My 18 week old puppy seems to dislike water. I took her to a brook on a walk and she went into to the water sniffed it went up to her knees and came out. Our spaniels loved going in there. Maybe it's a bit cold atm. She goes out in the garden to pee and if it's wet she tries to walk on the dry bits. When it rains heavy we get a pond outside the back door she don't like walking through it. I wondered if other lab pups don't like water.
Alfie loves a swim now (but usually waits for us to give him permission) but still walks around puddles and isn't keen at going in garden in the rain but loves his walks no matter what. He was to scared to swim until he was 7 months old. Id say continue to give your pup the opportunity and she will go in when she's ready.
Many dogs need a reason to want to go into the water - they don't all like swimming for the sake of swimming - many go in because they want to get something which is in the water.... like toys...
At that age my pup was nervous of water, too. First I would bring her to the bay where there are big concrete blocks going out a few feet at low tide, forming very large stepping stones. I jumped to the first one and had her come to get a treat. Then to the second. She was very nervous but eventually did it and got a big fat reward. Second, at the lake, I would throw a stick just past the edge, and she would tentatively fetch, without even going in. I kept doing it and increasing distance, and now has no problem swimming out far to fetch. She's also lost her nervousness around water. On her own, she'll walk in a bit just off the shore, but won't go full-on swimming unless I throw something out there. She still hates to go out in heavy rain, though. I've taken her on a couple walks in pretty heavy rain. She gets over it and seems to forget about it. But if it's just to go outside to potty, it's clear she'll do as much as possible to avoid the rain. She's also not too big on baths but tolerates them. She absolutely loves getting rubbed down with a towel to dry off. I think 18 weeks is still very young. What seemed to work best for me was to introduce her to swimming through playing fetch.
My pup learned to swim at the age of seven weeks with her breeder. she has loved water the hole time we have had her. when we see our cousins, she jumps in their pool, swims a lap, climbs out and sprints around with their dog.
Following on from Jo's suggestion, if you were to play around in the water that could help. Get a kid's pool, and put some tepid water in it. Not deep. Play in there yourself. Make it interesting. Don't force her to go in. Let her decide if and when she wants to get in.
She is just a pet so it's not a big deal she does go into the water in brook but only a short distance she doesn't seem scared just not impressed it must be freezing though. Maybe when the weather warms up she will be different. We are taking her to beach for holidays. She seemed to enjoy her bath after she rolled in some unmentionable. I'm not getting into water it's too cold lol We bought my Springer a kiddies paddling pool she wouldn't go near it but loved swimming in the river. My othe springer used to play in the kids pool when they had gone to bed.
Had two Labradors puppies back in 1980. A female and a male, both pure breed labs. The wife would bath the dogs in the tub weekly and neither seemed to mind, however, the female lab especially enjoyed the bath times much more than the male. We didn't introduce either much to the back yard until they were about 20 or so weeks old. Right out the gate the female was insane excited playing in the water, the male not so much if at all. The female would fetch bumpers first time out to the Ag irrigation canals in back of my house and the male would just stop short of entering the water and pace up and down the bank as if waiting for the bumper to float back to shore. Forward three months... one day back at the canals the male jumped into the water and fetched the bumper like a champ. After that it was near impossible to keep either of these dog out of any water, anywhere. Moral to this bit of a long winded story: Every puppy is different when it comes to time in their behavior or learning curve even if from the same litter.
We started letting our pups wade in creek when they were 8 or 10 weeks old. The first time Tilly went to a lake, she did not jump in immediately but soon was retrieving Tennis balls from the lake. Cooper had pretty much the same introduction. I think it took a little longer for her to swim in deep water, but I believe she was swimming by 12 weeks. All of our Labs have been swimmers. If they are near water they will go in, unless we stop them.
Both my dogs (neither are full Lab) love the water, but will only go in if they have a reason, eg a ball or a stick to retrieve. Love it that Willow had the zoomies after her paddle, sounds as if it was appealing to her in some way.
Give it time, she's young and needs her confidence building. My older lab took a while to like water, probably around 6 months. My young lab was straight in a river at 10 weeks. Older one will really only go in water to retrieve, the young one will play in water just for fun!
