Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 11:08 am Post subject: Swimming
Hi all,
I am just wondering how did you get your dogs to swim? I take Ozzy on the beach most days but he wont go very deep in the sea. I have seen him swim once when he fell into a canal (sorry twice) he fell in again afer I dragged him out. He does go in water but won't swim??
Mojo first fell in a lake when she was 14 weeks old....It was only shallow and she was on a longline and harness, but she got carried away watching two big Labbies having fun and fell off the side. I thought it would frighten her as she went right under. I hoiked her out and made sure she was ok, then she turned round and leapt straight back in and swam like a good 'un. I haven't been able to stop her ever since.
Oyster is a woosie....she only likes going in when it shelves slowly...and she doesn't like waves (she hates the water going up her nose ). She also swims like a complete plonker if she is on her own, but when she swims alongside Mojo she does it properly....It's as if she knows Mojo will save her (and she probably would ).
I don't really remember how I got my others to swim....but I know all my dogs have swum.....infact the Toy Poodle loved it...The fact she was virtually blind didn't stop her....but if she went too far out we would have to send Tara in to fetch her back.
Perhaps in the summer if you go in with him, he'll become more confident....although if he's anything like Mojo, she thinks I'm drowning and tries to drag me back to shore.
Jess was a swimmer when we got her (she was 10) and Max our collie cross had alwasy hated water before we got her. A few months after watching Jess swimming in the sea, he obviously thought he was missing out and went in with her!!! Now we cant keep him out!!
Daisy our 7month old is hesitant but she has also gone in just to follow them and seems to just do it naturally
Is there anyway that you could invite another dog that Ozzy likes and see if he would follow them into the water?
Im sure someone will have a better answer soon, im sorry!
Thanks everyone, I have tried bringing my OH's staffie (who Ozzy really looks upto) but because he is so little when he is swimming Ozzy can still stand and just pounces on him. I will wait until it's a little warmer and get my OH to go in with him (aren't I cinsiderate)
Having fallen in twice may have frightened Ozzy a bit, CJ fell off a shelf in the lake and scared himself silly, he wouldn`t do more than paddle for months.
Then when we started going with my friend and her GSD Jazz loves to go in the lake after his ball, so my friend suggested throwing a ball for CJ, just a small way at first so he could walk in, then a little further each time til he had to decide if he wanted the ball badly enough to swim for it, he`s ball mad so the ball won and he hasn`t looked back since
Having said that tho he`s only been to the beach once this was pre swimming days when he was still unsure, I don`t know how he`d be with the sea as of course it moves a lot more than a lake.
Jansen wouldn't go in at first but then when he was about 8 months ish he just jumped in & hasnt looked back, i think that they just do it in their own time.
Pud had his first proper swim at the GT in Manchester in Feb. He paddled around watching the other dogs before hitching a piggy back off one of the others. His face was a picture when she got him off and he realised how deep it was!
He still much prefers to paddle but when i had to go into the sea at formby beach a couple of weeks ago he was right there by my side - since then he has been a little more adventurous - paddling with the occassional swim!
It took alot of encouragement to get Alfie to swim but he's now a really strong swimmer and swims most day
On the other hand we have encouraged Billy since he was a pup and he's never had a bad experience, he watches Alfie swim but he still won't swim himself even for a tennis ball (he's ball obsessed) he just stands at the side looking at the ball and crying he goes in upto his shoulders but no further
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I haven't been able to stop her ever since.
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