Sharing your boating experience with family and friends adds to water way fun, and bringing along your four-legged dog or cat companion to participate in this enjoyment is no different. As important as it is for you to share your water excursion with your furry friend, it’s equally significant to ensure your pet’s free from danger while on the boat. These loyal companions rely on their owners to have better judgment and keep them protected from potential harm along with injury and boating is no different. There’s some simple steps to take to keep your pet safe and sound on a water craft outing.

Let’s start with the various types of safety accessories and protective gear for your pet. The marketplace has a large variety of styles and sizes of life jackets to fit your furry friend. You can simply shop online, at a pet store, or related market and select a size that fits the measurements of your pet. There are safety LED lights that can be attached to your pet, so you can keep an eye on your precious cargo and easily spot your dog or cat. Get smart and plan ahead when it comes to protective boating equipment for your pet and consider not just life preservers, but also rafts, casting rope, and fish nets and catchers.  All of these items can provide life lines for your furry one.

Take precautions and spot boat areas that can lead to a potential mishap, such as the edge of the boat. It’s a good idea to keep your pet away from this space of the boat at all times and, even better, secured with a harness attached to a leash whether the water craft is moving or stationary. You never know when your pet may misjudge the end of the boat’s deck as a continued walking platform, slip, or even get the urge to jump in the water. There are plenty of pet vehicle seats on the market that can be attached to the inside of the boat and secured to your pet to safely keep your furry friend in place and protected. Be aware of any sharp objects and protrusions on the deck and hull of your ship, cover them to prevent your pet from sliding or walking into or on them – this is called pet proofing the environment.

Temperature and direct sun should always be a consideration when boating with your pet. It’s more difficult for a pet to cool down because they don’t have the sweat glands that people do, so they can over heat quicker, heavily panting to get rid of excess heat. Because the sun relentlessly beats down on boats while on the water with the sun reflecting off the water, adding to the heat intensity, the boat can be a hot box for your furry friend. Aim to have your pet kept in the shade with lots of clean water available in a bowl that’s tip proof to help your pet maintain a cool temperature and avoid dehydration or even sun stroke.

Water sprays from an ocean or lake can make the deck slippery not only for humans but also pets, so bare this in mind. When in doubt, it’s best to keep your four-legged friend away from this area to stave off any chance of an unintended ocean swim. Besides creating a slippery surface, salty sprays from the ocean can be particularly drying and irritating to your pet’s skin. To avoid this possibility, you should rinse off your four-legged sports animal with fresh water after the boat trip.

When it comes to food and pets, they’re on high alert for any quick meal. With this in  mind, if you find your catch some fish while fishing, your pet may crave the smell and try to indulge in this freshly caught tuna, flounder, or other variety of sea life. Raw fish is not a good idea for a pet since it poses a high risk of contamination from bacteria and parasites until it’s cooked. When you’re back safely in the confines of your home and have cooked the fish well, your pet can share in this ocean delight. This is a great way to  round off a safe day spent on a boat with your dog or cat thanks to the protective measures you took for your pet. Isn’t your pet worth it? Yes, and so is the safety and risk protection of your boat and Strack Insurance Services, serving the Arlington, Texas area, is here to help you with it, www.strackinsurance.com.

Natural disasters that hit large areas hard are likely to bankrupt many small businesses that do not have adequate insurance.

Everything seems to be going along fine. Business is good. There are plenty of regulars who come to the store and the cash flow is steady and predictable.

This is every business owners dream. However, what happens when the dream turns into a nightmare and a business stops working?

It is not necessarily about the business or any fundamental weakness, which the business has that causes this. It can be something as simple as the weather.

Prior to Hurricane Katrina, many small businesses in New Orleans were thriving. There was a steady flow of tourists to the area. New Orleans was a place to go for music, food, and fun. There were exciting festivals, the most famous being Mardi Gras.

It seems almost unbelievable that one of the five worst storms in the history of the USA could wipe out an entire city. However, that is exactly what happened.

Business owners, who did not have adequate insurance, saw their businesses disappear with nothing they could do about it. The damage to the city was over $100 billion dollars.

This is not the first time New Orleans was flooded. The History Channel reports that New Orleans flooded five times in 1915, 1940, 1947, 1965, 1969, and 2005. It was obvious that flooding in New Orleans was a problem soon to occur again. Yet so many businesses were under-insured.

Summary
Be sure to check with the agents at Strack Insurance Services in Arlington, TX to make sure your business is adequately covered for the risk of natural disasters with commercial insurance coverage for damages and business interruption. so you can weather any storm that may arise and continue to operate without having to go out of business.