Collies in Oppies: Sailing Courses for Dogs at Plas Menai
by Sam Sheather, Plas Menai 1 Apr 2015 09:48 BST
1 April 2015
Sailing lessons for dogs at Plas Menai © Sam Sheather
Plas Menai, the National Outdoor Centre based on the banks of the Menai Strait, is delighted to announce the launch of a new series of sailing courses for dogs.
The courses have been designed to develop a dog's confidence in and around the water, on board a boat and include sessions on helming and crewing.
"As the National Outdoor Centre we are always looking for new ways to innovate and encourage participation in watersports and outdoor adventurous activities.
In recent times we have discovered that as a nation of dog lovers some of our customers do not like leaving their beloved pets at home when they want to go for a sail, windsurf or kayak and as a consequence we have been getting more and more requests about the possibility of running sailing lessons for dogs and their owners.
"Not ones to be put off by this challenge we recently undertook some work to put together a dog sailing scheme called PAWS and ran a pilot course" said Sam Sheather, Marketing Officer at Plas Menai.
The course which was run over one weekend in March proved a huge hit and involved kitting the dogs out in life jackets and going through some basic commands on the whistle, before taking the dogs out on the water where they sailed across the wind in Laser 2000s and later tried single-pawed sailing in oppies.
On the back of this the Centre is now looking at programming a series of courses this summer and installing some 5 Star kennel accommodation.
Jane Parry, whose two collies, Mabi and Rosie were the first to try out the pilot course gave it a big thumbs up. "Mabi and Rosie love being around the water and they had so much fun on this course, learning to crew and helm a boat. It now gives me the confidence to take them out with me next time I sail and if ever I am short of crew I know the dogs will be able to help out."
If you are interested in booking you and your dog onto one of the sailing course for dogs, please contact the Centre on 01248 670964 or
www.plasmenai.co.uk