Paddleboarding with our dog Inca

Having been out on walks by rivers and lakes we've seen the occasional paddleboarder with their dog. We weren't sure if this was something Inca can handle as she can be quite restless. But on one of our trips to Finland where our family has a paddle board, we thought this would be a great opportunity to give it a go, especially as Inca started to show interest in joining our watersports activities...

Neither of us have ever been on a paddleboard so that in itself is something to practise before taking the dog on board. It's surprisingly challenging to keep the balance, and it took a while to be able to stand straight and stop wobbling…

Despite our best efforts it was best to take the dog on board while sitting down. In fact, while doing rounds of practice on the lake Inca kept barking at the shore. She clearly wanted to join! She is not a massive fan of water, but she tried to swim to the paddle board as we drifted further away.

As she jumped on the paddleboard with one of us, she just immediately got the gist and sat incredibly steady on the board. She sat down most of the journey, and actually most of the time looked like she was about to fall asleep. The activity seemed to have a very calming effect on her.

Of course we didn't go too far off the shoreline, but it was clear that Inca had no intention to jump off or have any other form of unrest. In this case, the lake being incredibly shallow is a benefit!

We really got going with our watersports bonanza and all three of us managed to go for a little trip around the lake, Inca and Sue on a paddleboard and Dave on a kayak. Inca tried to hop on the kayak too, but that was less than a realistic effort with absolutely no space for her to sit in.

A couple of days later a friend with their dog Joy came for a visit. Joy is a beautiful Italian Doberman, and he absolutely loved playing with Inca. They became good friends very quickly and had so much fun running around the fields and the shoreline.

Joy's owner was keen to try the paddleboard with her dog too, but despite all the encouragement Joy wasn't having any of it. He'd bark on the shore when his owner got further, but he himself didn't want to board. At this moment Inca calmly walked past Joy and went and sat down on the paddleboard. It literally looked like she was trying to show Joy what to do! And so they paddled for a few minutes...

Apparently Joy tends to get very jealous and he's extremely attached to his owner who has given him a beautiful life after he'd been living on the streets of Italy. So after seeing Inca on the paddleboard Joy turned away and started sulking. It was rather amusing! So when it was finally Joy's turn to try again he wouldn't even look at his owner or pay any attention to our encouragement. Joy clearly wasn't going to board!

After a couple of hours misery, Joy finally became himself again and started playing with Inca. In fact the playing got rather intense, if not even slightly romantic… Inca has a tendency of getting a bit dominant with male dogs - apparently she is showing them what to do. As of yet, she's been the one to "hop on anyone's backside" (and in Joy's case the front too!) and hasn't allowed anyone else to give it a go.

All in all, if you are planning to do some paddleboarding with your dog, we would definitely recommend learning the paddleboarding basics yourself, which for some people seems a lot easier than others. Start in shallow waters and consider putting a life jacket on your dog if they're not good swimmers. We've seen a lot of people confidently paddle away (standing) without any of the wobble we experienced, so surely it's just a matter of practice!

We've also learnt that paddleboarding is not for all dogs, or perhaps it might simply take some more time for others to get used to. Some dogs, like Joy, may just prefer to go on a boat ride instead…