Hi everyone,
bit of a stupid question probably, but here goes
Would a dog drown itself??????
I have a new cocker bought from battesea a month ago. We took it to a park with a lake recently and even though its 4 years old i dont think it had ever been swimming before. It paddled slowly around very cautiously and kept turning around when it got too deep. Yesterday we took it back to the same place and again it paddled around for a bit...........suddenly it spotted a duck and started swimming!! towards it, i wouldnt of been that worried but he swam really far out, still chasing the bird when it flew to the otherside of the lake!!
He would not come when we called and kept swimming.
I started really panicking as he didnt know how deep it was. He turned round eventually and just made it back.......he was knackered!!
Dogs do have that little bit of sense dont they??? Im scared to let him in the lake again.

No a dog wouldn't deliberatly drown itself, but it may well find itself in a position in which it might drown. Like a human riding a bike, a dog swimming will use muscles in a combination it's not used to - and will find itself tiring quickly - sounds like your baby needs more practise :)

What about putting it on a extending lead?

Extending lead?...I wouldn't, it could possibly get caught on something in the water and you'd end with a dog in trouble anyhow!

My vets border T swam up the River Dart for over a mile after a swan! he had to borrow a dinghy to get her back!
Your spaniel is likely to tire itself out & then could be in danger of exhaustion which means you will probably have to swim in after it.....done that myself & know how foolish one feels! Suggest a bit of training on ducks before your next trip to the lake!

I had a terrible experience with my cocker a couple of years ago. It was winter (very cold), I was in the park with her and she ran into the lake and went for a swi chasing sticks. All of a sudden she started to look in trouble (in the middle of the small-ish lake). I called her and she was panicking, she couldnt get to me. What had happened was that the lake had vines, or whatever, growing at the bottom, and as she swam, they had got caught around her legs and trapped her. She panicked more and more and started to get pulled further under water because she was winding the vines around her legs more and more. I screamed for her to try to swim ( loads of useless people stood around staring, doing nothing). In the end, the only thing for it was for me to take my coat and shoes off, and leap in to rescue her. She had very little showing out of the water, her nose, she was still holding the stick as well, bless her. I couldnt touch the bottom, but it was horrible water, full of everything nasty. I ripped her up and tore the vines off her. Swam her back to the bank and wrapped her in my coat..and ran her home.....

In other words....yes, it is possible for them to drown....it made me realise never to take my eyes off her for a minute as you never know.
Not sure about the xtending lead idea....has good and bad points. It could make things worse if it got wrapped around something, or the dog.

You were lucky to survive that yourself, Steph. There are people drowning every year rescuing their dogs from water.

I would be careful anyway getting a dog used to swimming in a lake, because come winter, and the lake gets frozen, the dog could get into serious trouble.

Lindsay

Cheers for all the advice.....yeah the lake still sounds scary for me. i would love to take him to a doggy pool sometime as now i know he loves swimming but cant find any local ones in the London/Middlesex area. If anyone knows of any, please let me know. Ive searched everywhere on the internet?

I know, it can be a real worry, I have known dogs to fall into the ice.
I was stupidly throwing sticks near the lake (it isnt very big, but it is pretty deep) and she made a bee line. :(
I guess it is a warning to all us dog owners.

Our local kennels has a hydrotherapy pool. My neighbour used it for her lab after a hip operation to regain strength. They swim on a harness so cannot drown and her dog certainly loved it. It did wonders for his fitness levels.

The only time I have ever had a problem with mine and water was when I nearly lost my springer down a weir. He was pulled under with the current and I was just about to risk life and limb foolishly to get him out when he found the strength to swim out. It was very scary for me but hasn't seemed to put him off water.

Cheers for all the advice.....yeah the lake still sounds scary for me. i would love to take him to a doggy pool sometime as now i know he loves swimming but cant find any local ones in the London/Middlesex area. If anyone knows of any, please let me know. Ive searched everywhere on the internet?

Try searching google under hydrotherapy/dog/london, etc. I have just had a very quick look and there seems to be lots of choice. I am sure there would be something there to suit your needs.

My old lab Mars who we lost last year used to give me heart attacks as she used to dive !

She would take a deep breath and then go and disappear. The first time she did it I was half way un dressed and she re appeared.

She also used to swim and swim but always seemed to know when she had had enough !

My Labs now swim but I always make sure it is in safe water so they can swim to shore easily.

Lucy

Bumped to the top as I have just heard that my brothers dog has just drowned itself! Apparantly it had a go a couple of weeks ago and was rescued ..then it managed to get into the lake again and sunk like a stone :(

Very odd indeed

Melody

Oh that's bad news. :(

How sad - without meaning to sound like an odd question - was it depressed? Or was it just an accident?

