Dogs on board – Stowie, Peripatetic pooch

The 55-metre Heesen After You’s special stowaway is a characterful cockapoo who lives on board full time. With a name like Stowie, you might assume that this is a dog who spends a good deal of time on board. And you’d be right, as Stowie is indeed the resident ‘stowaway’ on the 55-metre Heesen After You. The owners spend time with Stowie when they come on board, and the rest of the time she stays with the crew. This cockapoo is less than a year old and has already been to five countries on board the yacht.

“The owners came up with the name ‘Stowie’ as they knew they were going to keep her on the vessel,” says Kevin Dumont, After You’s rotational chief officer. “They got the dog with the idea of having her stay with us full-time and keep the crew company. Everyone loves her and treats her like a queen.”

After You’s owners care a good deal about crew happiness and crew retention, which informed their decision to keep Stowie on board. “They want to keep the crew on board for a long time, so they like trying new ideas to keep the crew happy,” says Dumont. “Having a dog is extra work, but it keeps everyone super happy and healthy, too — it keeps morale up, and it gets us out walking the dog. And when you see her in the morning and she’s happy, it instantly puts you in a good mood.”

After You’s head chef Danny Ploos agrees: “It definitely makes the boat feel more like a home, having her around. She has a little bell on her collar so you can always hear when she is coming and it’s the best sound to hear around the boat because you know she is about to zoom into the room and make your day.”

Stowie began coming on board when she was only a few months old. Once she had her vaccinations and could travel more freely, she began to live on board full time. A typical day in the life on board for Stowie starts with a walk on shore. Afterwards, she spends the day relaxing in the crew mess or in the yacht’s interior while the crew work. “She loves playing with the vacuum and trying to bite it,” says Dumont.

When the owners are on board, Stowie spends a lot of time in the bridge and on the bridge deck aft, where the owners like to spend time as well. She often sits on the bridge couch, and sometimes After You’s crew will put her in the captain’s chair and take a photo. “She loves to hang out on the bridge and in the captain and chief officer’s office,” says Ploos. “She has plenty of chew toys and balls that she is always playing with, but her favourite is chewing the captain’s office doorstop, despite having all the chew toys a dog could dream of.”

Being raised on the water, it’s no surprise that Stowie is a natural water dog. She rides on the tender, goes on the paddleboard and kayak, and takes a dip in the swimming pool. “We had a lifejacket with a shark fin on the back that she wore at the beginning when she was learning how to swim in the pool on the boat,” says Dumont. “But now she’s a great swimmer so there’s no need for the lifejacket.”

At first, Stowie struggled to get up and down the stairs, but now she runs up and down like a pro. “She’s very agile,” says Dumont “and very smart — we are never worried she will fall or jump into the water, but when we are cruising we keep her inside just in case.” While Stowie isn’t allowed in the guest or crew cabins, she has free rein to go everywhere else on board. A few creature comforts have been added to help her feel at home. One is a patch of grass on the bow, that she can use to relieve herself when out at sea. At night, she sleeps in a crate bed, which is placed in the guest lobby on the bridge deck when the owners are on board. Stowie certainly catches the eye of passers-by when she goes for walks ashore. “Once when the captain was walking Stowie, someone walking by asked the captain to buy her from him right then and there, offering $20,000,” says Ploos.

Stowie has flown on the owner’s private jet multiple times, and she’s already been to five countries since joining After You — including the US Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Cayman Islands.

“She’s seen more countries than most people, and it’s just the beginning — we are planning on doing a world trip westward,” says Dumont.

There’s a slowly growing trend of having dedicated “boat dogs” on superyachts, of which Stowie is a prime example. “We see more and more boats with dogs now,” says Dumont. And the excitement is palpable when they encounter yachts that don’t yet have a dog on board: “Their crews get really excited and wish they could have one too.” Maybe it’s time that every Heesen yacht got its own little stowaway.

Text by Risa Merl