Dear Forum Members.... We have a Fox Red Lab called Sam who is just short of a year old... The issue we have is that he is fascinated / obsessed with water and splashing... This in shallow water is fine and he comes back on command. But the real issue is when he goes swimming. He will not get out and seems to completely enter a different world with the splashing and biting / drinking of the water along with a constant crying / wailing.... No amount of calling / coercing will get him out............ Has any one heard of this before / had any experience with one of their own dogs.....? He had an obsession about jumping up tree trunks and biting the bark but as he has got older he seems less interested / has given up.... Does anyone have any ways to address this.....?...... (as our other Labs love swimming and have no issues /obsessive behaviour with water...) One way to deal with Sam is that I have a length of marine rope (Thin by very strong) which I attach to his collar (We are looking at a harness as well) so that if he goes out of range / depth, I can get him back.... and of course if I need to go in and get him, I do...... Hoping that this is something that a year old, male, Fox Red Lab will grow out of but any guidance / advise would be gratefully received.......especially as we are off to South Wales for a holiday with expansive beaches and the sea, etc... Regards Matt.
Sounds a bit strange @Matt Davies. Do you give him a job to do in the water? It might be worth trying some retrieving. We started with pine cones so if they weren'the collected no real harm done or toy floating away . My girl doesn't bother with swimming and is only interested if she is retrieving apart from that it's a splash around. I've recently been to S Wales - fantastic beaches but we didn't see the sea as it was so far out where we visited but vast glorious stretches of dog friendly sandy beaches.
Hi and welcome to the forum. Yes, I have seen something similar in a friend's dog. It became quite dangerous as the dog would swim to the point of exhaustion wailing and whining all the time. The dog was diagnosed to be suffering from canine compulsive disorder by a vet. Medication was prescribed and a behaviourist was consulted. It was very scary to watch him in water. It is something I would investigate if it was my dog, especially if he has already shown some other form of compulsive behaviour.
That does seem a bit off but he could just be so excited to swim he's burning the extra energy with his antics. You could try the retrieve like mentioned above and put the object on a thin line as well to lure him then use the whole event as an exercise in recall. Get some sardines at the ready to reward him. We use a whistle and very high rewards when we are in a situation where I think he might not recall. You could get him cued up on land with the high rewards and a whistle then just transfer the exercise to when he's swimming. Has anyone been using one of those red lazer penlights to play with him? They can really mess up a dog.
That does sound like very strange behaviour. I would definately pop him to the vets and have a complete check over as he might be in pain and water helps, or as Heidrun says above, it could be an obsessive behaviour that could become dangerous for him. I would go careful using any type of lead in water as it could catch on something and trap Sam from moving. Hope you manage to get to the bottom of it.
Hi JoJo 83, Thanks for your reply... We have all sort of games that we play with the dogs for walking and swimming. That is for them to have fun. When I take them out individually for training we use dummies. Sam is very focused on his retrieving and in swallow water we are seeing improvement. It is the swimming issue and where he is out of his depth and could get exhausted that causes concern. We are off to the Gower Peninsula and walk, play and swim off all the beaches that are dog friendly.
Hi Heidrun, Great insight and somewhat glad it isn't just Sam..... I will have a word with our vet and get his take on this. Don't want to take the fight / spirit out of the Dog and we are planning to go to a stretch of water where we can control his paddling / swimming and get him out if he gets too obsessed. Will keep all posted.
Hi Johnny Walker, Thanks for the insight and I like the Sardines idea and getting Sam to return on command - albeit he is very good at that from my call / whistle. We have some water training lined up where we can control his time in the water. Will keep you posted.
Hi Naya, Thanks for you insight - Going to talk to the vet over the next few days and we have some water training lined up where we can control Sam's time in the water. The marine line is only used in areas where we have clear line of sight and no obstacles - Keep all posted.
All of our dogs have loved to swim, and would go out quite a ways, but they always came back well. Ginger and Cooper would swim alongside our canoe, but Tilly always wants to be back in the boat if it is moving. If you have a canoe or row boat, and a large pond/lake/slow river you will be able to go faster than your dog can swim. It will give you a safe way to see how he behaves when he has a large place to swim. You can catch him if the recall doesn't work. Do put a dog PFD so you can see him, and have a handle for getting him back in a boat.
Labs were bred to deploy and retrieve fishing nets in the North Atlantic and well as to retrieve fallen sailors....... do the math.
Labs (aka the lesser St. Johns Dog) were used by the fishermen to retrieve nets and escaping fish. They came to Newfoundland on fishing boats. Probably with French or Portuguese fishermen. The Indians in that part of Canada did not have dogs, and the dogs that were in North America were Spitz type dogs. Do remember that if Sam is in deep water swimming there is no way you can catch him by swimming after him. If you are really worried that he will not come back, you need to have a row boat or canoe to catch him. Some times Tilly or Cooper will keep going longer than we like, because they lost position of the ball or stick they were trying to retrieve, but they eventually give up and come back without it.
Hey Matt, You just described my sons black lab. We have to do the same thing with putting a long rope on her when we are at the river or lake
Hey Matt, you just described my sons black lap. We have to do the same thing with putting her on a long rope when we are at the river or lake. Do you have any feedback on how you handled this problem? Thanks John
Has anybody got any further suggestions on this. I posted this on reddit and this describes my situation - I have a black Labrador who has just turned 1. He is absolutely obsessed with water and if he sees or even smells water nearby he has to be straight in it and doesn't come out. He has been very easy to train he is very food orientated and his recall is amazing in all situations except when there is water around its like he can't hear me. it seems like a psychological issue he is like in a frenzy when he is in water trying to eat the bubbles he creates from splashing and swallows loads of water. I can't let him off leash anywhere where there's water because he just doesn't come out and I've had to go in the river once after him. it is frustrating as he is missing out on lots of nice walks because I can't go anywhere there is a risk of water. even shallow streams and rivers he will get in and just sprint away following the splashes. even at my parents house they have a stream in the back garden and he will just sprint from one end of the stream to the other continuously so he can't go in the garden off leash. Every puddle he must dive in and even if a river was in flood I'm certain he would jump straight in. I'm very worried one day I will be somewhere I don't know there is water and he will sprint or swim off. I just wondered if anyone has any ideas how to deal with this or any experience of a dog being so obsessed with water. His recall as I say I can't get it any better away from water but he goes into a different world when water nearby. just wondered if anybody could help thank you.
Hi John, a really frustrating problem for you and I think that you are right to be cautious! I would strongly suggest having some sessions with a gundog trainer and work on his impulse control and retrieving. It may not sound relevant to your problem, but if you can get him retrieving from water in a controlled manner, it could really help with this problem. Where about's in the country are you?
