Mabel Seaman Secker comes aboard

We have a new addition to the crew. Mabel is a Jack Russell, a "sort of" rescue. She is four and a half, and was a breeding dog, but her third litter had to be delivered by Cesarean, so her owner decided he couldn't breed from her any more. She went to a new owner but after a month he had to give her back because his work circumstances changed. We heard about her through Posie's trainer, and she has just joined us.

She's a lovely little dog, but very nervous, so we wanted to introduce her to shipboard life gently, especially as she will have to sleep with all the others - at home for now she is sleeping away from them. So I collected Eileen from the marina and brought her up to moor opposite the laboratory near Keckwick Lane. We brought the dogs, minus Ruby, up to the boat and kept them there for a couple of hours, without the engine. Mabel seemed entirely happy, indeed more relaxed than at home, so we decided that we would have a voyage the next day.

We left Eileen moored overnight, then took all five dogs up and set off. Again Mabel seemed entirely happy, and there was very little aggro from Ruby. We went up through Stockton Heath and Grappenhall, to Thelwall, where I dropped Loulie and all five dogs for a walk. I took Eileen on to the winding hole beyond Thewall, turned and came back to pick the girls up. We came back down and moored in the same spot by Keckwick.

All in all we were delighted by Mabel's reaction to the boat and the others on board - she is very happy, more so than Ruby, with shipboard life, and seems to come out of her shell a bit. Maybe it's because she doesn't feel so much that she is intruding into the others' territory. She was hopping on and off the bank very happily, and once she even came down the stairs into the galley, though it was a bit of a tumble.


It was fairly late by this time, so we left Eileen overnight again, and went back up in the morning. We just took her back to the marina - it was a bit cold for pleasure cruising. We moored on the water point to fill up, then reversed into our mooring. We walked back from the marina to home, so the dogs had plenty of exercise again. All in all a very successful first cruise for our new Able Seaman Mabel.