SAVING DOGS THANKS TO HOBIE

Coming back inside the anchorage yesterday, on a day with an abundance of chop and wind, was a young, distressed swimmer yelling for help. Turns out her dog had been swimming for a LONG time, against the tide, and was disoriented. 911 was called because of her screaming. A guy in a LLBean kayak with a huge cockpit was able to get the dog in his boat with my help and here's where it gets good..... THANKS to my stellar Revo I had him right alongside and between paddle usage for tighter turning and slick pedaling ability of my dear boat, we got safely to shore just as all the 911 vehicles arrived. You kinda had to be there, however NO OTHER BOAT could have done this as well. I adore dogs and thank you Hobie for the opportunity to help one out. xoxo

We used to have a golden retriever named Austin who was getting up there. He was part of the family and did everything with us. One time we were at my sisters lake near Shawnee forest in southern Il with our kayaks. I launched my kayak to go around the lake, for some reason the dog saw me out there and tried to swim out to me. The funny thing was he hated our kayaks and refused to go in them ever. But I had just taken my sisters huge Doberman around the lake (he was in the front seat of the Oasis with me in the back), and the Doberman had a blast (I have no idea why). We then tried to do the same with our Golden but he refused to get in the boat, so I set out on my own. He was 9 yrs old at the time, on his own he decided to swim out to me and got out a few hundred feet and started to drown. I had to rush back to him, jumped out of the boat and had to revive him, put him into the boat then got him back to shore (a really close call). He was by far the smartest dog we ever owned, the best we could figure out was that he had thought about it, and finally figured out on his own what we were trying to do, and wanting to please his master jumped in to try to join me. Once we recovered and had the boat back on shore, tending to Austin making sure he was ok, that crazy doberman went over and sat in the boat wanting to go out again. Needless to say we never tried anything like that again. (True Story)
Now days they actually sell doggy lifecjackets (probably a good investment). We now have a Palmarainian who won't go within 50 ft of any water ever. I'm pretty certain when the Palm was a pup, Austin taught him the ways of the dog world, and warned him off about our crazy family.
Bob

Wow, Bob!!! I forgot to mention that aside from the lovely lines of the Revo, I bought it because my 63 lb. Akita/Golden mix can fit on the stern. I take the bungee off, put a rubber based mat down for a more secure grip and off we go. Granted a little more bow showing than I like.... I've thought of offsetting it with some weight, however 7 gallons of water seems a bit weird.... It's the main reason I don't take him out all the time. (Well, he DOES wiggle around some, too...) He wears a life jacket for one specific reason --- when a dog gets scared (swimming) their butt drops making them far less efficient. I figure if he ever fell overboard the lifejacket would serve him if he was stressing. Decked out in his jacket, with his striking good looks, he ought to be in a Hobie catalog!

Good work! Thanks for the feel-good story Good way to start a Monday!

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

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Great job lula! Glad everyone made it home safely!