Take The Doggies Kayaking

David Bahnson, along with dogs Susie and Ginger, enjoy
 a kayak outing this past summer. Photo by Linda Bahnson.  n

Hats off to fellow Vermonter David Bahnson, wbo found a way to let his two dogs, Susie and Ginger, enjoy his kayaking adventures.

According to The Dodo, a web site dedicated to pets and animals, Bahnson 67, of Rutland, custom designed his kayak so that the two dogs can get out on the lake with him.

Says The Dodo:

"It never takes much convincing for those furry first mates to settle into their seats when it's time to get going in the kayak. In fact, though Bahnson rarely paddles out too far from land, the dogs seem to understand how to keep safe on their journeys.

'They are trained to get in the kayak themselves on command. They sit down, and off we go. When we come ashore, they'll stay seated until I tell them it's OK to get out. They never hopped out into the water, actually,'" he said."

Bahnson and his dogs have gotten a huge amount of media attention lately for his great invention. He made it for himself and his dogs, but he should market this idea. I bet a lot of other people would like to kayak with their dogs comfortably.

Good for these well-behaved dogs! And huge kudos to Bahnson for including his dogs in his recreation and adventure.

This Dog Thinks Kayaking Is Dangerous

The guy in the photo THINKS he's going kayaking, but...

Dogs can be VERY protective of their human companions. Or they just think anything they find is a good think to play with.

I'm not sure which of the two is going on here, but it looks like the guy in the video isn't going to enjoy his day kayaking on the lake after all:

Sea Lion Wins Fame After Hitching Ride On Family's Kayak

Cecil the sea lion pup hitched a ride on the
Gist family kayak and gets to know Rodney
Gist during an excursion at Santa Monica CA.

A sea lion pup whose recent aquaintances named Cecil is getting his 15 minutes of fame right now.

A family was kayaking in the water just off Santa Barbara, California when the sea lion pup decided to hitch a ride on the little boat, says television station KTLA in Los Angeles. 

The sea lion plopped down behind Rodney Gist of Fullerton, California who was riding the kayak with his two children.

Gist said at first he was a little concerned for his kids. A sea lion is a wild animal, after all. He said the family was "a little bit interested in seeing how he would behave."

It turned out Cecil was a nice guy, (I'm assuming guy) as sea lion pups go. KTLA said Cecil nuzzled against Gist as it sat behind him. "The cute creature appeared at one point to even kiss the back of his head, video of the incident showed," KTLA reported.

You can watch the video at the bottom of this post.

"I could tell he was kind of playful like a dog," Gist said.

The family isn't sure why Cecil wanted so badly to meet the Gist family. "Maybe he was just tired of swimming. Maybe he was wanting to interact with people. Maybe he just wanted to snuggle," said Lee Gist, Rodney's daughter.

Eventually, as the kayak maneuvered around a pier, the Cecil drew a crowd of onlookers. Maybe Cecil got a little freaked out by all the attention so he jumped off the kayak and swam away.

At least the family got this video as a remembrance of their time with Cecil: