Lucy's mama Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 Banjo loves the water. Now it is warmer we are going to the off lead beach more. I keep him on a long lead because his recall is not very good. As soon as we get there he heads straight into the water to the full length of the lead then swims paralelle to the shore. He swims and swims and swims until he starts to whine and is swimming lower in the water than he started. I call him and reel him in and we walk a short way and he is in again and the whole process repeats. I'm thinking if he wasn't on the long lead he might just swim out to sea I think being low impact it probably can't hurt him to overdo it, (as long as I call him out before he drowns!) would that be correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaddyForever Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 Banjo loves the water. Now it is warmer we are going to the off lead beach more. I keep him on a long lead because his recall is not very good. As soon as we get there he heads straight into the water to the full length of the lead then swims paralelle to the shore. He swims and swims and swims until he starts to whine and is swimming lower in the water than he started. I call him and reel him in and we walk a short way and he is in again and the whole process repeats.I'm thinking if he wasn't on the long lead he might just swim out to sea I think being low impact it probably can't hurt him to overdo it, (as long as I call him out before he drowns!) would that be correct? Hi, How old is Banjo? A young dog should have less excersize, of course, due to growing bones, but most dogs will not USUALLY overdo the swimming. That being said, I have owned a couple of water-mad Goldens...!Still, most dogs will USUALLY head for shore when they tire. I'd hate to advise you of this, though, and have Banjo drown, or you drown trying to save him! Banjo's recall really needs to be better before you risk letting him off the lead, esp with other dogs/people around. How is his basic obedience, in general? He is probably whining with both excitement, and a bit of desperation to keep swimming, as he tires. He also may be trying to avoid coming back to shore for fear that that would be the end of the fun, and that you may not let him out again. Quite a few episodes of recalling him, and then letting him return to the water, on-lead so that you can control him, may help him to realise it's not always the end when you call him back to you. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parkeyre Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 Banjo loves the water. Now it is warmer we are going to the off lead beach more. I keep him on a long lead because his recall is not very good. As soon as we get there he heads straight into the water to the full length of the lead then swims paralelle to the shore. He swims and swims and swims until he starts to whine and is swimming lower in the water than he started. I call him and reel him in and we walk a short way and he is in again and the whole process repeats.I'm thinking if he wasn't on the long lead he might just swim out to sea I think being low impact it probably can't hurt him to overdo it, (as long as I call him out before he drowns!) would that be correct? He's an Australian Shepherd alright! Mine all LOVE the water, love being in boats, on surf boards, in canoes, on swimmers shoulders, being held in water, chasing waves, plucking seaweed from under the sea, chasing fish, chasing crabs, bulldozing through low tide waves, barking part under water. They are retarded when it comes to the ocean. We don't long lead ours as we have a beach house shack which is a a private property with a massive beach front and no one is around. I'd like to think that as soon as Banjo notices you are no longer watching him; that he'll turn around and head straight back. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucy's mama Posted September 2, 2010 Author Share Posted September 2, 2010 An Aussie thing hey? Paddy - His basic obedience is getting better and better, but recall under distraction is not good at all. We are working on it! In the mean time I don't have a problem keeping him on the long line - that is what I bought for after all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nik Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 quote] He's an Australian Shepherd alright! Mine all LOVE the water, love being in boats, on surf boards, in canoes, on swimmers shoulders, being held in water, chasing waves, plucking seaweed from under the sea, chasing fish, chasing crabs, bulldozing through low tide waves, barking part under water. They are retarded when it comes to the ocean. We don't long lead ours as we have a beach house shack which is a a private property with a massive beach front and no one is around. I'd like to think that as soon as Banjo notices you are no longer watching him; that he'll turn around and head straight back. My Aussie is broken. She daintily walks through shallow water, and never goes beyond belly deep without a lot of coaxing. If we're swimming she'll come in after us, but only then! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newfsie Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 We are lucky to have a lot of areas, where we cwn let our dogs off leash. We encourage our young newfs to swim as it is low impact exercise and builds good muscle structure to support their for example hips . A lot of vets who specialize in giants with HD, will actually recommend swimming. Katy will swim, but comes back in by herself. She goes in and out whilst we walk the shores of Lake Hume. Most of ours will do this. we have never had a dog swim away and not come back. But i suppose their will always be a first dog, that keeps swimming. We get our dogs to retrieve from puppy on. On land and in the water. So they interact a lot with us to and fro. I think swimming is good for dogs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darlingdog Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 Years ago we had a female rottweiler who loved to swim. We HAD to keep a long lead on her in the water otherwise she would swim out into the deep water chanel way off shore and try to chase speed boats !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trishm Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 I can remember an incident going back a couple of years now when they had to send boats out to rescue a lab who just kept swimming out to sea, he was completely disorientated and just kept going, he was exhausted when they finally got him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aidan Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 My parent's neighbour had a BC mix who would swim several kms each morning, very fit. You could teach him to retrieve, start on dry land. It would give him a purpose and you some off-leash control, send him out to retrieve, then he has to come back to bring you the dummy or ball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellz Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 My foundation bitch Stafford, Dolly, was a seal in a former life we think. If you took her anywhere that had "open" room to swim, she'd just get in the water and go. We found this out the hard way, luckily we were with a friend who had a boat and they went and retrieved her. I still to this day wonder if she would have ever stopped or just swam herself to the bottom of the ocean! