swimming

[Hee Yung Lee]

I hope this isn't too naive of a question...

So Bogart has always been scared of the water. When we go to this park by the river, he never used to go in the water. Well this evening he accidently went in. There were a bunch of labs and golden retrievers running around in the water and stuff and of course Bogart wanted to play with them. At first he would chase them right up to the edge of the water and then he'd wait for them to come out. Well one of the owners threw a tennis ball in the water and Bogart started to run in the water after the ball. At first he stopped realizing his paws were wet, but then he continued in and unfortunately, there was a slight drop off and e was in up to his head-he got so scared! He kind of flailed about and then he was just so petrified. Slowly he tried to lift his paw up trying to walk out of the water. He was shaking and the look on his face was priceless. It was kind of funny, but at the same time it broke my heart because he looked so scared.

Ok, so my question is this: Do dogs instinctively know how to swim? I mean, I have always been told that bulldogs do not swim. Now I am not sure if it's only because they are so low to the ground, very solid, and would just sink or if it's because they just don't know how to swim. I am concerned because I believe that if the water had been any deeper, he would have gone under. He just didn't look like he knew what to do. When your dogs first went in the water, did they start swimming right away or did they kind of flail about as they learned?

[Amber]

To tell you the truth, neither one of my dogs like the water much. I'm going to get a kiddie swimming pool this summer and see if I can get them in there and swimming around. It'll probably help Sally lose weight too (!!), if I can get her to actually move around in the pool! lol. I'm sure that'll be my next thread...hehe.

I can tell you, though, that when I tried to get them swimming in the bathtub, they just stood there...petrified. I don't know if they would have swam around if their paws couldn't have reached the bottom or if they would have flailed about as well. I'll tell you this summer!

[TimberWolf]

Dogs do know how to swim naturally, but as breeds go not all can swim well. It depends on the webbing in their paws. If Bogart has the webbing he's a good swimmer but I don't think bulldogs have much webbing. If he weren't so scared and was placed in the water with someone he trusted in a loving way, he may not have been so scared and would attempt to doggy paddle as any dog would. But being that he was scared and startled, he might have hurt himself splashing around. I'd say it was a good thing the water wasn't too deep. He may not be tempted to go into the water now but if he does just watch him. If he seems scared again try to help him out. Scared dogs may bite...even the ones they love, so be careful if you do have to help him out in the future.

[MutzzysMom]

After Mutzzys accident I put her in the pool a couple of times to get her leg moving i never let go of her but she did go through all the motions with her legs...even the broken one. The leg where she had nerve damage even moved but the paw was the problem. I iwas surprised a little shih tzu instinctively knew what to do...ever after i picked her out of it she woul d keep moving her legs in the motion.,..it was pretty funny. I think Bogart might just have been flustered. I dont think he expected that drop and im sure he was scared/



Dogs do know how to swim naturally, but as breeds go not all can swim well. It depends on the webbing in their paws. If Bogart has the webbing he's a good swimmer but I don't think bulldogs have much webbing. If he weren't so scared and was placed in the water with someone he trusted in a loving way, he may not have been so scared and would attempt to doggy paddle as any dog would. But being that he was scared and startled, he might have hurt himself splashing around. I'd say it was a good thing the water wasn't too deep. He may not be tempted to go into the water now but if he does just watch him. If he seems scared again try to help him out. Scared dogs may bite...even the ones they love, so be careful if you do have to help him out in the future.

[Nicole Leveque]

Another option is to get him a doggy lifejacket. I've seen them on several websites. Zoe doesn't like the water, but I'm probably going to try to coax her to swim this summer. We'll see.

[Andre Mendizabal]

Nala hates water, but one time she jumped into the park fountain (didn't realized it was full of water!!!!) and then she swam back and got out, she had that same priceless expression of scare-cold-surprise and all her body wet!!!! but she did know how to swim... so I guess they know... there are some breeds that are famous for swiming, but ours that aren't, are just as capable of swiming as any other....

[Hee Yung Lee]

Oh yeah, I forgot about dog lifejackets. That's a great idea because this summer we'll be spending quite a bit of time at my family's place in northern Wisconsin and it's on a lake. I don't want to take any chances of him drowning. :(

Thanks for the info everyone!

[Chris Smith]

When I first got Nalu, I took him to the water because I love water and he was supposed to have "water-breeds" in him (he's from a shelter). He was about 4-5 months old when I first tried and it didn't go so well. He didn't want to go in the water at all even with other dogs running in and out and with balls and sticks being thrown in to retrieve, etc. He would get near the water but would absolutely not go past his feet getting wet. He seemed scared and very unsure of the water.

