Fishing hooks, lines and dogs on Gloucester docks

The state Division of Marine Fisheries says striped bass are in Massachusetts waters from May to November, that dawn and dusk are the best times to catch them, and that anglers work rocky shorelines, beaches and river mouths. Those are the hours most of us walk a dog. The state's shore-fishing rules count docks, piers and jetties as shore fishing, which matches a Gloucester summer morning: rods along the seawalls, lines off the floats and anglers out on the granite of the breakwater.

The hazard comes in three forms. A hook in the lip, paw or ear is painful but visible. A swallowed hook is hidden: the ASPCA describes a dog that chewed octopus bait on a fishing pier and swallowed hook, line and sinker, and an X-ray found a hook nearly three inches long in her stomach. The third is line on its own, which a dog can swallow by the yard; PetMD warns that swallowed line can injure the esophagus and stomach and block the intestine.

Bait is the draw. Cut fish, clams and squid smell like dinner, and a baited hook that snaps off on the rocks is still baited. Walk the harbor on a leash short enough that the dog's nose cannot reach a bucket, a cleaning board or the line coiled at an angler's feet, and cross to the far side of the walkway when someone is casting or reeling in. Look at the breakwater from its shore end rather than walking a dog out between the lines.

The skill is a leave-it that holds with food on the ground. Teach it at home, then on a quiet sidewalk, then on the harbor walk with a dog that has already eaten. Pair it with a drop-it for the bait that is already in the mouth; our how-to on teaching drop it covers the method step by step. A dog that grabs first and thinks later can wear a basket muzzle it has learned to like for dock walks, since it can still pant and drink.

Our at-home walkers take one dog at a time, 20 minutes for $25, 30 for $35 or 60 for $55, and send a photo and a note after each walk. Tell us at the evaluation if your dog is a scavenger or has eaten tackle before, and which waterfront streets you would rather it skipped; the route is planned around your address. Walking depends on the address and the season, so ask us whether we cover your address before you count on it.

On summer days when the sand is closed to dogs, a daycare day at 210 Eastern Ave gives a water dog its splash in the pools on the turf yard, $42 for a full day or $33 for a half, in a playgroup of 7 to 10 matched by size and temperament. The Pup Van can do the driving, at $10 each way within Rockport, Gloucester, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea. Every new dog starts with the free evaluation on a weekday between 6:30 and 9:30 AM.