I was at my aunties this weekend and they have a thirteen week old retriever (who is lovely), the kids were in the paddling pool and she proceeded to join them, i was just wondering are dogs born swimmers, does ithappen naturally when they go in water?

My last Staffy did literally just jump in and start swimming although my Staffy now will only paddle in the shallowest parts and wont venture any further

There is so much trapped air in the coat of a retriever that floating is no problem.
The day after I collected Anna at 8 weeks old I heard a splash and there she was swimming across my fish pond! Needless to say I told her off. Later, when she was around seven months old, I decided it was time to start water training to which Anna replied, "I mustn't go in there daddy, I'll get wet!" It took me a time to convince her that it really was OK for her to go in!!! Of course, she's fine now and is often called on to retrieve from water.

Regards, John

Or how sweet they are like floating balls of fluff, we are still waitng on our retriever, seems like a lifetime, but will be worth the wait.

Labrador Puppies are not good swimmers! They have a tendency to try to hold their head high in the water. The problem then is that as the head comes up the behind goes down and if you are not careful they get vertical in the water. All the effort then which the make trying to swim is in an upward direction, not forward. Eventually exhaustion sets in and they can drown! You need to be careful. The first test Anna was in she had a retrieve about 50 yards or more across water. She was getting slower and slower, and higher and higher in the water. Just as I was beginning to panic she got to the dummy and the weight of it brought her head down. She came back in a fraction of the time it took to go!

They soon learn to swim properly but they do need to learn.

Regards, John

My little JRT, Rocky, swam instantly. We were out walking one day, next to a big lake when he went running dowm the hill with the kids and the next thing I heard was a HUGE splash !!! I shouted at my partner cos I thought he had thrown my lovely little Rocky in..(he was only 5 months at the time) but no, the dog just ran down the hill and leapt as far as he could into the water. I was absolsutely amazed. Couldn't believe he would do it. I was panicking like mad in case he would sink, but he never, he swan beautifully.
Now, when I was a kid we had a JRT who could not swim to save his life. Was rather funny at times cos we would take the dinghy in the river and jump in the river, and straight behind us, the dog would jump in, and then start to sink..lol. I know I'm laffing cos it's soo funny to think about now. He knew he couldn't swim, yet he always wanted to be part of the fun.....Oh, and btw, there was always one of us in the water waiting to 'rescue' Tiny after he jumped in. He used to craxk me up that dog. A real character. Just thought I would share that memory with you :D
Steph xx

Ha, so none of you have met a Spanish Water Dog that can't swim!!! I have one. She's wonderful at diving, but let those legs miss the ground and she's back on dry land. I believe one of her daughters is the same too!! It was so funny the other week, when we took her water training as we all thought that she was swimming at one point and then her face changed, she must have been on tiptoes and all of a sudden it got too deep.

Oh well, they can't all be perfect. Used to have a Pomeranian who adored swimming.

Hi John,

I know Anna is good but the fact you can have a full blown conversation with her!!!! Wow I'm impressed! ;) ;) ;) ( I know, I know sarcasm is the lowest form of wit!!!)

Doesn't everybody have proper conversations with their dogs?

I remember the day my 2 young labs Brooke and Devon went out with the older dogs to nearby water and both hurriedly followed the older labs in. Devon swam beautifully and Brooke immediately sunk and then bobbed up and down blowing bubbles as she paniced. My sister was rapidly sent in to fetch her. We ended up taking her to the local doggy pool and teaching her with a life jacket. Funnily she had a litter last year and all the owners phoned saying the pups had got into trouble as soon as they got in the water, plus the 2 pups I kept couldn't swim. Luckily all are now 10 months and getting better, I'd have had to change my pups name otherwise seen as shes called River!!!!!!!!!!!!

I took my chinese crested hairless for a walk to the river with my friends and their afghan babies today and let him off the lead for a run and the next thing he was having a swim and enjoying it , he took me totally by surprise as he is 2 years old and this is the first time he has ever bothered to go in, luckily i had my camera with me and got a lovely pic of him. He had a whale of a time

my lab is scared to swim but she is slowly coming around, when sh was six mths old we took her to the lake and woods near us for the first time, she saw the geese and decided that they looked great fun she gave chase ignoring us calling her, as there was snow on the ground and the lake iced over she never saw the end of land and the start of water she went out about 5 ft the ice broke and she went under, it seemed ages before sh came back up, but when she did she got straight out, it has taken her three years before she would get back in the water, but she only goes up to her knees before coming out, sunday thou our sprocker went swimming for the first time and she went out to join him to take the dummy from him as if to sy look i did it i went and got the dummy all by myself

I always try to introduce water in a controlled way. Trying to avoid nasty suprisses and gradually working into deeper water. There is a stream in a local park which is shallow enough in places for a Lab to paddle across but in other places needing to swim so I can easily make things gradually harder for the puppy.

Best wishes, John

Mine were i was playing ball on the field and it went into the water all of qa sudden 5 dogs dived in after it and Cass bought it back Oscar not as keen as others but they all love it