Splash-Dog.

[vash]

i didnt even know my dog could swim. i have had him now approx two months.

the past 4 weekends, one of my local parks: in order to generate some money, they opened up a man made swimming lake up for dogs. you pay $5 and you get a wristband. pure pandemonium. hundreds of dogs all jumping and diving into the lake. the lake is filled with tennis balls. kids with paddleboards head out each evening to gather them up.

i went everyday they were opened, except one.

the first day, my dog was just staring at the water and other dogs, whining. i was reluctant to toss his favorite ball into the water. we did a few paw wetting runs. one of the "lifeguard/end of shift ball fetchers" told me to huck it..if HANK didnt get it, she would paddle out and get me my ball back. ($12 at REI). i chucked it way out there..HANK shot out like a rocket..he ran in awkwardly, and got the ball. GAME ON! he stamina improved rapidly,and his swimming technique got less splashy and more efficient. at first big Labradors would beat him to his favorite ball. this weekend, no way..he was a motorboat!!

that is all he wants to do..he would head fake dogs trying to play..bring me back the ball. for hours. what he developed was a dive from shore. he would got in one body length and jump hard..he would get big air and dive. more than one person told me to enter him into a splash-dog contest. so i googled it at home..

there is a training facility a few hours away..i need a dock and a safe way for Hank to come back to shore. so i am going there.

anyone try this?

oh, i seriously hope they treat the water at that lake..there was some chitnaigans going on in that water..

[Neilk]

No video, really?

[GH85Carrera]

All dogs can swim. Some better than others.

My parents had a cabin at the lake in Alabama. In the summer time it would get toasty warm and when I say cabin at the lake, it had no AC except a small window unit in the bedroom, heat was a fireplace only. So the the place was hot. They would take the dogs with them and they were English Bulldogs. The female would get hot and go walk to the end of the pier and jump off. She was built like a bowling ball. She would sink down and be under for 15 seconds. She would swim slowly back to shore and climb out on the beach. Walk back to the porch and lay down in the shade. About every hour, she would do it again. It freaked out visitors at first. They would come running in and yell "your dog fell off the pier" and hear nothing more than a calm, don't worry, she does it when she is hot. By then they would see her plop down on the porch.

[GH85Carrera]

Vash, is this your dog?

[vash]

^^ i wish.

wait..is that even a beer?

[vash]

Originally Posted by Neilk

No video, really?

no. i tried to get a go-pro on the dog..but failed. he does love the younger ladies..so there is that. he would film everyone of them. haha..

no. it is a muddy mess. i dont even dare pull out my phone.

[tcar]

All dogs can swim...

Be careful with pools, they cannot get out, and they don't automatically know there are steps at one end (if there are).

Many dogs have drowned in swimming pools; they become exhausted trying to get out.

[vash]

Originally Posted by tcar

All dogs can swim...

Be careful with pools, they cannot get out, and they don't automatically know there are steps at one end (if there are).

Many dogs have drowned in swimming pools; they become exhausted trying to get out.

yes. that is why i want to visit a real facility. they have that exit ramp..and someone to help me teach Hank where it is. my friend has a river side dock..but the shore is so overgrown there is no place to climb out. my dog would drown.

[Rikao4]

splash mine after the morning & pm walk..

gotta be careful with Finn as he can clear and land outside the pool..
Jack being older settles for 'cannonballs'...

[RKDinOKC]

Remember when I showed my Golden she could swim.

It was on a lake's dam. The ingress into the water was pretty steep.

First few times I just barely tossed in the bumper. At first she would stretch and grab it as long as it was only far enough she could touch bottom.

Then I tossed it just a little fartherl She would jump and grab it on the way down, then turn around while under water and run up the steep bank.

Then I tossed just a bit to far for her to reach jumping at it. It was hilarious. She would turn back towards the bank, realize she was not touching the bottom, then turn back towards the bumper. Only a few inches from the bumper, she would turn back to the bank again. She ended swimming around in circles about 10 times. You could see her mind thinking, too far, wait I'm not touching bottom as the went around in circles. Then she finally took the two strokes to reach it. Then she never hesitated again.

