Hello,I have a nearly four year old Lab. who loves the beach and swimming in the sea.Although a good swimmer I do worry about the tides and currents and wondered if any of you lovely Lab owners have any experience of buoyancy aids/life jackets etc.which may be worn in the water but would not hamper the dogs swimming or indeed running capabilities? Am I being over protective or sensible? Ron on behalf of Mocha.
Welcome Ron and Mocha. As you said Labs are very strong swimmers and can last a lot longer than we think is okay. Tides and currents should be okay but I don’t know how strong of a current and tide you are talking about either. I worried at the beach where there were rip tides but we hunt labs in the river in some pretty harsh and cold conditions. I would never put a flotation device on any of my animals and I know there are Gundog owners in here that also won’t. The risk of getting caught or stuck on something because of it is too high. There’s also a lessor know issue of overheating them but that’s somewhat debatable. Having a good recall is more important than flotation in my opinion. Knowing the water in your area helps too. Safer at certain times of the day and times of the month and times of the year. But I’m a professional sailor and ex kayak guide so kinda read the waters sort of speak.
We use dogie PFDs on our dogs when they are swimming from a boat, mostly so we have a handle to help get them back in the boat. It also helps with viability in the water and we don't have to worry so much if we are a mile from shore. We don't normally use them when they are swimming from shore, but I would if there were a lot of power boats around. We mostly use Ruffwear PFDs and they don't seem to bother the dogs when swimming. Our water is typically cold enough that we don't worry about overheating, but sometimes worry about the cold.
