Can my animals drown? and weapon handling

[Tom H]

I want to explore the Islanders territory once the weather breaks, however, I've lost several Companions who have drowned while I rafted. My worry is that my dogs and bull might drown when I start punting the open sea areas. So, to quote the movie 'Marathon Man', "Is it safe?"

About wielding weapons, I understand about 2-hand weapons being hampered if you have another weapon in the off hand. What I'd like to clarify is whether having the main weapon in the off hand reduces skill at all. For instance, if I have a sword in main hand and shield in offhand, then wish to instead wield a mace, I'd use Shift X command and then wield the mace, replacing the sword, right? Which would put the shield in the main hand and mace in the off hand. Or must I now use Shift X command again to achieve the best skill with my weapon?

[PALU]

I think it's safe. A while back I "retired" a character by raiding the Njerps, and in order to do so I used a raft to travel for about 10 days to reach the area, and the dog didn't drown, despite several nights sleep on the raft.

I can't answer the primary/secondary hand question, though. So far I've ignored it, i.e. used weapons in whatever hand they happen to be in.

[Galgana]

Animals don't drown when you have them leashed, but it's possible for them to fall into ice and drown if you let them wander. I remember reading someone's post about losing a dog that way at their homestead.

[PALU]

Yes, I've lost unleashed dogs that went through the ice when I've toured around single tile lakes surrounded by a trap fence. They don't seem to drown if you're out on the water yourself on a craft (I've smashed ice to get out on lakes on a punt to take up and lay nets, with the dog running around and falling through the ice time after time).