Milo the AwesomeDog and I both love the water, so we should both love kayaking. Right? Well, there’s only one way to find out.
Baby steps are usually the best way to introduce Milo to something new. Here’s our step-by-step approach to kayaking.
Step one: Get boat and safety equipment
Buying something rarely makes me so happy!
Step two: Go boating without the puppy
Boating with humans is fun too. Although more than half of these humans have German Shepherd Dogs in their lives.
Step three: Let Milo get used to the boat
I let him hang out with the boat until it became less interesting to him than his toys.
Step four: Use pool noodles to make an extended dog deck and add a non-slip mat
Milo has an easier time relaxing when he isn’t sitting on something slippery. I definitely want him to chill out when he’s in the boat.
Step five: Let Milo get used to his life jacket
This didn’t take long. Milo never seems to mind his various vests and harnesses.
Step six: Put it all together on dry land
Step seven: Find some quiet, clean, shallow water and give this a try.
I won’t have any pictures of this last step because we are going to get wet. It looks like there might be thunderstorms tomorrow so we might have to wait two entire days before we try this out for real. That seems like a very long time.
Wish us luck!
On the road with Milo 
This is so helpful and interesting. Thank you! What did you use for a nonslip mat?
I look forward to part two. I have a new young dog and was contemplating doing something like this. So your information is going to be extremely useful. Thank you!
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I bought a cheap yoga mat and cut it down. I’ll let you know how long it lasts. The other thing I was thinking about was a non-slip shower mat.
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