Swimmng

[Angel's folks]

We have had Angel now since February and have been waiting for the weather to be nice enough to go to the beach and go swimming with her. My mother-in-law told us that (a friend of hers told her that) Boxers cannot swim because of their build!? Any truth to that? I thought all dogs could do the famous "dog paddle"!

 

[travelgal]

We are really into cottages and camping. Each year we hope that by some act of God that our Coleman will learn to swim. It looks like after this past weekend, this will not be the year. We are in Canada, and the water is still very cold. Coleman spent his whole weekend in the lake, but wouldn't go any deeper than his chest. It is hilarious to watch him tyring to catch little fish and tadpoles. Yet it is sometimes frustrating! My husband let him outside on Saturday morning to go the the bathroom. The next thing I hear is "Coleman! Get out of the water!" It was not enjoyable having an 85 pound, wet boxer in bed at 6:30 in the morning!
I have been told that boxers can't swim because of their heavy chests. I would never force him to go in where he is not cmfortable. I guess the best thing to do is invest in a life jacket for your pup, if he we be over his head. Good luck!

 

[ckjacroux]

I just got back from camping this past weekend. My boyfriend has a lab. The lab spent the whole time in the lake, and Max spent the whole time on the edge of the lake, never going in farther than his paws, and wanting so badly to get the ducks that were swimming.

 

[Krikkit]

Can your Boxer swim?

Angel's folks post made me think this would be a good Boxerworld poll Hopefully I'll manage to merge the thread with this

So, can your Boxers swim? Bella sinks out of site, Layla mainly splashes around but can swim in a kind of a fashion, Ruben can swim very well but only if we throw something for him to retrieve, and Amy could probably just save herself in an emergency :D

Sharon

 

[Nissy]

Kira loves to splash around, but the actual act of swimming seems to freak her out a little bit. She's only done it once when we threw a stick a little too far and she went after it. She did okay, but she wasn't too thrilled. Thankfully it didn't scare her enough to keep her out of water totally. We plan on buying her a life jacket soon so we won't have to worry.

 

[Brigs_Mommy]

Well last year we learned our baby girl CAN NOT swim at all. :( She is 3 and 1/2 years old. She loves to play in the water. She romps around in it, biting at the surface and splashing and having a good old time. She likes to run in and out, in and out. She is a very crazy girl. When we swim out into the pond she runs back and forth on the shore never getting deeper than the bottom of her belly. She cries and yells at us to come back to her and play with HER. So she must have known all along.

Last summer we took Brig and her Rotweiler brother Beau hiking. We had to cross a pretty big river. The place we found to cross was above a waterfall so most of the way was not vey deep at all and smooth rock to walk on. Some of the place were about 3 feet deep. These places were only about 6 feet wide before you could get onto higher rock. Michael took Beau across and I took Brig. Beau made it across the deeper spots even though he doesn't really swim. (He can he just would never chose to.) When Beau was safe it was Brigs turn. I put her into the deep part and gave her a shove to make it across to where her Daddy was waiting open arms...

The next thing I knew brig was under the water (way under) at the end of her leash with the current trying to drag her over the falls. I was so scared I jumped in with all my clothes and everything and grabbed her and pulled her up. I was so upset and she was so upset she nearly drowned me. We had to stand on the higher rocks for at least 30 minutes for me, her, Michael and Beau to calm down. Her Daddy carried her all the way across afterward and the whole way across on the way back. I felt like an awful Mommy. The dogs are our children since we don't have any human babies.

Since we do a lot of moter boating we bought Brig a life vest. She likes it... it is a lot like her winter coat. After what happened every time Brig would stand up on the seat of the boat with her front paws on the edge to get the best wind possible I had a heart attack we would hit a bump and she would get thrown out in the water and I wouldn't be able to get her. So to ease Mommy's mind, to let Brig get her wind and for the family to have a fun time on the boat... Daddy got Brig a life jacket!:D

 

[blkennedy]

Swimming

Our Boxer, Trevor, is nuts about the water...we took him to the River the first day we got him and he was just swimming away with no fear. Now its one of his favorite things to do so we take him canoeing and camping with us. Swimming sure helps drain down some of that excess energy!!

 

[NELIA1313]

We took our 9 mth old to the cottage this weekend. I was really nervous because with 2 other amazing swimmers (retriever & cocker), I thought he might jump in and panic. As it turned out, he would only go to the edge of the lake to drink water and play with rocks. We slowly took him in to see if he could swim and he managed but didn't seem to be enjoying it. After a few trys, we decided to take him in off the dock and call him to shore. Well you should have seen the panicked look on his face. My husband was behind him the whole time. He kept trying to go back to the dock (shortest way out) but couldn't seem to get up. My husband finally grabbed him by the collar and guided him to the shore. Well one thing's for sure, he can swim if he had to but I don't think he'll ever go in voluntarily. I guess I'll never have to worry about him jumping in on top of the kids while they're swimmming.

 

[HELENE]

Sergent like the water but he will only go in the river up to his chest, he will wade along the edge but if it gets too rocky he doesn't like it and comes out. He doesn't like the hose at all , he won't even have a drink from it.:eek: .

 

[Claudia807]

We are going to a cabin by a lake for a week's vacation starting tomorrow. I have my doubts that either of my dogs will take the plunge, but we'll see!