Our 8 year old sheltie Bailey is a very good sailing dog. He travels with us on our sailboat down the East coast and spends the winter in the Bahamas. He’s never fallen overboard or even gotten seasick (which is more than then captain and co-captain can say!)

 

We were sitting on the beach in Vero Beach one Sunday enjoying a relaxing day with friends when my husband’s phone rang. A woman claimed to have picked up Bailey after she saw him running down the road. What??!! We left him down below on the boat like we do all the time. I actually didn’t believe her until she pulled up with Bailey in her car. He was hot and exhausted and looked like he didn’t know what happened. She said that she saw him run across the highway and followed him into a parking lot to coax him into her car. Thank goodness for such kind and caring people!

 

After puzzling over what happened, we finally heard from a neighboring boat that the yacht club next door was firing off guns for their changing of the guard ceremony. Bailey, like most dogs, hates guns and fireworks. We’re always conscious of ‘firework’ holidays but who would have thought someone would be firing guns on a Sunday morning!

 

Needless to say, we’re much more careful about leaving Bailey alone on the boat. Now we always make sure that he can’t exit the companionway. He may get scared but at least he’ll be there when we return!

 

We were so glad that Bailey was wearing his Pethub tag with his name and phone number. Sometimes I still wake up in the middle of the night and think about how badly this story might have ended.