Swimming

[brickM]

teaching swimming

Hi,
We have an 18 week old puppy that we are trying to teach to swim. She goes in the pool with the kids and each take a turn spotting her while she doggy paddles to the ladder. The kids think it is great and Saria ( our pup) seems to love it. She gets very excited when the kids swim and tries to jump in. We keep the ladder locked so she can not climb into the pool without a human with her just in case.

Brick M

 

[rockysmommie]

Thanks,
I bought him a life preserver but because of my embarassment I haven't used it.

My friend got her dog a life preserver (not a boxer) and it is so dang cute! I wouldn't be embarrassed. Besides she said that once she put the life vest on her dog and the dog realized she could swim great with it, she would jump run and jump in the pool all day.

 

[jvcjbl]

Took my 13 week old puppy swimming today at our new house. She accidentally fell into the pool and just before I was about to jump in clothes and all to save her... she came right up and paddled around the pool two times and got out panting... she proceeded to swim with me off and on for about an hour. I am still amazed.

 

[SandyHG55654]

It makes me wonder why labs and retreivers can swim so well (besides their instinct), dont they tend to have a big chest also? or top heavy? I know they are bigger than boxers.

I don't think they are really deep chested like Boxers. You know how Boxers have such a defined waist, Retrievers and labs bodies are more like rectangle shaped. They have big chests but thier weight is distributed a little more evenly towards the back. Plus they have webbed toes and were bred for swimming and retrieving things Boxers were not.

I know Diesel can swim he jumped in a river once :eek: It was very cold! Now he hates water and so does Dozer but they love shallow waves at the beach. Go figure!

 

[Alex C.]

Plus they have webbed toes .....

You know, that was something I was wondering.....Brandi has webbed feet, so does her sister that I'm currently fostering!....

 

[kpowell]

I think Labs can swim well because they carry around an extra layer of FAT!!!! At least mine does, despite all efforts to reduce his size!

 

[Lola's mum]

I've not even seen these things for sale!

I saw some at the weekend in 'Pets at home' along with some cute coats but nothing boxer size ;(

 

[Meg-n-Maddie]

Hubby made the mistake of thinking Maddie could swim last month. He throws Gracie (the lab- a natural water dog) in there all the time and she loves it. Well, a few days after bringing Maddie home he was throwing Gracie in again and again and thought it was so hot that Maybe Maddie would like a swim, well thank goodness I was in the pool, becasue Maddie went down, down, down, . He had no clue that not all dogs take to the water like a lab, even though I kept yelling "don't do it, She's a BOXER!" rofl

 

[gmacleod]

I've not even seen these things for sale!

You can find lifejackets for dogs easily in the UK

I bought this one for Henri: http://www.canineconcepts.co.uk/item--Dog-Life-Jacket--lifejacket
Here's an alternative: http://shop.lifejackets.co.uk/acatalog/lifejacket_dog_pet_lifejacket.html

You'd find plenty of others with a quick internet search.

 

[ladypainter]

Rufus likes his jacket. Outward hound from Petsmart. He looks funny in it, but we think it's cute. The handle on top makes it easy to pull him out, or in our case in..ha-ha! I think it is the best thing since sliced bread. Rufus used to be afraid, now after 3 weeks, we can toss him into the pool without it and he does really well. In our case we have a pool and I need to know that he can make it to the steps (and know where they are) in case he falls in while we are not home. We have a gate but we all know what that means to a boxer... challenge! So I say get the jacket, small investment to protect your baby. Would you be embarrassed to put one on your skin kid?