Right now throughout coastal Maine, dozens of dogs lie close to a heat source, seemingly asleep. But if the right pair of feet put on a pair of boots and jingle a boat key, any one of those dogs will spring to life.
Salty dogs are as much a part of Maine boating life as seagulls and diesel fumes. They show up as mascots for local beer, restaurants are named in their honor, and they even get their own competition, this despite the fact that they do little but stir up trouble for mariners.
Here are three examples of true salty-doggedness from three fishermen who’ve survived their antics.
Crab Claw Encounter
Coal is a six-year old black lab on Islesford. Basic black lab philosophy says if you’re not on the water, you’re not living. Coal is no exception. On the rare occasions when fisherman Rick Alley decides not to take Coal along for a boat ride, the dog isn’t subtle with his displeasure.
“He runs right back to the bed and lays down real quick,” Alley said.
Luckily for Alley’s conscience, that scene doesn’t play out often.
Coal’s water obsession helped override the unpleasantness of his early ocean encounters, like his first experience with a crab: Coal sniffed, the crab bit.
“With both claws,” Alley said. “One on either side of his lip.”
Unfortunately for Alley, Coal doesn’t always understand the concept of staying onboard, and it can be hard work hauling him back in when it’s dog overboard So Alley has designed an onboard sliding leash to keep his dog from getting too salty, or at least too waterlogged.
Motor Critic
Eleven-year old Nicky of Swan’s Island is also a black lab, but her days on Galen Staples’ lobster boat are over for now.
Though it was Nicky’s choice to abandon ship, she’s no disgrace to her breed; she loves water just as insanely as the next black lab. Put her in a rowboat and she’ll proudly stand up and keep a lookout for offending seagulls.
But though she loved riding on a lobster boat for years, Staples can’t get her to climb on board now for love or dog biscuits.
That’s because Staples unwisely switched outboard motors without her consultation, trading in his regular Ford motor for a John Deere turbo. Nicky tried riding on board with the new motor only once.
“She wouldn’t go aboard the boat again,” Staples said.
Staples claims it’s the motor’s turbo feature that spooked Nicky, but it also could be that Nicky’s just a Ford fan. The world will never know.
Adventurous Name
Be warned: If you name your dogs after characters from famous adventure novels, expect them to live up to the billing.
That might be Buzzey Kinney’s cautionary tale. The Spruce Head fisherman has seen a parade of Springer spaniels pass through his house, every one of them named after characters in J.R.R Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It wasn’t Kinney’s idea; it was his daughter’s.
Kinney’s current spaniel is a young dog named Frodo, who isn’t allowed to go out fishing on Kinney’s boat; he’s restricted to runs between the mainland and Ragged Island.
“I don’t take [Frodo] out now, the other one cost me so much [grief],” Kinney said.
The “other one” that spoiled Frodo’s sea privileges was appropriately named Bilbo, Kinney’s last dog. Kinney said he lost Bilbo to the sea three times, including once at night in a dense fog. That time, Kinney initially wasn’t even aware Bilbo was missing. He had to turn around and follow his wake bubbles until he found the dog swimming around.
“There he was, plodding along, happy as a clam,” Kinney said.
Another time, Kinney went out fishing without Bilbo, but a radio call told him to turn back; Bilbo was swimming out of the harbor to find him.
But like his literary counterpart under the sway of a cursed ring, Bilbo had a dark side. He was something of a scourge to aquatic life, wrestling with a 60-pound halibut, barking at seagulls and dismembering crabs.
He saved his special wrath for seals; Bilbo would leap out of the boat at the sight of them and chase them off rocks. One can only hope seal mothers and pups didn’t get separated in the process.
Bilbo just couldn’t help himself, Kinney said. There was something in the way seals swam near the boat that got under his skin.
“It would just drive him wild all those heads popping out of the water,” Kinney said.
So while Frodo doesn’t get his predecessor’s free rein, it might be for the best. Kinney can boat with fewer worries, crabs can keep their legs, and it’s safe again for seals to go back into the water.
— Craig Idlebrook