Well, one of my friend paddle with two or even three dogs in a canoe. Works well if the dogs are trained.

Another person paddles with a kayak in her dog on the foredeck. It's a small dog, around 20 lbs. Problem is that the dog sometimes jumps to water and lifting it back is difficult. Another kayaker is needed to keep the first kayak upright when lifting the dog.

I was just thinking about kayak with "dog opening". First I think the dog needs to be at front. Dogs usually want to be ahead of you and in place where they can see around. I thought to raise the sole of dog-seat so it would be self bailing and make clear holes to sides. That way waves or other water would flush out. For a small dog centre of gravity would be fine, but with bigger dog it might be a problem. Then I thought the kayak would need a dog rescue system. Maybe a paddle float ready and something on the deck where paddle could be attached firmly to get outrigger from the paddle+float.

I would most likely use a rudder. I don't think the paddler's position would matter so much. Maybe a good starting point would be tandem kayak or maybe a long single kayak. For calm waters you could actually use a tandem.

Toni.

: Hi; A few months ago I completed my first strip kayak (Redfish Spring Run)
: and I now want to build something I can use on lakes and rivers and take
: my dog along. I thought of using Ross Leidy's Kayak Foundry to design a
: boat with two cockpits and make the aft cockpit just large enough for the
: dog. It would really just be a walled recess to keep his CG low and limit
: the amount of water we would take on if we upset. He weighs 90 lbs so he
: can tip a boat a lot when he moves around. I would like to have him in the
: rear to keep from getting in the way of paddling but I don't know if the
: kayak would be hard to control paddling from in front of the CG. Does
: anyone have suggestions/comments?
: Thanks.