But Casco hates to swim. He'll splash around until his stomach gets wet, but then he's done. We take him out with other Goldens who swim, and Casco stands on the shore and watches. It's devastating, but I'm determined to get him to swim.
So, when we got the latest Drs. Foster and Smith catalog, I tore out the page with the "Fido Float" and told Mr. B that it was on Casco's Birthday wish list.
We ran into a couple once who told us the life vest worked to give their dogs more confidence. The problem is, I'm not sure that I am brave enough to take my "water breed" to a lake in a life vest.
Thoughts? Any doggy swim instructors out there?
Bummer! Our golden will swim, but we canNOT get him to jump off the dock. We've tried everything, but he just won't budge.
ReplyDeletePoor guy. Good luck, the life vest seems like a good idea!
ReplyDeleteLOL! That doggie life vest is too funny! I say do it--and take lots of pictures!
ReplyDeleteThat vest is so silly! :) Whatever works, right? Our big doggy won't swim either. We thought we had a major breakthrough last summer when he submerged his paws, but he just won't go in any farther than that. (Even when he's chasing other dogs at the park and they run in the water, he'll just stand at the shore and wait for them to come back).
ReplyDeleteI have some advice . . . but it seems a little mean. At our cabin, before the dogs could come out on the boats, we had to make sure they could swim. (All dogs want to go out of the boats, in case you were wondering) Anyway, some of our dogs (or my extended family's dogs) didn't want to get wet- so to make sure they could swim my uncle would throw them off a dock. Literally. Even his big water dogs.
ReplyDeleteYou might give it a try . . . just force him into it. It seems mean, but none of our dogs were scarred for life. Just be sure you are willing to jump in after him if he can't swim! = )
Ok ... I realize this will sound bad but throw him off of a dock or boat. Our lab was like this when he was about 6 months old and the second he realized he could swim (about 2 seconds after he got thrown in) he loved it. We haven't been able to keep him out of the water since. (He's the yellow one that I just posted about). Please don't report me to the ASPCA. :)
ReplyDeletewe have those doggy vests! ha ha. Molly had one when we owned the jet ski. We would take her out in the middle of the lake on the jet ski and she hated it so she'd jump off and swim around with her life vest. I don't know why we got cabella on since she won't leave the water, but I really liked them.
ReplyDeleteOur pointer loves to swim. The thing that sucks is that she is just really bad at it. She gets half way out and starts choking because she can't keep her head up good.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, no advice, but I do find humor in the situation!
ReplyDeleteWhen we first had Allie as a puppy I thought Tony ruined her for sure when he decided to pick her up and go out into deeper water . . . thankfully, not so.
haha, i had to comment on this one... we have 2 goldens (brothers) and one loves to swim, he'll jump off the dock, chase ducks, etc. if you don't watch him, he'd be out in the middle of the lake. but our other golden will not go much more than a foot deep. he likes to splash around in shallow water though. we've tried to "force him" like some of the other comments have suggested, but he just freaked out and quickly swam back to shore. they both have a dog life jacket, we make them wear them when we go out on the boat... actually, the best part about the life jackets is that they have a handle on the back and it makes it much easier to control the wet dog :-)
ReplyDeleteLove it. My black labs don't like the water either. Forget fetching the ball in the water! Make sure to post if the life vest works!! I might need to add it to my list too!
ReplyDeleteTotty
www.bootsandtotty.com
What?! Are you sure he is a golden? (joking) If we could find an inflatable dog bowl for food Chester would live in the water. Oh, and if we lived on the water.
ReplyDeleteMy Golden, Casey, is totally scared of water. I think she picks up on my fear--which makes me sad. Have a good weekend!
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