Just an old river rat saying Hi !

Welcome Andrew. There are a ton of threads if you search titles like live aboard, new boater, first boat, etc. Almost any question you might think to ask has been answered. Except maybe for the one you asked. Males like to mark their territory. So I'd expect to keep a washdown hose accessable for a while. You'll of course want to train him to enjoy one spot. Often boaters will put out an artificial grass outdoor mat or something along those lines. For girl a wee-wee pad is usually the answer. Now for the real world. Most boaters don't spend weeks at a time without hitting port. So most of the business will be done on shore. That means it's not going to be as big a hassle as you may be expecting.
Years ago the New River Times had a series (fiction, sort of) called "sailing on the cheap" about a guy who skipped out on dock fees and set off with his dog and not so much as a working compass. He was cruising in circles for about two weeks and his dog refused to do his business on the boat. Thankfully he found an island in the Bahamas. The dog jumped overboard a mile from shore to get in faster and spent an hour lifting against a palm tree.

Well, I see you've learned one lesson already.

Growing up I always wanted to live on about a 45 footer. Then I moved to Ft. Lauderdale where they put the 45 on the deck of their real boat. Now I couldn't live on anything less than 70'. Luckily I'll never afford a 70 so I have a decent house, my wife hasn't divorced me and my dogs have a back yard for their business. A few years back I brought a 60' Sunseeker there. As we came down the coast I warned the owner that his boat was about to shrink. He fluffed it off. As we came under the 17th St. bridge another Sunseeker pulled out from Pier 66. My boat's owner asked if it was a 50. I informed him that it was an 80'.

Somebody has to have invented a plastic 'fire plug' that could be secured to the deck for Fido to do his #1 on. If not, Andrew, go right ahead and make a pile of dough, but you owe me a beer for the idea.

As far as #2, yeah, anyone can do Astroturf...one afternoon at the old Marina Inn docks where some monster yachts pulled in (lots of water there), a truck pulled up with a largish pallet of sod which was loaded via the davit onto the boat deck...yes, it was for Muffy, alright.

Years ago I went to the Bahamas for 6 months with my parents on a 60' boat. We had a female greyhound with us. She was pretty good and laid back, even for a greyhound, but one of my jobs was walking her. Underway on the ICW we might have to make one stop during the day just to let her off. At anchor in the Bahamas I had to lift her into the 13' Boston Whaler dinghy and take her ashore at least 3 times a day. She didn't like the process of getting into the dinghy at first but after she learned where it was taking her I could go to the stern to get the boat and she would be waiting for me at the boarding gate wagging her tail. I also crewed on a different boat with a little ankle biter on board and made him a small plot with real dirt and grass that he used with just a little coaching. Most dogs will figure it out fairly quickly.

There's one on E-Bay for 11 bucks:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...f298485&itemid=350234049595&ff4=263602_263622

At least Butch doesn't sound like an alfa-male. They have to mark everything. On the day I got my male Jack (alfa to the max) he looked me dead in the eye and christened my coffee table. Talk about 'Come to Jesus moments'. They almost met. He did the exact same thing to my wife a few days later. He now (reluctantly) understands that I'm the big dog. My wife and he are still working out the pecking order 8 years later.