This is my first post, so I figured it’d be a training log for my pup. My Hades is 13 weeks old. He can sit, stay, come, paw, kennel up, roll over, he’s starting play dead, dress (put on his harness), wait to hear ok to eat, and wait to hear ok to leave his crate. He’s also just now starting on heel as we get closer to him getting his final vaccinations. He’s so so smart. I also use doggy puzzles for his meals and he’s at a level 3 puzzle. Hades is also starting to figure out potty training as he’s also learning to ring a doggy doorbell to be let outside. My one issue with him is that he’s not fully comfortable swimming. Today my husband and I took him to a kayak landing. There were no waves and it’s a gradual slope into the water. This was his 5th time at this kayak landing and he gets deeper and deeper, but he’s kinda stopped at the point right before him not being able to touch the ground. My husband helped him out and put him over that line. He did great swimming and even stayed near my husband as he gave him hot dogs while swimming. But he kept wanting to go back to shore. I worry that he may never take to loving the water like I’ve always hoped. The only thing that gives me hope is that I’ve read a few forums where people have said that there dogs took a few months to love the water. I hope this is the case and he picks up loving the water soon. Any advice/tips/tricks would be appreciated of course. He’s not deathly afraid. He’ll go in if lured which gives me great hope.
Hi Joely and Hades, welcome to the forum! We'd love to follow along with your training journey, Hades sounds incredible Personally I wouldn't worry at all about a 13 week old puppy not wishing to spend much time swimming in open water yet! He's still very small, and a healthy mistrust of drowning is a natural survival instinct in baby animals. His confidence will grow as he does, and I think it might be more important not to put him off by forcing him beyond the point where he feels safe and confident too early on.
Thanks so much!! Any suggestions on how I can keep introducing it to him until he learns to like it himself?
The kayak landing sounds like a perfect spot! But ponds, lakes, sheltered beaches - anywhere that starts shallow and gradually gets deeper. It think getting into water is naturally self-rewarding for most Labs, but you could encourage him along by giving him treats for trying to lift his paws, or going a little deeper than he has before. Be careful he doesn't end up gulping too much water as he takes them though - particularly in the sea!
