Teach your Puppy to Swim

Learning to Swim
The best set up for getting your pup started swimming is warm water, a warm day, as well as a bottom that drops off gradually. You can wade in & walk or play with other canines & permit your pup to follow. In the event you have a shallow stream, a long walk on a hot day is nice. Your dog will enjoy the trip & in the finish they will find himself in over his shoulders & swimming.

If your pup likes to retrieve, throw bumpers where they can still keep his feet on the bottom & retrieve. As they gains confidence gradually throw a bumper farther out -- at some point they will must swim to get it.

Sometimes I wade in holding the pup & have my spouse or helper stand a short distance away in the water. Gently lower the pup in to the water & face him toward my spouse. They calls him & I let him go to swim a short distance to her. When they gets there my spouse picks him up & makes a large fuss over him before turning him to face me & sending him back. As they gains confidence they back away from each other so they must swim farther each time.

One of my training ponds has a small island 50 feet long & twenty feet wide. This island is only 60 feet from the nearest shore. Large canines can walk most of the way across but must swim a bit in the middle to get to shore. With an older pup I have waded out to the island carrying a reluctant swimmer. I set them on the shore & wade off to stand some short distance away in the water. No pup has stayed on the island long.

Stages
When they start to swim most dogs will swim with the front finish only. This ends in a head-up, splashing stroke that is not effective or efficient. This "puppy splashing" is common. With more experience a pup will engage his rear finish & level out & swim.

One time they start to swim well on the return, it is a short time until most canines start to swim on the way out, .

Usually a brand spanking new swimmer will start by splashing his way out & back to retrieve his bumper or ball. At some point you'll observe that they splashes out to retrieve but swims on the return.

Some pups will go through these stages in day, some in a week. Most canines introduced to the water after six months of age take a tiny longer to work through these stages. Over the years I have had a few canines that splashed for eight or ten weeks before they swam well. With time, even the most determined splashers finally learned to dig in & swim.

A final caution: be cautious about training on icy water. Icy water can be uncomfortable & one time your dog learns they doesn't like icy water they may be reluctant to enter even warm water