Lab Swimming

[RebelYelp]

Hey y'all need a lil bit of help from you dog people. The first time Haley ever got in the water she swam perfect, now that shes' gotten to where she loves the water she doggy paddles. What's the proper method to get her to swimmin right ? or is it just gonna happen over time ?

Jake

[chapper]

It'll happen over time. just take the pup swimming often and have her retrieve a dummy. The dummy seem sto help them keep their head down and more interested in returning quicker which will help with the swimming technique

[Greenhead22]

I will change over time. My pup Rowdy was dog paddling when he got into deeper water than he couldn't walk in for the longest time. But for the past few weeks he's been swimming perfectly in the deeper water and he'll be 5 monts old on wednesday.

[Bustin' Ducks]

When my pup was 2-4 months old..He'd doggy paddle..I mean paws out of the water completely....and would almost go vertical sometimes...Scared the crap out of me...I'm on the bank thinking...GREAT..my damned bumper is out in the middle of the pond and my dog is gonna drown....well he didn't..thank goodness, and I still have all my bumpers..just give it time brother...It'll work out!!

[dukdawgn]

shorter retrieves will teach him better. shorten up the distance to the bumper in the water, then throw it in high gear with the praise when he gets the bumper and is swimming correctly.

[Frank B]

What happens often in the early stages of water retrieves is that the dog raises it's head in attempt to better see the object of the retrieve. Of course this pushes the lower body downward. As retrieving desire increases, dogs generally learn the fastest way to swim is to lower the head and the problem is fixed.

Good Luck.

Frank