets in their care to starve to death or get eaten alive by internal or external bugs and or parasites. Blitz isn't doing well this week and the vet thinks its just stress because I am very stressed with Tonya in the ICU and my daughter not willing to watch my other pets (which one was her's) while I went to Ohio to visit my brother in arms and his wife. When she told me no you could not have hit me with a hammer and gotten a more painful blow to me. I needed her help last weekend to recover some of my property at a friends house and I gave her a specfic time and we had to arrive at that time or John (my friend) had other things he had to do. Not only was my daughter late by 30 minutes, she didn't call me or return my calls or text messages. When she got home she was surprised that I blew up, yet its more and more of her being disrespectful and not caring. If my legs worked like they did 6 years ago I would have never asked her, after the fight she had the "balls" to demand a apology. She didn't get a apology and could not understand why I was mad; especially since it was just 30 minutes late. I know Blitz was very stressed by that situation; it was the first time he ever heard me get angry and yell. Now this storm so he picks up on emotions.

 

My point before I got on the soapbox was when Blitz or any of my babies acts even closely to being sick they are at the vet. My babies get the best food I can afford and the best food without all the advertising hype. While I was at Walmart yesterday getting a few forgotten supplies, I ended up in the treat section and usually let Blitz pick something. A woman came up and was giving away free samples of those dog teeth cleaning bones (name escapes me but not the mint ones) and she also had coupons for dog food.I gave back the dog food coupons yet kept the samples and coupons for the teeth cleaning bones. She looked at Blitz's teeth and asked how his tetth are so white and i gotta stop telling people I let him chew on children, lol. I told her I did use her product; and Kongs also help with the cleaning teeth. Then she used Blitz as a example for some people in the store; I tell ya he is a hella ambassator for his breed for sure.

 

Like I was saying there is a special place in he11 for those who abuse one of the only things in their pittiful lives who will give them complete unconditional love.

[guitarest]

Joe was the "attack" service dog we were given before we discovered CCI. The one who attacked my Bailee :mad:

 

Attack Service Dog? did I miss something? Is this tongue in cheek?

[guitarest]

Alright this storm just has to go, its surely screwing my sleep schedule for sure. So I am unsure what woke me this morning, I have been up for a hour so far. The NOAA has us under all types of warnings and weather alerts. There have been 5 tornado's detected on doppler radar in a hour with the squaw that just came a shore in my area. So far all the tornado's have been just west of me, and they can stay that way.

[guitarest]

A few pictures taken during a break in the rain, I ran down to the beach with Blitz. I don't know if he went there to prove how brave he was; or maybe he went to the beach to keep me from being stupid. Damn I just realized his head looks so fricking big and his body so small in this picture. Kinda funny actually.

 

 

This reminds me of a sitcom about a 3 hour tour...... lol

 

 

Blitz comes face to face with his kryptonite, ducks..... The weather doesn't scare them so a 86lb furry chicken with 4 legs is nothing to them.

 

 

This is in Long Beach Harbor, under the water is three piers and three boat ramps. The tops of those poles are approx 7 foot about a normal tide from the top of the water to the top of the poles. This is a example of the tidal surge and high tide at the same time.

 

 

Edited September 4, 2011 by guitarest

[guitarest]

Another example of tidal surge, you can see by the debris where the water dumped trash. Normally the water is near the location where the wave is breaking against the pier and cresting over the pier.

 

 

This is the final photo that shows a sand barrier fence that is supposed to be closer to the road than the water. That is until today, lol

 

[S.S. Cruisers]

Evenin' all:

Sorry I haven't been around, sis is here on vacation and a mountain of help with mom! I think her meds are kicking in, too, she has been an angel. Sis probably thinks I am the one loosing my mind! Well she is right about that.

But, I just had to come and brag. Travis got a letter sent home with him that he has been chosen to get a "pet partner" to read to at school! It is thru P.A.W.S. (Pet Animals Working With Students) He will have a therapy dog to read to at least 30 minutes a week! We are so excited. When he reads to me at night, Jezzy gets up in the chair or on the bed with us. I don't really think she is listening, just trying to stay in the loop!

Jocko: Rain this way too! We will take all you can send. 114 degrees again today! Ughhhhh.

[wizard-of-roz]

Another example of tidal surge, you can see by the debris where the water dumped trash. Normally the water is near the location where the wave is breaking against the pier and cresting over the pier.

 

 

This is the final photo that shows a sand barrier fence that is supposed to be closer to the road than the water. That is until today, lol

 

 

Hang in there Jocko! Children will do what is best for THEM first....the less you expect the more you'll get!

 

This weather can't last forever, just keep you and Blitz safe - There is always a rainbow following a storm!