AVCK Animation Vézère Canoe Kayak

No remark when we booked mentioning that we were coming with a dog, the staff must be used to it, they found it normal.

Another positive point: no supplement, for doggies it's free!

The adventure begins with a 15 km minibus ride to reach the starting point, there is enough room for the dogs to sit at our feet. We of course came with his own life jacket.

In the canoe, we placed him well in the middle and he remained calm throughout the descent. Be careful if you have a restless dog, it can rock the canoe!

The Vézère river is very calm, there is not much current and it is possible to stop for a picnic, to swim or to visit in several places. Beware of the heat because the routes last at least 2 hours (or even much more) with many portions without shade. With our dog, we came in the morning in mid-October to be sure that he was not at risk of heat stroke.

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Another testimony: that of Manon who also tested AVCK with her dog:

We did a 10km descent (about 2h30) on the Vézère with Nino, 3 years old, cross cursinu / beauceron / canary mastiff…. of 40kg.

Nino is nice but very fearful, phobic and can quickly go off in all directions (literally) if he panics.

I called before to check that dogs were accepted, no worries on that side.

On arrival, I clarified it again, the young woman at the reception asked me her size to assign us the most suitable canoe and immediately warned her colleagues that there would be “a big baby” in the shuttle.

Following the explanations common to all, I went to see someone from the team to ask to go back first or last in the shuttle, to be able to install Nino in peace. Seeing that he was not very comfortable with all these people, he immediately referred me to another shuttle which was to bring a family canoe, and we were able to make the trip alone with Nino in the shuttle. I don't think it's systematic, but I appreciate the fact that they identified this possibility of calm and offered it to us! On arrival at the starting spot, he did the little training for us without waiting for the others so that we could leave before quietly. The descent went very well, and on the way back to the “port”, Nino ran like mad for 10 minutes in freedom, happy to have found the land closed, to the congratulations of the members of the team who told him that he was very brave!

NB: AVCK does not provide life jackets for dogs. Nino being a real otter, this was not a problem, but to be anticipated. Some areas of the descent have a little bottom and current, if the dog jumps into the water it can be difficult to get back up. We tied Nino fairly short to the canoe in case he got the urge to jump, and regularly took breaks on the many small beaches along the Vézère so he could stretch his legs, swim and have a drink.