Dog days on the river

Here is the honest truth about dogs and the St. Croix: the whole river is dog friendly as long as your boat is. There is no separate dog beach and no dog section of the channel. The river does not care, and neither does anyone on it, which means your dog gets the same water, the same sandbars, and the same sunset that you do. On a summer Saturday, the sandbar crowds are full of happy, wet, exhausted dogs, and their people seem to love it as much as the dogs do.

I have a friend whose dog fell off the back of the boat, right off the swim platform while nobody was looking. They did not notice for a few minutes, then the panic set in, and they turned around and searched that stretch of river both ways. Nothing. They were sick about it.

About an hour later, the friend's phone rang. It was a stranger, calling from a boat downstream, who had seen the dog swimming along the shore, pulled up, scooped the dog into the boat, and found the number on its tags. The dog was picked up safe and happy, and the whole thing turned from a nightmare into the river story the friend tells with a laugh at every cookout since.

I tell that story for two reasons. One, it is a beautiful example of how the river community looks after each other, dogs included. Two, that ending was luck wearing a life jacket. The dog was a strong swimmer, the current did not carry it into trouble, and the right person happened to be right there. I would not bet your best friend's afternoon on that sequence twice.

Pontoons are the natural dog boats: flat, low, and easy to step on and off. Runabouts work too, once the dog learns where to sit and where the edge is. A few simple habits make every dog day better than the last.

A dog life jacket is worth every penny. They float dogs that would tire otherwise, and the handle on top means you can scoop the dog back aboard instead of hauling it from the water. Bring fresh water, because river water is not dog water. Bring shade, because the sun bounces off the deck and the water at the same time. And give the dog a way on and off that is not a leap of faith: a swim platform, a ladder, or a ramp keeps a tired dog from trying to climb the gunwale.

The classic dog day is a pull-up on a sandbar: boat beached, dogs in the water, and nobody in a hurry. Watch the hot sand in July, because it gets genuinely uncomfortable on the paws, so pick a stop with shoreline shade or bring a mat. And keep an eye on the dog near the channel, because the St. Croix has a real current even when the surface looks calm.

Bring towels. Bring twice the towels you think you need. Bring a spare leash that stays dry in the boat. And if the day ends with a happy, tired dog asleep on the dock in the sun, you have done a St. Croix dog day exactly right.

The river's dog rules are mostly common sense: leash the dog at the launches and around other people, clean up after them on the sandbars, and keep them away from the shorebirds and the ducks. River people are famously dog people, and a well-behaved dog is welcome everywhere. Keep the dog gentle and the towels handy, and the river will treat you, and the dog, like family.