test #2 – canoe + other basset

since we live 5 minutes away from three different river/creeks we decided we would take the canoe out after supper and see how roux would respond to being on the water. roux liked the canoe a good bit less than montana but apparently felt much more comfortable with the idea of walking around in the canoe. i’m not sure that we ever got real close to tipping the canoe over but we moved enough that it scared me a little. the video above is one of those jerks.

the good news is that both of the basset rides were good enough that we are going to keep on trying it. who knows after a month or two of basset training i may be able to go out and fly fish for smallies with a basset companion.

my run for the day
distance – 6.0 miles
time – didn’t take a watch
weather – 68º/night run

test #1 of basset + canoe

 

pam and i decided that me fulfilling my basset version of “a river runs through it” was a worthy enough goal for us to work on. therefore, i went to the pet companion today and purchased a basset size live vest. then pam and i grabbed montana and the canoe and headed out to mcdill pond for a little trial float. we decided to try montana first because she is a little more calm than roux (very little). we put her life vest on and put her in the canoe. it was at this point that i kind of expected things to run out of control. i pictured montana bouncing from side to side checking things out and maybe even deciding that she was michael phelps and going for a purposeful swim. i was wrong. instead, was frozen in fear. she stood as straight as possible. she barely moved for the first 30 minutes we were out there. she wasn’t shaking but i tend to think that was because she was afraid it might be enough motion to tip the boat over. after 30 minutes she was a little more used to the situation and began to move around a little bit. not much mind you, but enough to tell pam and i that she was feeling a little more comfortable. thus, it was time to see what would happen when i started fishing. for my first 5 casts montana jerked every time the lure went flying. canoes were not meant for sudden 50lb low center of gravity jerks. thankfully these canoequakes weren’t to bad, so other than a slight heart palpitation on my part there was no real harm. i didn’t plan on catching any fish during this float and that part of the plan went exactly as i had thought it would. not a bite. so i still don’t know how she would respond to a fish. we’ll have to try that later.

i’ve got a 20 second video that i’m uploading to flickr at the moment. until it finishes you’ll just have to be satisfied with this photo.

basset canoeing