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monah Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 My two love to swim. The spinone is really water loving. I have not heard of dogs swimming off, but I'm sure there would be cases. Aidan has a great idea ;) Mine have good recall (except when spin sees a roo ) so I avoid dawn and dusk times. Swimming is great exercise, just check ears regularly, and of course, no swimming in dangerous watersxxxxx My daughter has a 9yr old working BC who can swim for hours! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucy's mama Posted September 3, 2010 Author Share Posted September 3, 2010 (edited) He retrieves on land and in the water already. He gets distracted half way back to me if we are at an off lead area though. At the beach he drops the stick in the little breakers and I have to try get it while watching two kids, carrying our bag and holding the long line. I am trying to teach him 'hold' atm so I'm sure that will help when he gets it. Edited September 3, 2010 by Lucy's mama Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christina Posted September 3, 2010 Share Posted September 3, 2010 Only one experience of this & never again. When I lived near the beach walks there were regular but never off lead. Too many risks for toy poodles with big dogs loose. One hot morning I went there at 6am, Not a soul in sight so for the 1st time ever I let them loose & paddled along the waters edge. Aged about 5 & 6 they were very obedient dogs. They swam out & out & out. Yelling & screaming for them to come here they either couldn't hear me or chose to ignore me. I had to swim out to them fully clothed & grab them both. The sea was up to my neck & I doubt they would have stopped & turned around. That was the end of off lead for them 2. Very frightening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W Sibs Posted September 3, 2010 Share Posted September 3, 2010 I had a husky who loved to swimming and like Darlingdog, I had to keep her on a very long leash or else she won't come back. There has been times where I had to jump into the water to get her out.. but she sees me jump in and starts heading back to shore.. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superminty Posted September 3, 2010 Share Posted September 3, 2010 Water is like a super strong magnet for my kelpie (well, they are water sprites after all ) and once he is in, he rarely comes out of his own accord, so he too is always on a long line. He has a neurotic tendency to make splashes with a front paw and then chase them, which unfortunately, while being cute, gets him going in a little circle (*splash, chase, splash, chase*) and he is very hard to break out of it. I really do think he would go around in circles until he drowned! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlet Posted September 3, 2010 Share Posted September 3, 2010 I've had a few different breeds of dogs who loved water but my Curly Coated Retriever simply outshone all the others. Sally would swim for hours and hours if you let her. Luckily she would return to the bank when called but then she would sit and whimper to be let back in. Luckily she was happy to swim around us and didn't take off. She was really strong and had no trouble at all swimming against the current in some pretty strong rivers. She loved all water crafts but really loved swimming behind our canoes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TsarsMum Posted September 3, 2010 Share Posted September 3, 2010 there was a race horse in wa that did this. they called the owner and everything informing them the horse would have drowned when they lost sight of it. when it was found 35km away from where it swam out standing on a reef by a guy in a crane. it got it energy back and swam back to shore. animals are odd odd creatures Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammy88 Posted September 5, 2010 Share Posted September 5, 2010 Banjo loves the water. Now it is warmer we are going to the off lead beach more. I keep him on a long lead because his recall is not very good. As soon as we get there he heads straight into the water to the full length of the lead then swims paralelle to the shore. He swims and swims and swims until he starts to whine and is swimming lower in the water than he started. I call him and reel him in and we walk a short way and he is in again and the whole process repeats.I'm thinking if he wasn't on the long lead he might just swim out to sea I think being low impact it probably can't hurt him to overdo it, (as long as I call him out before he drowns!) would that be correct? My suggestion is not to let him off the lead at all, Some dogs no matter how good the recall is seem to become 'deaf' when water is involved. I had a Golden Retriever that did exactly that and he would have been happy to keep swimming and swimming, one time when he was younger he wouldn't come back in when we were at a lake, he'd come just out of arms reach and head out again untill eventually we had to jump in and get him. Especially if you have children to watch and look after at the same time, the last thing you need is to worry about banjo not coming back. Practice recalling and take him out prior to the whimpering, usually 5 minutes of swimming, then recall then out again is a good way to do things. I personally prefer to just swim/walk with my dogswaist height where they can't touch the bottom good exercise for them and me :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucy's mama Posted September 5, 2010 Author Share Posted September 5, 2010 My goodness! That horse story is amazing. Yes, i think I will keep him on the long line. I am not a good swimmer myself so I would not be able to save him. He also swims on top of anyone else in the water which is quite painfull, so the long line keeps him from scratching the kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7464 Posted September 5, 2010 Share Posted September 5, 2010 Cody loves to swim but he's a self regulating dog. He spends plenty of time chewing sticks and rolling in smelly stuff. He'd happily spend the whole day in and out of the water but no, I doubt he'd swim himself to exhaustion. I did know someone who had a Lab nearly drown after following their boat all day. It exhausted itself to the point it needed rescuing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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