mmarq1992

18 hours ago, KrystinasMom said:

Aww, please post a pic, if you can of Bentley with any of the characters!  Disney was our very first cruise when daughter was 3 yrs old.  She would love to do Disney again (she's 20 now) with her SD but unfortunately my husband does not love all things Disney and won't pay for one!  😫

This is from a past cruise!

Just wanted to say thank you to @Caribbean Chris for your recommendation with bahamaspetpermit.com! I've done the permit in the past by myself, but was having issues getting in touch with the Bahamas and Wellington took all the stress away.

We leave next Thursday on the Disney Fantasy & can't wait to wait to be cruising again. This will be Bentley's 4th cruise and he loves cruising as much as I do!

19 hours ago, rangeley said:

On the ship. I heard there's a person with 2 small poodle like dogs on board. I haven't seen them yet. More to come on that. 

 

The box is quite large and filled with grass. We asked for mulch but thats ok. If we asked for grass we would have gotten mulch. Lol   Anyway he went right in sniffed and peed! Wooohoooo. I think he's finally got the hang of it. The box is on the promenade deck port side front. Perfect for us since we are right at the front elevators port side. That is the usual place Holland America puts it. 

I'm glad he's adjusting well! I was so relieved when Bentley had no issue with the box during our first cruise. I hope you don't have any issues with the other dogs!

On 1/4/2020 at 11:59 PM, wizard-of-roz said:

I'd like to hear more about the AKC  Service Dog Registration Card.  Organizations like Canine Companions For Independence will advocate for the proper ID Card for all certified and well trained Service Dogs.  I hope that I'm still working with a SD and am around to see such positive things happen.

 

Until there is UNIVERSAL REGISTRATION and an ID CARD make sure that your dog acts appropriately in public at all times.

Not much has been announced, I think it's in the beginning stages still, but I'm hopeful that it will be good and something organizations can get behind!

He may be owner-trained, but my dog is trained to the level of CCI dogs! We recently were at a grocery store and had a large dog start lunging towards us and growling. It was on Bentley's side too, so thank goodness the owner had a good grip on the leash! Bentley didn't flinch and just looked at me confused and perfectly heeled away with me. I have the same concerns as you about untrained dogs! 

And maybe that dog was task trained, but if a dog can't handle the distraction of another dog, then they shouldn't be out in public!

21 minutes ago, wizard-of-roz said:

They both look like warmer climates agree with them.

 

Yep!  I love getting these well-trained Service Dogs all stirred up and watching them act like puppies!

 

I wish there were government regulatory certificates for trained SD's.   If your dog and you were trained by an accredited agency the Government Cert. should be automatic and given by the agency upon graduation. 

 

There would ALWAYS be objection by the privately trained folks because they would have to acquire special testing materials and here come the objections.  Way too much red tape.  The training orgs. are trying to kick start this but "self-trained" folks don't help in getting it done, and before you know it.......it all gets bogged down with laws, regulations, paper work and objections to one thing or another.

I self-trained my service dog and I am all for government issued certification! AKC is in the beginning stages of creating something called the "Service Dog Pass". They haven't released much about it yet, but I'm hoping it will be good!

Hello All!

I'm hoping someone has some advice for me. We are visiting Antigua during a cruise this December and one of the requirements is that the rabies vaccine must have been administered within 1 year of importation. The issue with this is that Bentley received a 3 year rabies vaccine in February 2019, which obviously puts him over the one year mark. I really don't want to have to get him another rabies and over vaccinate. I tried emailing the Vet Division there, but have yet to get a reply. Has anyone had a similar experience or have advice?

Thanks!

13 minutes ago, Onagh said:

Feeding Raw on the Cruise, does anyone have experience on the ship? How do you do it?

 

thanks!!

I do! I sailed with Disney and everything had to be in sealed, original packaging and coolers had to be within a certain size. I get his food from wefeedraw which comes in sealed packaging and find that yeti coolers are worth the money! For our week cruise everything stayed good in the yeti. I started with the yeti ice pack and then got ice from room service about halfway through the cruise to keep everything frozen! If you have any questions let me know!

Hello All! We are back from our Alaskan cruise and had a great time. We were lucky enough to have zero hiccups and can't wait until our next opportunity to cruise! Bentley was so excited to get onboard that he decided to wake up at 5:30 am, but we were able to watch our ship sail into port, so it worked out well!

Cindy- so sorry to hear Oakland is having a hard time adjusting. Like Roz said, I bet with some box practice at home he'll do perfect next time!

Life has been hectic recently, but Happy Graduation to Oakland and family! And glad to see Kali had a good first cruise!

Hope everyone has a great weekend! We leave on our Alaskan cruise on Monday!

Happy Birthday Handsome Horton!

48 minutes ago, allies_daphne said:

We had the same on the Dream, and the potty pads were changed out daily, but not the sod.  We only did a 4 day, so probably not necessary.  We picked up our own solid waste and brought it back to our cabin verandah since there was no trash receptacle for it at the potty station.  Our stateroom host discarded it multiple times a day from the verandah.  We have a 'walking pooper' so he struggled with that in the potty box.  We have been working on this with him at home the last few months, and he's getting better, but till 'misses' the box at times because of this. We will have extra potty pads we will place around the box on our next cruise so the decking around the box does not get contaminated in any way.  We are doing a 14 night in November, so hopefully he is much  more comfortable with using the box.  Going to take a piece of turf as Roz has suggested, and cut the drainage holes in it and use it in case there are any ports where they can't get fresh sod.  Special Services says this can sometimes be an issue on longer cruises, but that they should have enough on board from San Diego to take us all the way through.

