Dogs & The Beach

[Cookiez]

I know it's winter but we'd like to take our puppy to the beach when summer eventually comes. He's now almost 9 months so by the time summer rolls around again he will be bigger and hopefully more reliable off leash!

I wanted to know what others have experienced when taking their pups/dogs to the beach for the first time.

Were you worried about them running into the water? Did you let them off leash straight away?

Codi is not the most reliable off leash (to be honest I have never really tried- we have been to the dog park a few times but he hasn't perfected the "come" command so I am rather paranoid)- I know he would eventually come back (he's a bit of a mummy's boy :p ) but am still a little worried about just letting him go on the beach.

Did you get your dogs life jackets or anything like that? How did you stop them from going in too deep?

Goodness I am thinking this sounds really silly!

[poodlefan]

You've got several months to work on your recall Cookiez. I suggest you start NOW. He isn't going to be any more reliable offlead unless you train for it.

If he won't come when called, you shouldn't let him offlead. He may interfere with other beach users and their dogs and/or get himself into trouble.

No recall means taking him on either a flexilead or a long line.

One of my dogs wears a float vest because he's a hopeless swimmer. All the others swim well. I started them in still water before taking them to the surf beaches.

They all love it.

Edited July 6, 2010 by poodlefan

[megan_]

I take my girl to the beach at the crack of dawn on her long leash. We explore the dunes most of the time and practice recall in a highly stimulating environment. The really great thing about her being on leash is aI get a great cardio workout!

[mrs tornsocks]

The beach can be soooo much fun !! Our boy loves it.

As poodlefan said, still water is a good starting point. I would make sure your pup can swim and has been introduced to gentler water first - either a beach with no waves or a creek/dam etc. The first time I took our pup out - who's a lab so should love water in theory - he was pretty tentative but soon got very used to it. I actually waded out with him the first time he could not stand up. If your pup looks like a fairly strong swimmer, you wouldn't need a jacket but don't subject him to big waves at all.

Yes, recall needs to be A-1, although I find when he's actually swimming, he is focussed on me because he's concentrating on swimming - it's more when you're walking along the beach and meet people / dogs that it's an issue.

[Cookiez]

Any recommendations on how to train recall more reliably?

He's still at that stage where he will come if he "feels like it".

If I have treats with me he will stay with me and doesn't wander too far off.

The last time I let him off leash at a park he didn't really run too far- my friend had her dogs with them and Codi stayed by my side. I think I need to take him out more often to give him the opportunity to learn. My husband is too paranoid to let him off leash though.

[tlc]

Im with Poodlefan, you need to start on getting him to be reliable when you call him to come back. otherwise it is not wise to let him off at all. It could be dangerous for him and others if he doesn't come to you when called, especially at the beach.

There is always lots of dog owners at our local beach in summer mostly friendly dogs but occasionally not so friendly, so if your off leash dog runs up to a not so friendly onleash dog who knows what might happen??

I started recall training with mine from 8 weeks when I got them and all of them have really reliable recall, we go off leash mostly everywhere it is safe for them to do so, parks beaches etc. All of mine went to the beach (5 min drive from my place) from the time they were fully vaccinated.

I first took them to the river mouth shallow water so they could get used to it, they were all pretty cautious but not afraid and love the water especially running through it chasing each other, and they are all very strong swimmers now. Although they do not go in the sea where there are big waves. We are lucky enough here to have the best of both worlds with our beaches, ones with calm water leading in to the sea and also ones with big waves where they prefer to just paddle in the shallows.

I did let mine off the leash right away all except Lacy as she was tiny and had a tendancy to follow Cooper where ever he went and I thought it coudl be a recipie for disaster as she is fearless, she climbs cliffs and goes in deep and is always the first one in the water :p She does have a life jacket but only for places where we go that she can get herself into trouble. We haven't needed to use it yet!!

If you would like to see some photos of my lot swimming I'm sure I could dig some up. Im sure others have some good swimming shots too.

Someone told me once that not all dogs can swim, I don't know if that is right or not but with my lot they were born to swim having water dog in both of the crosses that they are helps!

[W Sibs]

Dogs loves the beach. I took Charlie to the beach several times... he doesn't go in the water but has a great time barking at the water when they try to touch his paw, but he had fun digging in the sand.

