Poor baby Charlotte

I'm sad to report that Charlotte went home to Vancouver Island with my parents on Sunday. Unfortunately she didn't take to the Cruising lifestyle as well as we'd hoped. As she is a beagle, she requires a LOT of stimulation, something which we couldn't seem to give her on a regular basis while on board.

At home she went for 3 walks a day, had agility training on weekends, and had a lovely bed in the window where she could watch the world go by when we weren't home. On the boat she couldn't see outside when she was in the main cabin, she couldn't make it up and down the companionway on her own, and only got to go to shore once or twice a day.

Plus, the trip down the coast was difficult. We often had big, lumpy seas and so she'd be forced to stay below decks the entire time. Either Gary or I was always down in the cabin with her, depending who was off-watch, but she hated it none-the-less. We were forced to do mostly 24-36 hour passages with her as well, and so that was hard. While she did learn to "go" on her artificial grass pee mat, it was a long, and probably painful process for her.

The result of all this was that we started to see some behavioral changes in her, namely, she blamed Gary for everything and a thus a battle of wills began. While we were mostly able to keep this under control (we are bigger than her, you know), it wasn't fair to her or us to continue things as they were.

We made the difficult decision to send her back to Canada. My parents graciously agreed to take her home and re-arranged their trip down to see us to do so.

So, Charlotte is now off the boat and roaming free in my parents' lovely big yard on Protection Island. I'm sure she is getting fed on time, getting her 'treats' in the evening, and is walking my Dad's legs off. I know she is happier, and that is the main thing, but it was still hard to see her go.

Gary and I will continue on and end this years Cruising as we began it, alone.

Thanks, Mum and Dad for looking after the wee beast.