Sorry me again, But I love this forum it's so useful and most of you give really good answers and helps me to understand our pepper better and makes things so much easier.. We been yesterday with pepper (4 months) at the beach and another puppy (greyhound 6 months) they played already all day at the garden but as member said we took them apart when it was enough, however in the evening we went for the beach and let them of the leashes and needless to say the greyhound went of like a rocket and pepper tried to keep up but couldn't, and suddenly one second I didn't look they run towards the Water (Baltic sea 18 degrees ) just before the greyhound was half in he turned around and went back to beach but pepper made a right jump in nd got caught in to a wave and the only thing I could see was her head and suddenly she was as well under the water so I decided to run in and get her out it was not deep for me just to the knees, but it was only her second time at the beach and there are currents, so after that people said I overreacted and they born swimmer, I know that. However my aunt who is an experience lab owner said should wait until the 8 months old and interdrouce them slowly. So cut Long story short when can a puppy go into the water and do j need to be cautious or can I let her run into it and see what happens? Thanks so much
If the sea where you are has dangerous currents then you'd need to be careful at any age, but otherwise I've always let my dogs in the sea as soon as they're able to go out. My last two puppies ( a Lab and a cocker spaniel) swam from the word go, whereas Molly was keen to paddle and wade but won't swim. I can imagine it was a scary moment, though, when you saw Pepper go under!
Hi, you did right to grab your pup out of the sea; while they can swim naturally they have to learn to deal with waves and so on. I'm sure she'll have had a shock and will probably be more cautious of water now. I would certainly introduce a dog to swimming in safe water without currents, it doesn't matter what age in my opinion. Poppy was swimming strongly by five months old but some pups don't take to it immediately.
Ultimately you are responsible for your dog, whatever it's age. So, if you thought that Pepper was in danger then you did the right thing. A puppy is able to swim but, much like humans, they need to mature a bit and also practice before they become strong swimmers. I would tend to avoid any water with strong currents until she is a little more comfortable with her swimming.
My Dozer was swimming on his own in the ocean shortly after I got him. He did ok but like you the waves took him under. A few days later we went to the lake and he followed me in, swimming like a champ but couldn't figure out how to turn around so I had to show him how to do so. At anytime you feel your dog is in danger, get him or her out of that situation regardless of what other people around you says to you. It's your duty to protect your animals.
Your puppy may well be able to swim instinctively but not all dogs swim well. Giving your puppy a chance to paddle about in a shallow pool is quite different to being bowled over in waves. You did the right thing by going to get him. We live near a tidal river with strong currents. We let Homer walk into the water on a long lead and waded in with him. He's now confident and loves the water but I don't let him go out too far. I've seen owners throw balls out quite far into the river and the dogs struggle to swim back against the strong current.