Have no idea ...apparantly he was always a bit odd ..5 years old ESS ..

In all seriousness, I don’t think a dog’s thought processes include suicide. Young Labradors in particular can get into trouble so easy. They tend to swim head up in the water then as they get tired their back end sinks lower and lower until they are vertical in the water. At this point any paddling does not move them forward, just going to push the head upwards. Exhaustion sets in and unless help is near you have a dead dog on your hands.

I’ve seen Anna use this technique to see over a reed bed when looking for a downed bird. She can get her whole front end and front legs right out of the water! But that’s an older and experienced dog at work.

Regards, John

I think perhaps swimming abilities differ from dog to dog as they do form person to person. There are lots of factors that can affect ability. My breeder told me a scary story about her first dog, it happended 20+ years ago , they were walking on a hot hot day , and came across a lake on their walk. Rather stupidly ( their words not mine!) they decided the dog could do with a dip. They picked him up and held him over the water, then let go !! He sank like a stone, and they panicked and jumped straight in to grab him out!

Their warning - not all dogs know how to swim ! So never put your dogs life at risk by being silly. They also recommended keeping dogs on leads near rivers unless you have seen that they can swim in a safe environment or safe water, and even then remember rivers have currents, people litter rivers - and you can't see pollution. So keep them safe.

When I take a class water training the puppies are usually around six months old and retrieving. I start with a retrieve out on the shallows which the puppies can retrieve without actually having to swim. I normally follow that with a little heelwork on land to warm them up followed by a retrieve just far enough for them to have to swim a yard or so. Again this is followed by some work on land again to warm them and stop any stiffening of muscles not normally used. If the second retrieve went ok I'll give them a retrieve of around six to eight yards swim to finish up with.

Never when swimming allow the puppy to get cold, walk it around to keep it warm. Some dogs do not shed water, Anna is one! Even being a Labrador she will still be wet in a couple of hours time! I carry a towel in my game bag to dry her off. Always towel off from head to tail, never the other way. The aim is to squeege the water off and going the other way will push the water under the coat making the dog wetter than if you never bothered.

regards, John

Thanks John ! :) Morse was bathed today and I started towelling from the head end then struggled to catch the back end then got towel out of his mouth then rubbed at the bits I could get to and wondered why dogs take so long to dry! Its great to get help when you need it. :D

It's not quite so bad at this time of year Lorelei but after retrieving a Pheasant or Duck out of the stream on a Janruary morning with the temprature just about on freezing and it gets quite important. I must say I have used a normal hair dryer on my dogs when I've brought them home wet on a cold winters day. Start from some way away so you dont upset them and gradually move it closer as they get use to it. All my dogs have loved it!!

Best wishes, John

that is really scary MELODYSK....... there must of been another reason for the dog to of just sunk...surely???
That is what i have been most worried about.....

Have realised now (after more trips out) that my dog is just bloody disobediant. He loves the water and whenever we let him go in, he just refuses to get out....its even hard dragging him out, he makes it impossible in every way.
So now obviously, we keep him on a lead at all times near lakes.
I dont know how i could train him to listen to us when hes in the water??
Any ideas?
Hes very obedient all other times
We have only had him a month and bought him from battesea..hes 4 years old.
would really appreciate some advice
x

John

A question then which must be unusual.

MB loves going in water but doesn't swim, she just won't.

We go to a River which is Labrador height OK for walking in and also swimming, but MB just will not go that bit further than the walking. We have tried to encourage us and with the other two but she is so reluctant :(

Lucy
xx

you can get life jackets for dogs, i have two gsd's one will not go in the water and the other i would like to.
Any tips on getting swim will be ggreatly appreciated.

Kat first.
You have only had him for a month. How is his recall? Because that is exactly what you need. The recall on land might be more reliable because playing in the water does not happen so often! Stopping him from going in by keeping him on the lead is only going to make him even more reluctant to stop splashing around when he does get the chance. The more he goes swimming the more "Normal" it will seem to him rather than "Special" as it must seem at the moment.

Lucy.
Labradors love water! We are always told that. My Mandy, my first Lab loved water and would slip in every time she could. When she was 3 years old Katy arrived. Katy hated water. She would stand in the shallows and watch Mandy who would splash out into the deeper water, splash back, push Katy with her nose with a "Follow me" expression and head back into the deep. She never did get Katy into deep water and neither did I!

If she will retrieve you can try that. You can also try (On a hot day!) paddleing over to the other side and calling her across. Often after taking the inital plunge they find it's quite good fun anyway. Katy never needed to swim so I never really pushed the point with her.

Best wishes to you both, John