Do boxers like to swim?

[the busbys]

lifejackets

Boomer loves to swim...but if he's on our boat, he has a life jacket on. If we're on shore, he's fine without it. Boomer wasn't sure if he liked the water at first. He didn't like his feet to leave the bottom. But what surprised me was that he would stick his whole head under the water to get a stick off of the bottom! Boomer's 2 friends are water spaniels, and they hate to get their faces wet! Boomer's a fiend for playing fetch in the water, and lately he goes out further and further. He's definitly overcomming his fear of deep water. I love it because I've always been involved with the water, (lifeguard, swim instructor, Coast Guard) and now my dog shares my love of water!!! Now if I can only get my husband in the water more...:D

 

[Bethany]

Pebbles is a water baby too! The first year we had her she didn't like the water at all (She still doesnt' like rain). But my parents had a chocolate lab and a chihuhua both that swim, and Pebbles felt left out staying on shore alone, so she eventually got up the nerve to join them and realized it wasn't that bad!
She swims now on her own (but she especially likes it if we go in with her) and she'll swim after us, or chase sticks. She also chases the canoe. :rolleyes:

 

[k9sareforme]

Welcome to BW.

Bonnie has never been at the ocean and never really learned how to swim the water she ha ever been in isthe bath tub and hates it.

 

[Mandy1155]

There are probably 50-100 dogs swimming at our dog park and none have life vests. There are couple boxers out there too. I guess I might wear my bathing suit this time and just go in with her. Since it was her first time she probably just needs some practice. I don't think she would mind a life vest though. I was just thinking that if none of those dogs need it then maybe I am paranoid. If she was in a boat I would do it for sure but on the shore line of a lake?

 

[boxers4life2001]

Can't keep him out!!!

Chance LOVES to go swimming. We have a cottage that has a lake a few hundred feet from it and he we can't keep him out of it. Every chance he gets he runs to the lake and dives right in. He is a great swimmer but I put a lifejcaket on him anyway because he swims way out past the middle of the lake. He is like the energizer bunny, he keeps goin and goin, no matter how tired he gets he will keep swimming. I worried about him being to tired when he is out in the middle so he wears the lifejacket just in case he gets fatigue. He will stck his whole head under water digging for rocks (he keeps it under for awhile) Maddie will go in up to her wrists but only if she sees Chance in there first. I hope with with time (she's still a puppy) she will love just as much as Chance!!! :D

 

[KARMAKOZMIK]

waterbaby

Hazel took her first swim at seven 6 months and has not turned back. I can no longer keep her out of the water. She thinks she is a lab and now after much practice has become very good at it.. now if I can keep her from swimming across the lake I will count myself lucky.


We taught her how to swim with a floating kong on a rope.. she doesn't dive very well but she sure is fast. :D

 

[KARMAKOZMIK]

waterbaby

Hazel took her first swim at seven 6 months and has not turned back. I can no longer keep her out of the water. She thinks she is a lab and now after much practice has become very good at it.. now if I can keep her from swimming across the lake I will count myself lucky.


We taught her how to swim with a floating kong on a rope.. she doesn't dive very well but she sure is fast. :D

Hazel 11/03/01 61 pounds, flashy fawn white sox

 

[Trish727]

Domino is a water baby!! He loves to dive right into the water and he loves to fetch his kong football from the bottom of the pool:D

 

[pozy7]

My year and 1/2 old male boxer Hurricane loves the water! His first experience was when he was a puppy. We were at my parents pool and he was so curious. He got a little close to the edge and ended up falling in. I was like a crazy parent trying to rescue my little darling but Hurricane just started to "doggie paddle" all around. When my husband and I take him to the State Park he runs right into the water to chase the ducks. He goes so far out to the middle, we sometimes think we are going to have to go in after him. Hurricane has his own kiddie pool at our house that he loves to splash around in and no one can even take a shower in peace because he is poking his head around the shower curtain. Sometimes I wonder if he isn't half fish!:D

 

[Contratto]

swimmer?

Recently we were out with Higgins and took him for a walk along the river. Along most of the bank, it is immediately deep water and he wouldn't have any sort of foothold to get back up. He's still a puppy so we figured he'd stay away from it pretty much since he wasn't sure about it. He'd go up to the swans that were around or in it but never made any attempts to go in.

A few days ago my husband and I again took him down to this area and we had stopped and sat on a bench for a little while. Higgins seemed to get a little bored with us and started to do laps around us. On each lap, he'd grab the rushes that were alongside the water and sort of drag some with him on his next lap. Each lap kept getting a bit bigger as well.

And just as I was saying to my husband - 'he's going to fly right into that river soon' .... SPLOOSH.. .that was exactly what we did. We both panicked a bit since he had never swam before. It all happened very fast but the first thing he did do was sink like a stone which just about made my own heart stop. He then came up and started paddling for the side to get up. My husband reached to get his collar and it slipped and down he went again. Then he cam up one more time and managed to get his feet up on the side and my husband then pulled the rest of him out.

We were a bit shocked and he seemed to be for about 10 seconds before he decided that it was no big deal at all and just started trotting around again.

The thing that struck me afterwards about it is that I genuinely think that he wanted to do it. I think he was sort of working himself into falling in. Sounds strange but he hardly ever does circles around us in that way and looking at it now I think it was the only way he could get himself in there.

Unforunately, I'm a bit spooked about him and water now. Like I said, it happened so fast that we really didn't get to see if he'd swim. He did for a little while, but it wasn't long enough to know if he really could. I'm afraid he's going to jump in again one of these days and if I'm alone it would be a hard go to help him out if I had to (I'm in a wheelchair). We have gone down to the river since then and he's not a bit shy of it. At times he does seem like he's about to go in and I'll tell him no and he'll stop. We have a very deep tub at home and I'm thinking that some swimming lessons might be in order to put my mind at ease a bit.