The PaddlerUK magazine December 2015 issue 5 | Page 88

PADDLERUK 88

in association with

in association with

Crewsaver Petfloat
www.crewsaver.co.uk
By Anne Egan

Dogs on board, well not quite a board
or a canoe, we tested the Petfloat from
Crewsaver with our two Havanese
whilst enjoying a Sunday afternoon punt
in Cambridge. Now Frosty and Bobo
are not exactly renowned for their love
of water. However being part of the
Paddler family it was only fair that they
dutifully donned their beautiful floats
and set sail on the River Cam.
Petfloat is an attractive piece of kit, red and
black, with reflective strips and a zipped pocket,
designed to assist your dog to float should they
find themselves overboard. It consists of a
paddled jacket that sits on the back and sides
and is secured to a more thinly padded chest
piece via a system of straps secured by buckles.
The sensitive areas like underarms are free and
the fitting allows the dog to move normally.
The float is easy to fit, especially if your dog cooperates and stands nicely whilst you position the

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float and fasten the buckles. For ease of rescue
there is a central grab handle which can be used
to hold onto the dog and to help haul the dog
back into/onto your boat and out of the water. .
We are unable to say how it is to lift the dogs
out of the river using the handle as neither of our
dogs went in on this occasion. However we did
lift the dogs using the handle whilst on the punt
and felt that in the event of needing to grab and
lift it would be perfectly easy to do this
particularly as our dogs are small at around 7kgs.
We passed many other canoes, small boats and
punts that afternoon with two or three others
with dogs on board. This stimulus could have
been enough to encourage one of our dogs,
Bobo, to take a flying leap into the water. It was
very reassuring that they were wearing the
floats. We felt that should they jump, or fall in,
they would not come to any harm before they
could be helped back out of the water. Thus
the experience of having the dogs on the craft
with us was more relaxing.
The dogs took a few minutes each to adjust to
their new attire