Doggy style
A picture paints a
thousand words – but for
Ruby and I it set us off
on a thousand
adventures. Whilst bored
one night I came across
pictures on the internet
of some dogs looking
like they were having
great fun on paddle
boards.
Ruby, an English springer
spaniel, is owned by Clare
Poyser. Clare has set up
Canine SUP – a Facebook
page that brings dog SUPers
together. Clare is Dec Poyser
on Facebook for those who
want more info about
paddling with your pooch.
Clare and Ruby
I looked at Ruby and said: ‘We’re gonna
do that’. Ruby raised one lazy eyelid,
took a glance at the screen and
thought to herself: ‘Geez, another one
of those ideas!’ Little did we know then
what antics were coming our way.
Ruby has always been an outward going
dog that is mad keen on adventure – find
me a springer spaniel that isn’t. So it had
always been natural for us to be out
getting wet and dirty. For both of us the
water has always been a major influence
in our adventures; even choosing walks by
how big the puddles are. Our SUP story
started, after that night of enlightenment
on the internet, with more research into
how to paddle with your dog, working out
how dangerous it was going to be, where
we could go and wondering if Ruby would
actually stay on the board or be more
keen to swim all the time…
Soon I was booking a SUP taster session
on the River Dee with the rest of Ruby’s
Adventure Club friends and excitedly
anticipating the date arriving. That day
dawned and it turns out Ruby was a bit of
a natural. Me? Well, I took a bit more
time to get used to the boards and being
on the water. But at the end of the day
when we both lay shattered in front of
s
t
a
n
d
u p
the campfire I knew we needed more of
this in our lives.
To o c o l d fo r a d o g
I wanted instruction and skills to enable
us to work better on the board. For me,
not being so wobbly and not keep falling
off every five minutes. So I signed up for
the BSUPA Ready to Ride course at my
local club – InlandSUP. This was October
and I quickly realised that reservoirs in
Birmingham were too cold at that time of
the year for a dog. I secretly joined the
club alone (she would have been livid if
she’d known I was going paddle
boarding) and began developing my
skills over the winter months.
By the time the spring arrived I was ready.
We spent a lot of time in those early days
figuring out just how this was going to
work for us. One of the biggest challenges
once Ruby was comfortable on the board
was actually keeping her on there! As soon
as she sees the paddle board coming off
the roof rack she goes crazy, yelping
excitedly, her tail wagging so fast it’s a blur
and a totally inability to s