I can't wait to take Emmy to the beach this summer too!!

[poodlefan]

Any recommendations on how to train recall more reliably?

He's still at that stage where he will come if he "feels like it".

Enrol in some training classes or join an obedience club. There's no substitute for face to face instruction. :p

[emery]

use a long lead let your dog have use of it.

call his name when he is looking at you say "come"

then reel him in to you this way he can not not come.

when he gets to you reward and release.

Repeat repeat repeat.

good luck. i took my puppy to the beach on the weekend she loved it was a little unsure of the water but over all wehad a 90% success rate with recall, the two times she didn't come back was because of a bigger dog she couldn't see me so i went and collected her.

[tlc]

Have a looky through the training section, I'm sure there is 100's of threads about training really reliable recall.

Do you go to Obedience school??

Edited July 6, 2010 by tlc

[:ange:]

When I first took our girl to the beach she freaked out majorly.. She wouldn't even tread on the wet sand!!

Once she got used to it she would bound into the waves.. unfortunately she lost her confidence in waves when she dashed out one day and got dumped really bad.. we stuck to the quieter beaches with next to no waves for her to go out.

I would take Codi on a long leash (you can get horse lunging leads or something equivalent) and what I would do - and others may disagree - was that I would let her run and then I would call her name, she had three seconds to respond to her name being called and then the 'invisible brakes' would come on - I would just tighten the lead and she would come to a dead stop, making her come back to me. After a couple of weeks doing this she quickly learnt that if she was called and didn't respond those nasty brakes would come on.. we ended up getting a pretty reliable recall this way.

[Mas1981]

Any recommendations on how to train recall more reliably?

He's still at that stage where he will come if he "feels like it".

If I have treats with me he will stay with me and doesn't wander too far off.

The last time I let him off leash at a park he didn't really run too far- my friend had her dogs with them and Codi stayed by my side. I think I need to take him out more often to give him the opportunity to learn. My husband is too paranoid to let him off leash though.

Just always carry treats, my dog is 15 months and wont come back unless I have something very very yummy...

[megan_]

As TLC says, do a search for "really reliable recall". Some extra tips:

* Never call your dog when they are in trouble - coming to you should always be a good thing. Only call when you know they will come to you.

* Reward them when you find them looking at you or coming to you when not called (this can be done in the home too).

* Start off with very low distractions (eg at home) then build up slowly (eg a fenced park with no other dogs araound, then one other dog in the distance etc). No point taking them to the beach and expecting them to come back. Too many distractions.

* Play hide-and-seek to encourage your dog come to you (and not the other way around). You do this by hiding (start off somewhere easy) and call their name. BIG rewards and praise for coming to you.

*Reward every singel recall. Forever.

* Give him lots and lots of off leash play in a safe place (somewhere fenced with few dogs). For me, this means hitting the part at 7am. Thsi will mean that off leash is less of a novelty and more of an everyday event and the temptation to do a runner will be less.

* Practive recall every single day until it becomes an ingrained response and he doesn't see it as an optional thing.

Edited July 6, 2010 by megan_

[Cookiez]

I do take Codi to obedience. He did several weeks of it after he graduated from puppy preschool.

He will come to me but he's unpredictable. If he is doing something that deems more worthy than he will ignore me. I want to be able to get to a stage where he will come as soon as I call regardless of what he is doing. I realise this will need work.

The long leash sounds like the way to go. Maybe I can do this at parks as well to work on recall. He's fairly good at most basic commands and can do quite a lot of tricks- I just wouldn't say he's 100% all the time.

Any recommendation for safe beaches for dogs in Sydney?

[corvus]

Any recommendations on how to train recall more reliably?

Leslie Nelson's DVD "Really Reliable Recall". :p It's a great method. Where abouts in Sydney are you? Some of us get together and go to the beach down in Wollongong every 2 months or so. We haven't been for a while because my life got too busy to organise one, but I will get around to it eventually.

I have a copy of RRR that I deeply cherish, but I could maybe lend it to you. Because you are a fellow spitz lover. Kivi and Erik are testament to the fact that it works on spitzes. :D

My boys don't go in the water at the beach and that's fine by me. They like to splash in the shallow rock pools. My last dog got dumped a couple of times, but being a corgi she was a very bouyant shape and just bobbed to the surface like a cork. She learnt to stay out of the waves.

