David Bahnson is a retired orthopedic surgeon from Vermont who loves two things deeply — kayaking and his Golden Retrievers.

So naturally, he combined both.

When David built his wooden Pygmy Coho kayak from a kit, he noticed something: his Golden Retriever Susie fit perfectly inside the rear baggage compartment. So he added a raised border around the opening to keep her sheltered, comfortable, and dry. Problem solved — Susie became his co-pilot.

Then the family got a second Golden Retriever named Ginger.

David’s solution? Simple. “When we got Ginger, I just put in another hole,” he told The Dodo. He modified the kayak’s two baggage compartments into custom dog-sized cockpits — turning a single-person kayak into what he called a “triple kayak, only there isn’t enough room for the paddlers to put their feet — but it’s perfect for a dog.”

And the dogs? Total pros on the water.

“They are trained to get in the kayak themselves on command. They sit down, and off we go. When we come ashore, they’ll stay seated until I tell them it’s OK to get out. They never hopped out into the water, actually.”