She loved jumping off anything. At my brother's farm they have a dock on their pond. I would stand on the bank. She would run onto the dock, then bark at me to throw the bumper. She would run and jump after it, fetch it, the as soon as she gave it to me would run back onto the dock and start barking.

Another time my nephew and I were out in a canoe on a large pond. As we reached the middle we heard a huffing noise. It was my golden following us swimming away huffing and puffing. Got a little worried as I had heard about dogs getting tired and drowning. So, we paddled the canoe back to the bank worrying about her hufflng and puffing as we went. When we got close enough to the shore she could touch the bottom, she immediately ran up and down the bank. Wasn't a bit tired. But we did take her in the canoe with us after that.

[stomachmonkey]

You are now screwed.

One day I'm driving home from the office and I take a back way through the neighboring beach town. I see a guy walking a dog that looks EXACTLY like my Newfie Mastiff cross Dakota.

I pull over and it turns out to be one of our QA guys and the dog, Nikita, is one of Dakota's litter mates, her sister. We both got our dogs from the same guy at work.

So we agree to get the dogs together at the beach that weekend.

Dakota has never swam, Nikita is like a fish.

Dakota approaches the whole thing rather timidly, going in knee deep, then chest deep, then she floated and freaked out.

She calms down and tries it again, she swims in circles in a shallow part for a couple of minutes and before you know it it's on like Donkey Kong.

Total time from "what's this water thing?' to chasing balls 100 feet off shore was maybe 15 minutes.

The worst part, now we could not keep her out of water.

She used to burst through the bathroom door when we were bathing the kids and try to fit all 150lbs of herself in with them..

My FIL loved it though.

He had an in ground pool that no one really used anymore, except the dog.

We'd pull up to the house and she'd bust out of the back of the car, make a beeline straight for the yard and spend hours doing laps and entertaining my FIL.

[vash]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

You are now screwed.

.

agreed!

the swim lake is on my jogging route. i dont know how to explain to a dog that the park is only opened to him for four weekends.

i see a ticket in my future if Hank gets away from me near that lake.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by tcar

All dogs can swim...

Not all can swim well.

They know the mechanics but their body types don't lend themselves to being left alone around water.

We used to keep a life vest on the Schnauzer whenever we were out on the boat.

[rockfan4]

I have a year and a half old lab pointer cross. She'll go in the water at the beach, but won't jump off a dock. One of the local pools has a humane society fundraiser at the end of the season, they drain the pool and fill it with water only for one day of mayhem. There were about 500 dogs this year. My dog will run in the shallow end, but won't jump off the deep end. We're watching as other dogs would climb the ladder on the diving board by themselves, and then run off the end of the board into the water. She eventually took to barking at the other dogs as they were swimming back to the edge until they would drop their ball, and then she would steal it from them. She got pretty annoying for the other dogs so I took her home before we were asked to leave. The one good thing is she slept for a day and a half after that, she was sore and tired out. I'd love to take her back next year if I could figure out a way to get her to jump in the deep end by herself, or at least leave the other dogs alone, but she's kind of a bully.

[GH85Carrera]

I heard on some nature show that virtually all mammals can swim, except the Rino. Many swim very poorly. Elephants are great swimmers.

I guess I could google it, but I am lazy.

[rwest]

Here's my paralyzed little buddy RIP,

Took him to a friend's pool to see what his back legs did in the water- they moved at about third speed of the front. He didn't seem to really want to swim, but when the ball was thrown, he went right after it.

[Bugsinrugs]

She swims like a fish

[vash]

Originally Posted by rwest

Here's my paralyzed little buddy RIP,

Took him to a friend's pool to see what his back legs did in the water- they moved at about third speed of the front. He didn't seem to really want to swim, but when the ball was thrown, he went right after it.

That is cute! I got some dust in my eye. Excuse me.