The July 4th holiday is almost here. Summer is in full swing and thoughts turn to swimming and having fun in the water.
Our dogs love the water.
They are Chesapeake Bay Retrievers. Love of the water is in their DNA, but we never took it for granted. When they were young dogs we made sure they had really good experiences in and around the water. We started them out as puppies, but older dogs might benefit from these tips too.
Note: I am not a trainer or an expert. I am sharing these tips as examples of what has worked for us with our dogs. If you swim your dogs, make sure to pick water that is safe and clean. Be wary of things that may be in the water. If you live in the south maybe gators or snakes. If you live more north maybe snapping turtles. Always be wary of blue green algae.
- Pick a warm sunny day–We always pick a nice warm sunny day for the first time in the water. No sense making the first time unpleasant because the dog gets cold.
- Make sure the water is not too cold–This tip goes along with the first tip. Don’t put your puppy or dog in the water on the first Spring day. Wait until the water warms up a bit. Remember puppies do not have their adult coats and should not have a lot of body fat, so they can get cold quickly in cold water. You don’t want to create a tendency to avoid water.
- Pick water with a sloping entry rather than a drop off–Trust me, it is much better if a dog can enter the water gradually and be able to touch bottom rather than jumping in and having water go over its head when it doesn’t expect it. We always start the dogs off swimming in an area where the dog can enter the water gradually.
- Get the dog warmed up on land first–If you have picked a warm day the water will look more inviting if the dog is all warmed up from running or playing on land before going in the water.
- Bring a favorite water appropriate toy–Play with the dog and their toy along the edge of the water and toss it so that the dog has to get their feet wet to get to their toy. If your dog will bring the toy back, you can gradually toss it out a bit further (but not too far) as your dog becomes more comfortable in the water. Eventually you can toss it far enough so that the dog will swim to get it.
- Put your dog on a check cord–Most young dogs do not have a solid recall or even with older dogs, their recall falters in new and different situations. We always put our dogs on a check cord (a 40 or 50 foot rope attached to a flat collar) when they start out swimming. Important! Make sure there are not a lot of trees or other things that can catch the cord. Think safety first!
- Keep it short and have fun–Do not over do it. Do not push. Let the dog dictate how long it wants to spend in the water. You want to keep your initial sessions fun.
- Be patient–Dogs and puppies may not always “swim” right away. Sometimes they wade or stand in the water until they feel comfortable enough to swim. Sometimes they splash rather than swim. Be patient. Puppies especially have bodies that are always changing and at times may appear awkward in the water. Usually they just need to figure it out and practice in the water.
Those are my tips. Do you have any to add?
Those are great tips for introducing a dog to the water! Of course, some dogs like me just do not take to the water and that’s okay too. Happy Monday
Very true. I think doggies that have to get baths sometimes sour on swimming too much….lol.
great tips… I think the most important thing is patience… Goose started to swim with ten and a Weim of Blogville waited till he was 8 years old. My mom still has some hope that I will join the beach dogs once… but I have some doubts… hehehe btw: that’s a super cool duck in the first photo :o)
There is always hope for swimming. The duck in the first picture is called a dokken. We use them from time to time on water because they look more like real ducks than the bumpers and we do not like to put our training ducks (frozen ducks) in the water because that ruin them.
Every photo is so sharp and composed so well. Can you do a post on photographing a Chessie in action? What camera do you use? The point shoot do not work grate for hunt test or training. Thank you for post such useful information.
Thank you! Usually I use a Canon 60D (dslr) but some of these were taken with my old Canon point and shoot and my old Kodak pocket camera. I always found the issue with the point and shoots was how fast it focused when trying to zoom in and out. I bought the 60D because it had the fasted burst speed that I could afford. That has helped me a lot. I still struggle with focus in bright light and a fast moving dog in cover. I can certainly write a post about it. It will have to be next week or the week after. Thanks so much for the suggestion. I will put it together.
Great tips, once again. Earl hates water, but Ethel seems a bit more hardy.
sumskersandearlskers13.blogspot.com
Maybe Ethel will teach Earl…lol.
