I was starting to wonder if any other dogs had an issue with gulping water by accident while retrieving a toy from the water. Axel is fine jumping in and swimming to his toy but as soon as he grabs it you can hear him gulping and gagging a bit. So much so as when he gets to shore he has coughed up water a of couple times. It worries me but after reading this I'm hopeful he will grow out of it. Axel has been swimming off and on since 12 weeks old and has finally learned how to swim with out his front legs splashing out in front of his face and his stretched up high. He's 7 months old tomorrow.
My two are strong swimmers, especially Willow. She's like a bullet. It didn't start off that way, though, and it was quite amusing watching them get their water wings. They still do sometimes get a mouthful of water when picking something out of the water (I won't call it "retrieving" at this stage, since the things almost never come back ). I call them "pig dogs" when they do this, because of all the snorting. I think it's just enthusiasm.
Yes, Charlie can get mouthfuls of water when he swims. For dogs who do this, I think that it is better that they swim carrying dummies and not balls, particularly in sea water. There is a risk that a dog who has his head too low, and chokes on sea water, gets put off carrying things in water. A dummy forms a bit of a 'bow wave' and it helps stop so much water going into the dog's mouth. I think it's to do with a few things - just technique and over excitement for inexperienced dogs, but I also think the length of neck and how powerfully they swim, so how high they are in the water, has something to do with it. Charlie is a powerful swimmer, but not fast. His position in the water is low and I think he would be a faster swimmer if his neck was just a little longer.
Mine are fast when swimming to the object, but not so much on the return. When they're powering towards it, they come out of the water a bit, like speed boats. Not in the way they did when they were learning, which was because their body dropped too low underneath them, just through the sheer power and speed. I love watching them swim, and am a bit jealous because I'm a rubbish swimmer
Thanks for advice... I will keep on giving her opportunities to polish her swiming skills. And work on improve opportunities...: (non-slip ramp, swimning training, and jumping...).... Fun summer for us... Pedrolo
@pedrolo we also didn't have proper steps in our pool, just a pool seat that meant that Snowie always had to heave himself out with all his might. He is powerful, so under normal circumstances, this should not have been a problem. But since he has been diagnosed with a bulging lumbar disc, we took action to make sure he could get out easily and without pain. Before we had him diagnosed, he would whimper before jumping out of the pool, or wait for me to help him out -- it was all very worrying at the time, not knowing what was the problem. We tried various things to fashion as pool steps. We didn't go the ramp route because we were afraid he'd injure himself going up a wet ramp. We thought of using sandbags, but were worried they would break and we'd have a pool full of sand. So first we tried plastic crates filled with bricks. They weren't stable (the lids would float, even sometimes the whole crate would float), and eventually they broke. Then we put in concrete blocks, and these are perfect. They are clean, stable (very heavy), non-slip, and don't disintegrate in water. We chose a size that is approximately the size of ordinary steps, and placed one on top of the other to build a staircase down to the pool seat. I had to show Snowie how to use them, stepping on them myself and using treats to get him to follow me. Now he happily uses them. Our pool is a fibreglass shell (sunken into the ground) and we were discouraged to use concrete blocks because of the damage they might do the fibreglass. Thankfully they have not damaged the pool at all -- and they've been in for about 6 months. We weren't able to build steps into the pool because it is fibreglass (you can't stick something to fibreglass apparently). I am so happy we have found this solution of concrete blocks. When I think back to how Snowie would jump onto the pool seat and out again and remember how it contorted his back, I often wonder if that injured his back and caused the bulging disc. I'd take great care if I were you with regard to injury on your ladder, and if your dog is not keen to use it, he might be telling you that it is not comfortable for him.
If you want to build steps in, you certainly can bond things to fiberglass, Boat builders/repair shops do it all the time. You could make the steps from fiber glass, or some other material and bond it to roughened fiberglass with epoxy or polyester resin. If you are using concrete blocks, you might put a layer of rubber between the blocks and the fiberglass to keep from scratching it.
@Ski-Patroller that is interesting. All the pool shops I called told me I couldn't. I should've called the boat shops!! Using rubber for protection sounds like a great idea. Admittedly our pool is in terrible condition, so we didn't really care about scratching the fibreglass. Anyway, the pool seat has a very rough finish (intentionally I suspect, to be non-slip). When the weather warms up (we are in winter right now), I'll take a closer look to see if the steps are causing any damage. We have actually converted our pool into a pond, i.e., stopped all chlorine and have added a floating island planted with various water-loving plants. The idea is they will suck the nutrients out of the pool so that the algae won't have any to thrive. At present our pool is a very dark brown/green! But the plants are still small; come Spring and we hope to see a change. We converted it because of Snowie's terribly itchy skin, and we thought that he might be reacting to the chlorine. Several people we know have done this conversion and marvelled at the insect life that has come back to their gardens. Hopefully the natural route will contribute to Snowie's better skin condition...
Hi, I just wanted to thank you for encouraging me to try the swimming vest! It worked SO well! It was exactly what you said! The vest gave him the correct position in the water to paddle efficiently which in turn gave him confidence. He is now a strong swimmer!! Gotta love these forums!! ☺️
