Retired man builds dog friendly kayak for his pets

We had seen, Eugene Bostick, an 80-year-old man from Fort Worth, Texas with his amusing ‘Dog-Train’ he had built for the stray dogs he rescued. Now, David Bahnson, a 62-year-old retired orthopedic surgeon from Vermont, is trending on blogosphere and social media for his dog-friendly kayak.

Bahnson loves to travel with dogs. His dogs had accompanied in him in buses, trains, and airplanes. The idea was to continue the same adventure on waters as well. He turned baggage compartments of the kayak into two hulls in front and rear. He added a cozy coaming around the opening for safety and to keep the dogs dry.

Initially, Bahnson had made one hole for his pet as didn’t want to leave home during his kayak trips. Soon, he adopted another pet and made another hole to accommodate both.

According to Bahnson, the dogs are trained to board on and board off. They enter into their respective spaces only after Bahnson’s order and stay in the kayak until he orders them to get off. It ensures safety of dogs.

“We’ve seen other people kayaking with their dogs, but they usually have them in the cockpit with them. That’s kind of awkward, so this just worked out better. My kayak is like a triple kayak, only there isn’t enough room for the paddlers to put their feet — but it’s perfect for a dog,” he said.

Bahnson and his pets like to paddle for miles together. Moreover, Bahnson enjoys training and traveling with his pets. Earlier, he had trained one of his pets how to windsurf. “Once I taught one of my golden retrievers how to windsurf with me, and she was very good at staying on the board and really seemed to enjoy it. At one point she even swam several hundred feet off shore when I had gone windsurfing without her,” he said.

Although, the pets for whom the kayak was originally built had died, the tradition continues with newer pets.