I don’t have any tips to add, but I will say THANK YOU. I would love to put these to use the next time we take our pack to the beach. Scout loves to swim, the rest of our dogs just hang at the edge of the water, but I think they would love to join their brother. Thanks.
You are welcome. Hope they help. Maybe you could write a post and make sure to let us know if you do!
Hi Y’all,
If your dog hasn’t .been swimming in awhile be sure to keep sessions short. I only get to swlm in early spring and fall since we live in gator country. Especially now that I’m a senior my Human is especially careful about tiring me in the water.
Y’all come on by!
Hawk aka Brown Dog
Excellent points. Stay away from gators and do not overdo it!
These are great tips! We’ve been doing most of them with our dogs. We still haven’t been able to get Zoe to swim but Phoenix is loving the water lately. I am hoping I can transfer her love of sticks onto a toy because letting her play with sticks makes me nervous.
I agree I have known dogs injured by sticks. Maybe find a toy she loves on land. Maybe a stick shaped floating toy. Once she loves it on land then try water but I suppose you better bring a pick-up dog or plan to swim to retrieve it yourself if she turns her nose up at it…lol. Some dogs just never get the swimming motion right so they wade and that is OK too.
Bailie and I love to swim, but Katie has never liked getting anything more than her paws wet. She was in the North Sea at 10 weeks old with Mom’s other dog who loved to swim, but she never wanted to get wet. Heavens, Katie doesn’t even like to go out in the rain! Some dogs simply don’t like water I guess.
I think that is true and if she is not a “swimming breed” that makes it harder.
These are such great tips! This is exactly how we’ve been doing it with Luke this year (even though he swam before) to get him back into it, and it’s working great. I might just add if you have rambunctious dogs you might want to take a timid dog alone so he’s not overwhelmed by the others.
That is a good tip. Although I do know of dogs that were timid in the water being helped by dogs who loves to swim.
I would never have thought about teaching a dog to love water!
I get asked about it all of the time. 🙂
Great tips!
Thank you!
Fantastic tips! I like your idea about using a check cord for dogs that might not be very confident in the water.
Thank you Elaine.
I think you covered them all beautifully! The first time Delilah went in the water, she swam out behind a bunch of reeds or water plants. All I could hear was a lot of splashing and it made me a bit anxious. Turns out she’s just not a graceful swimmer. LOL
LOL that is funny. Sometimes it takes practice, but I know you have said you don’t have many places to take them swimming.
lol, two of my huskies hate the water. I am working on it though!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
Oh no. Good luck with getting them to change their minds.
I always felt so bad for my dog Carter growing up; he was an Aussie or Border Collie mix of some sort with a docked tail. He lived with our gregarious Lab and although he’d try his best to keep up with him Carter just had a hard time swimming. We had to keep an extra close eye on him. I know Labs are naturals but I’ve always wondered if not having a tail makes it more difficult to swim; or maybe he was just a bad swimmer.
I’m very grateful that Laika loves the water and seems to be a good swimmer; it’s awesome exercise for her arthritis so we’re taking as much advantage of this warm weather as possible.
I don’t think it is lack of tail because I have seen some upland dogs with tails swim just fine. He may have been a bad swimmer, but I was once told that if the dog’s conformation is off then the swimming will be inefficient. That is also true for running on land although some dogs can cover their poor conformation on land but not in water.
And great tips; the check cord is something I hadn’t considered but it’s definitely a great idea.
Thanks Jen. 🙂
Practical observations…after reading through these, every dog is different! Cullen did not enter the water until he was almost two, in the Chesapeake! He would watch CoCo but nothing would persuade him to take those first strokes. Later he and CoCo would wave surf and literally be water maniacs. He loved to swim but did not fly off a dock. Cullen would watch Macha’s spectacular flights into the water, just not for him. Not sure where Erynn stands on these issues, yet, still developing/ If we had a pond, they would live in it!
With that sense of place they know business from fun times!
great tips!!! love all the pictures!
Great tips! Our guys all love the water, and while Mia is a very good retriever, she’s tentative on entering the water. She cut her leg on some glass or metal when I was introducing her to the water and has been very cautious on entering it ever since.
Great post! And I love that last picture!