[Cookiez]

Any recommendations on how to train recall more reliably?

Leslie Nelson's DVD "Really Reliable Recall". :p It's a great method. Where abouts in Sydney are you? Some of us get together and go to the beach down in Wollongong every 2 months or so. We haven't been for a while because my life got too busy to organise one, but I will get around to it eventually.

I have a copy of RRR that I deeply cherish, but I could maybe lend it to you. Because you are a fellow spitz lover. Kivi and Erik are testament to the fact that it works on spitzes. :D

My boys don't go in the water at the beach and that's fine by me. They like to splash in the shallow rock pools. My last dog got dumped a couple of times, but being a corgi she was a very bouyant shape and just bobbed to the surface like a cork. She learnt to stay out of the waves.

Oh you will have to let me know next time there is a beach meet up! I am near Greystanes but we are always willing to travel. Anything for my little doggy.

I might see if I can get a hold of the RRR Dvd. Thanks so much for the offer though it is so nice of you. He is so smart but at the same time so smart that he doesn't always do what I want him to do! (Ahh that's a spitz for you!)

[Cookiez]

As TLC says, do a search for "really reliable recall". Some extra tips:

* Never call your dog when they are in trouble - coming to you should always be a good thing. Only call when you know they will come to you.

* Reward them when you find them looking at you or coming to you when not called (this can be done in the home too).

* Start off with very low distractions (eg at home) then build up slowly (eg a fenced park with no other dogs araound, then one other dog in the distance etc). No point taking them to the beach and expecting them to come back. Too many distractions.

* Play hide-and-seek to encourage your dog come to you (and not the other way around). You do this by hiding (start off somewhere easy) and call their name. BIG rewards and praise for coming to you.

*Reward every singel recall. Forever.

* Give him lots and lots of off leash play in a safe place (somewhere fenced with few dogs). For me, this means hitting the part at 7am. Thsi will mean that off leash is less of a novelty and more of an everyday event and the temptation to do a runner will be less.

* Practive recall every single day until it becomes an ingrained response and he doesn't see it as an optional thing.

I do all of the above that you have suggested- but I think I need to do more of this!

* Give him lots and lots of off leash play in a safe place (somewhere fenced with few dogs). For me, this means hitting the part at 7am. Thsi will mean that off leash is less of a novelty and more of an everyday event and the temptation to do a runner will be less.

Last time we took him to a dog park he was a little spooked by some of the dogs there. Since then I've been a bit reluctant to take him to the dog park. I will carry some treats with me and make this more regular I think.

[Little Gifts]

First time I took my girl to the beach she drank so much salt water that she had the runs big time and we had to stay longer at the beach than planned until the runny bum stopped! I had to encourage her into the water and we went in where there were sand ruts so the water was still and she could get used to it. I would never make any of my dogs go into the water unless they were comfortable with it as there is loads to do at the beach besides swimming. We also have this half tent thing we take now so if anyone gets too hot running around they can lie in the shade for a bit. And lots of fresh water and towels. I tend to keep my leashes with me when we are walking and call my dogs back and attach them if things seem unsafe because there are some stupid people who take their dogs into off leash areas who are not so social. I remember a couple of dogs attack chasing my pup that first time and their owners telling me off for it. I was shocked but not suprised.

[VJB]

We took Heidi to a river the first time and she ran straight into the water. Don't really know what she thought when she first hit it, but she appears to have enjoyed it thoroughly. When we take her to the beach now, I always have my whistle with me. Before we let her off lead, I blow my whistle and give her B'cue chicken (her favourite). She then knows that there is something worth coming back for, when called. It works well, but I do prefer beaches that are not busy. When other dogs come along and play starts, I find her a little harder to distract. The beach is so much fun. Definitely take towels, and fresh water.

Edited July 6, 2010 by VJB

[GeckoTree]

First time Tilla went to the beach her eyes bulged out of her head! She was a desert dog from a pretty disgusting place so knew nothing but dust, dirt, and scrapping for survival.

I really wanted her in the water so it would help her skin condition, at first she was only excited about the seagulls and would race up and down having the time of her life dispersing them into a screaching flight.

To get her interesed in the water I would skim shells along the edge and then slowly throw them out deeper. eventually she started to paddel about. It had taken about 3 months to get her to do that.