Pets on the Cut
Great dame
Alison Wilkerson spies an eye-catching and unusual dog while cruising along the cut.
CRUISING on the cut is a real privilege; especially when the weather is kind and the seasons show you wonderful wildlife in both creature and plant form. Cruising also opens your eyes to a huge variety of boats, people and pets who share our inland waterways and one such pet, a large grey dog with an amazingly shiny coat on a rather interesting-looking boat, really caught my eye while cruising past.
The dog was a great dane/ old tyme bulldog mix known as a Taylor’s bulldane, called Ava. She was two-and-a-half years old and owned by Tim, a management consultant, specialising in human resources (HR) and talent management, whom she had lived with for a year and a half.
She was actually rehomed along with her brother whom she lived with on a boat, in the north of England, but now both still live on boats, only separately and in the mid/ south. Luckily they now live not that far from each other so still meet up, which is wonderful. She also has two very special doggie friends namely Sol, who has appeared in Pets on the Cut Issue 168, October 2019, and Logan. “Hello and woof, woof” from Ava!
She gets on very well with other dogs, adores people, chases cats and likes to play (not hurt) with other creatures, so watch out hedgehogs! She also has excellent recall which is useful, especially when off-lead as there are so many tantalising smells to investigate on the towpath as well as lots of interesting people and dogs to greet.
Tim purchased his 50ft boat (his first) in 2013 from near Bath via eBay (as we did) and unlike us, had a survey carried out, which is always a wise decision; even though it was as good as the advert described it’s always best to get one done.
He had it taken out of the water, placed on a lorry trailer and transported to his required destination. It was built in 1991 by Mick Sivewright and is one of five stern wheelhouse boats the same width as a narrowboat. It was actually built for The Wash and inland coast rivers but spends its time mainly on the non-tidal canal.
Ava is used to living on boats so has no problems living on this space-saving boat and has cruised around 150 miles since being rehomed. In fact many dogs live happily and safely (many have dog lifejackets) on boats, proving that rescue/adopted dogs can indeed be rehomed and live on boats. Please take note, rescue centres, as we know this has been an issue for some.
She loves swimming in rivers and lakes and keeps very fit by running with Tim on long runs. Her favourite toy is a squeaky Christmas pudding (not just for Christmas) and food-wise, she looks forward to sardines, which Tim refers to as crocodiles and yes, her ears certainly do prick up when he says that word.