Well, Nalu LOVES the water now and is a GREAT swimmer. I took him swimming yesterday and had to practically drag him out of the water even though he was exhausted and shivering. I have never seen him so excited as when he goes to retrieve sticks from the water.

Even though he didn't seem to like water at all, I kept bringing him near it but not forcing him to go in. Just letting him stand near by. Once day it just clicked and he just went in on his own and started to swim. He might have just been too young at first - who knows, but he is an absolute swimmer now. And I didn't teach him a thing. (but again, he probably has part water breed in him).

[heathea]

Hee Yung, I can assure you, Bogart won't sink. :)
However, a life vest is a great idea, at least to try.
Especially if you want to swim with him. I recommend swimming out past him by a few feet and then making happy noises. If he comes toward you, great, if not, don't force it. Swimming with dogs can be big big fun.

In the hot months of summer, my big dog loves to wallow on the edge of the water so her body is cool and damp and her feet are on the ground, she usually lays down. we used to find her completely submerged except for her head, which was really funny to see. but she doesn't like to swim and always looks at me like I am nuts if I swim past her. My 50lb dog will swim out to where I am, then back to the shore, then back out, then to the shore. It is exhausting to watch.

I wish I lived near a water source I could take my dogs too. I will miss that. :(

Heather

[Jill Ramsey]

Being a lab, Finnegan LOVES to swim. Because we got him in the winter, he didn't get to swim until he was about 5 or 6 months old, we took him to the river that runs through town. It had a pretty good current, even in the shallow areas. He didn't like that too much. As the summer went on, we found other ponds and small lakes. Now, he sees water and gets sooo excited. We are thinking about getting him a lifevest for in the boat on the bigger rivers and lakes.(just as a precaution). He swims very fast, just like he runs.

We had a black lab/gsd mix named Jaz(rip). She didn't like to swim. What she would do is go into the water until it got to her belly, and just stand there. Just deep enough to cool her off. If we were swimming, she would play with us, but to just swim, no way! :rolleyes:

[Luciann]

Well, first Hee, my two chis don't like bathes, but tika will play in water, while frodo looks at me like i am nuts if i expect him to walk across wet ground much less a puddle so i don't see them swimming.

I have had other dogs from hounds to shepherds to labs that loved to swim. I even had a doberman who loved to swim after he lost his fear of water.

So patience if you want him to be water friendly. just don't force it and the lifejacket sounds like a great idea

[Melissa Brunoehler]

Lewie LOVES to swim. He especially loves retrieving sticks out of the water. Bella will go in the water but she’s only actually swum once or twice. I think as she gets used to the water she’ll swim more. Last summer or maybe the summer before I was fostering a young pitbull. I took her & lewie to the area where I hike my dogs which also has a lake. Lewie went swimming & the pit soon followed. She was swimming with no problem, then all of a sudden began to sink. Yes sink. I stood at the water’s edge thinking how I was going have to go in the water with my shoes & everything on to save this dog. Thankfully she started paddling again & was fine.

[heathea]

I had never heard of a dog sinking before, I am sorry I said it couldn't happen. wow, maybe is has to do with the heavy musculature of the pits and bulldogs. huh. Fat floats and muscle does tend to weigh more. I guess that is why my lab mix floats and swims like styrofoam, huh? :D
It would make sense swimming would be more difficult for a more heavily muscled dog as there would have less bouyancy, however they do have all that strength to use for swimming, so who knows. Maybe they float as long as they keep swimming.

[Melanie Xarti]

My Peanut is a big, strong girl, and she swims like a fish. She'll even go under to retrieve sticks. She'll happily jump into ANY water... waves, rapids, whatever. Every dog I've ever had has naturally known how to swim. Except Waldo. He just sticks his paws in (so far... this is the first we've had him around water). But we hope Waldo will be as good in a boat as Jake was, so Peanut can pull him along during our trips to the river.
I'd definitely try a life vest. Bogart might still be apprenhensive, but it might just build his confidence over time so that he's finally swimming on his own.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v235/mnixon/294800bd.jpg
Peanut and Jake (last summer):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v235/mnixon/34e205e5.jpg :bunny:

[Hee Yung Lee]

Awww, Melanie, I always loved that picture of Peanut and Jake. :love:

Thanks again everyone.

[Marne Benner]

I agree with Ann, he may have just been taken by surprise and the swimming skills he has just needs to be developed a little more, but I do believe it is instinct.
My Mickey loves to swim. We started him of in a kiddie pool and now we can't keep him out of our big one if we're in it. He will even float around on my pool chair.