Lab scared to swim
 

My lab whos almost 9 months old has decided that he's not going to swim anymore. He swam from when i first got him at 7 weeks until he was 4 months old then winter came, along with ice and no swimming of course. This spring i've tried taking him to a river ythat is fairly shallow where he can swim but he refuses to. He has no problem with walking into water chest deep it's just when he knows that he has to swim. I've tried throwing a duck into the water for him to retrieve. Again no problems as long as he doesnt have to swim. I tried weening himinto the water by graduallythrowing the duckfurther and further into deeper water, didnt work. I also tried wading out into the water with him on a leash to try and show him its nothing to be scared of but it didnt work. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

RE: Lab scared to swim
 

Where are you located? In most of the country the water is too cold this time of year. I would wait until the wateris at least 55 degrees, 60 would be even better.

RE: Lab scared to swim
 

I'm located in New Brunswick Canada. I know the water is cold but he swam until just before the ice came last fall/winter we didnt have much ice untillate januarywhen he was a younger pup so i'm wondering if he's just scared to swim or if he's fdorgotten or something.

RE: Lab scared to swim
 

How does the dog like the birds on retrieves?? If it gets pretty jacked up, I would try and cripple a duck, break a foot, and or wing, so it cant dive, but it will be able to flop. Or even a pigeon, take and do a few on land, then skip a day, and do 1 on land then the edge of water, skip and do 1 on edge then little further out, big thing is watch the want to on the dog, this is something that I would try with out seeing your dog, watching face to face would speak alot more, even the water temp could be a factor right now. Something might have happened during a swim, that you didn't notice, a hang up in the water something minor, can end up major later. keep me posted as to what and why, and maybe we can try and figure out more, email is always open, thanks Jonesy

RE: Lab scared to swim
 

Also two of my hunting buddies have 2 of his brothers and neither of them have the same problem both of their dogs have been swimming in the water since it's been open for almost a month now.

Thanks

RE: Lab scared to swim
 

I dont worry about the littermate stuff my self, I have come across alot of differences in littermates, bird dogs or retrievers, just my opinion, one thing always remember in training any dog.......for every action we do there is a reaction from the dog, when there is a reaction that we dont want or expect, we as trainers have to figure out what or why, and how to fix. If a dog is nuts about a bird, a crippled out there floating and flopping is hard to beat, dont be scared to have some bigger rocks to pitch out be the bird, if the dog is questionable, or is swimming and panics, you will want good splashes. If it farts around top long, grab littermate and send it, let it get the retrieve, do not allow your dog to touch the other when it comes back in, have it leashed, he doesnt need to attempt to steal the glory, give him another chance later. Just thoughts that are popping in my head, later Jonesy

RE: Lab scared to swim
 

I don't have any access to live birds but i have a few from last duck season i keep in the freezer. He isfine in the field i didnt stop training him during the whole winter so he never had a chance to get rusty in that department. When i take him into the field hes very enthusiastic on retrievesi have hadabsolutelyno problem what so ever except keeping him on the heel command the odd time, he gets pretty excited. He always seemsvery interested in the duck or dummy I can throw the duck into the water all the way up to his chest and he'llretrieve it without hesitation,but once its a foot further where he has to even think about swimming he wont retrieve it. I don't think he had any mishaps when he was swimmin but like you said it could have been something that i didnt see and he didnt show any signs of. The last time he was swimming was about 3 months ago though so it may have something to do with not swimming for that period of time. I was given two forms of advice from friends.One was to just grab him and carry him in and throw him in but i figured this would either cure the problem completely or make him terified of water all together so i opted that this wasn't the best method to use haha. The other was to just continue to wade out into the water and try and get him to follow. i imagine that after repeated attempts at this he will eventually give in. He is a lab and he has swam before i'm hoping that its just like trying to ride a bike after not being on one for a while and he'll just get back into it without any problems.

RE: Lab scared to swim
 

I hunt my dog in cold water situations, where he is swimming through slush, but I wouldn'ttrain in cold water. As Tail said there are differences in dogs, so I wouldn't use comparisons to other dogs as a guide in this case. Some dogs are so driven they just don't care how cold or hot they get. Trying to train in cold water might create attitude problems in some dogs. Why take the chance? DO NOT follow the advice that said "throw him in", that advice is not sound. I would take Tail's advice, but just wait until it warms up.

RE: Lab scared to swim
 

Hope you get your lab straightend out. Swimming is deffinatly part of the job description for a hunting lab.
My hunting partner pictured here is happy with her pair.




Have a good one!
Robin

RE: Lab scared to swim
 

You've gotten a lot of good advise here. There is another option too. Forget about the water for a while. Keep working on his land retrieves, and his yard work. Keep the training fun so the dog is jazzed up everytime you train. Then in a few months, casually take him to the water and see what happens. If you want to wait a bit longer, wait until the water is warm enough for you to swim in it too. I'll bet if you swim he'll follow you. For now, however, don't pressure the dog to enter the water. this will only worsen the anxiety.

As was stated in other posts; don't throw your dog into the water to make him swim. This will only make the dog not trust you when water is nearby.

Also, have you cosidered that maybe the dog won't enter the river because at this time of the year the current is stronger? Just a thought.

Good luck

RE: Lab scared to swim
 

What is the WATER temperature? (we'll need it in F, not C -- most of us are just dumb Yankees).



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