Yesterday I took Harley to one of our favourite walks in snuff mills. She has got braver with the water and is constantly in the river. Some parts are very shallow and she loves this Further down the river there are parts that have ledges in the water, usually Harley is very cautious of where they end......until yesterday! She ran in full pelt to get her ball, knocked it further away, ran after it then realised there was no ledge so under she went : I panicked for a second, the up she popped swam back to me......with the ball ;D ;D she then looked at the river with disgust and walked away with her ball ;D ;D Here is a photo of her staring at the river sopping wet https://flic.kr/p/mLoxJD
Re: To swim or not to swim! Nice and wet After an incident similar to that, we took Lilly to a hydrotherapy pool (for fun swimming really) just to make sure she COULD swim 8) I must admit, I felt much better after that, knowing that she could swim if needed, I stopped worrying that I might have to go in after to rescue her ;D
Re: To swim or not to swim! Nice soggy doggy Sam was a shocker , refused to even get his feet wet for ages , but then he did take a fall into water as a young puppy . It took me 20 months of patient cajoling to finally get him right in and swimming , now cant keep him out
Re: To swim or not to swim! That is a very wet dog giving the river a very narrow look ;D Riley loves to swim but can find getting in a bit of a trial. He likes a nice shelving run in so I'm going to work on that this summer
Re: To swim or not to swim! Penny absolutely adores water! From the first time we could take her out she went paddling in a little stream out near where my parents live. The first time she discovered how to swim was in the pond at Blaise Castle - she paddled for a bit and then we threw a stick in for her to fetch, she looked at it for a few seconds as if considering how to get it, then just launched herself in! Since then she's been a real water baby! I was adamant that I would not have a Labrador who hated water!! In the summer we bought a small child's paddling pool for the garden and after walks she would come home and lay in it for about ten minutes just wriggling around in the water! My new favourite place to take her is Snuff Mills as it's the only place we can go where she can properly swim, she loves it so much! Though it can be a bit of an issue when I take her to my parents house and she jumps in the pond....
Re: To swim or not to swim! Sorry, I feel like Job's Comforter Best not to have collar or harness on when swimming, dogs have been known to have been caught up in something under water, eg a branch and have drowned.
Re: To swim or not to swim! It's true though Stacia, I try and remember to pop Riley's collar off if there's any swimming to be done
Re: To swim or not to swim! She might be unimpressed with the river, but she is a very good looking dog.
Re: To swim or not to swim! Stacia - she has never swam before, it was by accident that she fell in. Usually she 'paddles' so I don't take her harness and collar off. I didn't even think about her collar and harness!! I will definitely take them off if she does start going deeper in the water Thanks David I am biased, but I do think she is a gorgeous looking pup
Re: To swim or not to swim! Aw bless Harley she is beautiful and well done in the water even if she does look a bit peeved. I wonder if I put Charlie off water last week, after training he was disgustingly dirty so we went to a pond threw his ball in, he jumped in and it was deep and no ledge, he came out and blankly refused to go back in after his beloved ball He has had a paddle upto his chest in our local river so I hope he will be ok. It doesn't take much to put them off. x
Re: To swim or not to swim! My OH was determined to make Charlie swim in the sea when he was tiny. Despite Pippa and Heidrun advising this was not the right way to do it! I was convinced we'd put him off for life - a couple of days he really didn't want to go in, despite OH sat in the sea with treats and ball! It turned out fine in the end though. A day at a quiet river with a few other dogs to show him how easy it was, and he was soon following the big boys into the surf. By the look on Harley's face, that river had best watch out! ;D ;D ;D
Re: To swim or not to swim! Went to the local woods today and she was straight in the stream! No dirty looks this time though I'm sure Charlie will be ok Helen, it didn't put Harley off earlier I can't wait to take Harley to a beach where she can go in the water, so jealous Julie x
Re: To swim or not to swim! Dexter only gets to swim in the sea here....and it is REALLY salty! He doesn't really like it,he'll go in if I'm in and coax him in but if there's another dog he's a bit more interested,he won't put his face in to pick any toys up at all!first time he went in,I was busy getting a long line ( it was a man made lagoon on The Palm Stacia,totally sandy bottom) out to hold him on while he 'paddled' .His friend Loco was already in,Dexter just took a flying leap, went under then bobbed up paddling! my friend's Husband still tells the story in hysterics about how I ran in after him fully clothed! ;D
Re: To swim or not to swim! Well it will be interesting to see how Simba reacts to water this summer. It's full on spring melt around here now (yippee) which means a LOT of puddles and running water down the street and in the gutters, overflowing onto the sidewalks...I've noticed that often times Simba will jump the puddles or skirt them...sounds suspiciously un-Labrador like...
Re: To swim or not to swim! Riley loves swimming but won't walk through a puddle for love nor money(or food!) ;D
Re: To swim or not to swim! Hattie is a real girl and doesn't like to get her hair wet, avoiding water at all costs accept when our green was flooded and Thomas got her to retrieve her ball from it :
Re: To swim or not to swim! [quote author=bbrown link=topic=5276.msg66571#msg66571 date=1396813879] Riley loves swimming but won't walk through a puddle for love nor money(or food!) ;D [/quote] Charlie won't not walk through a puddle for love nor money (or food!) ;D