They’ve changed a bit since you sailed! There is a garbage can, with poop bags stored above in the potty area, you can see part of it on the left of this picture!

5 hours ago, Miki_moto said:

A question about potty boxes - do they have some sort of bottom or something other than bark or chips to absorb the ‘liquid waste’?

 

Thanks in advance for any replies.

On the Disney Dream, it was a large plastic box lined with absorbent potty pads and sod on top

I'm very behind, but I loved seeing everyone's pictures! A beautiful group of dogs on this thread! Hope everyone is having a great week!

I'm very behind, but I loved seeing everyone's pictures! A beautiful group of dogs on this thread! Hope everyone is having a great week!

We're back from Bentley's first cruise! We had a great trip, he loved cruise life so much and everything went perfectly! Thank you all again for the information you gave. Now only 42 days until our next cruise!

On 4/5/2019 at 3:36 PM, rangeley said:

We would like you to meet Oakland IV!! 

Welcome Oakland! What a cute boy!

6 minutes ago, rangeley said:

Hi All,  Just want everyone to know that we are at team training at CCI for a new dog. John was just matched this morning. Can't say anything more right now. But soon...

Congrats! Can't wait to "meet" his new teammate!

1 hour ago, rangeley said:

Awesome pic! Have a great cruise. 

Thank you!

9 minutes ago, puppycanducruise said:

Have a great cruise mmarq1992 and Bentley.

Thanks for posting that wonderful picture.

Thanks!

11 minutes ago, Caribbean Chris said:

mmarq1992, you get the prize for the cutest photo ever of a service dog preparing to go on a cruise! Bentley is so beautiful - a Canine Companions' dog?

Well thank you! He is not, I trained him myself. His behavior is just as good as a program trained dog though, and as it should be!

Happy Friday everyone! Hope you all have a great weekend! We'll be spending the weekend packing because our cruise is ONE WEEK from today! Bentley is ready!

1 hour ago, HHFamily said:

Thanks so much for your reply!  How long ago was this?  If I am not mistaken this form that is supposed to be done within 48 hours is relatively new?  I am not completely sure, still trying to figure out how to navigate all of this.  Royal Caribbean is not much help, they just refer me to the Department of Ag. 

 

Im sailing with Disney in two weeks and they also told me that it could be done a week or so before

17 hours ago, wizard-of-roz said:

M, my heart goes out to you.  I know what it feels like to have someone so special in our lives be ill.  Isn't it amazing how going on a future cruise takes some of the pain of the situation away?!?

 

Keep the positive thoughts in your head and keep looking forward to wonderful times together.

 

Please accept my cyber-hug!  ❤️

Thank you very much! Our upcoming cruises are definitely a huge help. And of course Bentley is a huge help as well, when we got the bad news, he broke his under to come comfort me and lick away the tears. While it might not be a task, these dogs always know how to help us in whatever way it may be!

So we (my mom & I, and Bentley of course) have 2 upcoming cruises, a 3 night to the Bahamas in the beginning of April and a 7 night to Alaska towards the end of May. We also just found out last week that my dad has cancer. Obviously my dad comes first, but we were still a bit worried about the fate of our cruises, not only because we enjoy them, but we also have a lot of (non-refundable) money into them. We found out today that my dad's surgery should be scheduled perfectly in between both of them. It'll be great to have one cruise to prepare us for all to come, and then another cruise to de-stress after going through a tough surgery with my dad. Just the excitement of our upcoming cruises has been helping my mom & I get through all of this already!

BoazTheMastiff - Awesome pictures, it makes me even more excited for our upcoming cruises!

39 minutes ago, rangeley said:

Our wonderful puppy raiser friends got this paver in memory of Wexler. It will be displayed at the CCI campus on Long Island. ❤️🐾

 

What a beautiful tribute to your sweet boy!

8 hours ago, wizard-of-roz said:

Have you all seen the news?  A little girl was bitten in the face by an "Emotional Support Dog" in a grocery store.  She will need to have stitches to sew her mouth back together and there's a huge contusion under her eye.

 

Obviously, a moron who allowed someone to get close to her untrained dog in the public venue.

 

Episodes like this always set ALL OF US back years and years.  We all know that our properly trained SD's would NEVER, EVER bite, bark or growl at anyone, EVER!!!!!

 

If anyone out there in "Lurkerville" is reading this and takes their under-trained dogs into the public, ill prepared to face all the difficulties that can come at your dog need to realize what a risk you're taking.  If your dog attacks anyone, you are responsible for whatever happens; you are opening yourself up for a law suit and rightly so, I must say!!!!!

 

If you're going to take your poorly trained dog out in public........don't allow the public to come near it!!!!!  Please!!!!!  Better yet, keep your dog at home!!!!!

So so sad! The little girl even asked first if she could pet the dog, which the owner said yes to... ESA's should be required to pass the Canine Good Citizen test. The requirements to pass the test are pretty simple for a dog that would be appropriate to fly!