Trick Of The Week 1/5-7/5/04

[whatevah]

Teach Your Dog to Enjoy Swimming

Uses

It is great exercise, great way for dogs to cool down, you need it for water retrieves and dock jumping. It is especially good for dogs with hip displaysia.

Equipment Needed

Food that floats - rice crackers, bread

Waders (gumboots attached to plastic legs, Rays Outdoors Stocks Them)

Retrieving Toy - that dogs likes

Body of Water - preferably beach, or lake with gentle incline.

Method

Food Method

You need to first go to the lake, where there is an easy entry. Very important. Beach is ideal.

Put on your waders or just walk in if you are wearing shorts.

1. Show the dog, you have the food and lure the dog in. Only lure him into so his legs are just in the water. When he does this, feed. He will probably either walk out of the water after the reward or stay where he is.

2. If dog has walked back to the shore, (that is where he is comfortable), just go back to the shore and lure him back in. You are only going in, so he can get his feet wet.

3. If the dog has stayed in the water, walk a little bit further in, and reward any footsteps towards you. You are facing the dog.

4. Practice this each day, gradually getting the dog further and further in.

5. When the dog gets to his tummy and is about to go out of his depth, place the food on the water (if it is a rice cracker or bread, it will float). The dog will eat the reward and go back to his comfort zone. Repeat this step a few times. Until the dog gets comfortable and starts swimming. You may need to place the food in a few spots on the lake. Keep practicing this step and the dog should get more and more confident.

I have found that practicing each day really helps. With one of my dogs I thought great he is swimming now, I will give it another go in a weeks time. In that space of time my dog forgot that he liked swimming and we had to go back to the start again so keep up the practice.

Once he is confident you can replace the food with a toy.

Toy Method

Same as food method but you are using a toy.

Key Points

1. Put the toy just out of the dogs reach, so he was to walk in to get it. When he gets it, lots of praise and happy talk. Some dogs will need the toy right at the waters edge. Then slowly increase the distance.

2. Once the dog is getting more confident, stand a couple of metres away from the water edge, get the dog really interested in the toy and then throw it, so it lands near the waters edge. The dog may want the toy so much that he forgets he is scared of the water.

Follow Me Method

Put your swimming gear on, and swim. This is especially good for rivers. I did this with one of my dogs, and before I got to the other side he was swimming along behind me.

It also helps to have other dogs that like swimming around when you practice, because some dogs will watch them and try it out as well.

I have also crossed a small stream, but deep enough that the dog has to swim, and kept walking, the dog knew if he didn't follow he would get left behind.

Important Point

Never throw the dog in. I know a couple of people that did this with their dogs that like swimming and now their dogs will never go in again. It can be a bad training pitfall that you can never get out of, for some dogs. Some dogs will never go back in.

Advanced

Teach your Dog to run and leap in and jump off the waters edge, piers etc.

Before teaching this make sure the water is deep, and the dog cannot impale itself on snags etc in the water. Very Important - Make sure that the dog can get out of the water by itself. A lot of dogs won't go in if they think they cannot get out.

Method 1

Get a retrieving toy and stand about 5 metres away from the waters edge, throw the toy in. The dog should be so keen to get it, that it will run really fast and get more confident with water entrys. After a while it will just run and jump in.

Method 2

You can also find a small edge, could be a small pier and just simply drop the toy in the water. The dog may get so frustrated that it simply just jumps in.

Method 3

Play tug with the dog, so it jumps for the toy on land. Then walk into the water and play tug there so it is jumping out of the water and back into the water for the tug toy. I found this method on dock jumping site.

I have one dog that does belly wackers into the water and my other dog does running jumps but not as good as the first dog.

Edited May 1, 2004 by bigbum

[whatevah]

Josh has just jumped from an enbankment and is landing in the water. What an entry!!!

[Clicking Mad]

That is a very cool shot!!

I wish I'd known about the cracker biscuit trick, or any floating object would have been good when I was trying to teach Chester that swimming involves his front paws being under the water and not trying to walk on it. Although Josh looks like he has learnt that trick

I really don't have much of an opportunity to get to water much, so it is very difficult to get a good training schedule going. But I did take Chester on holiday (I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before) and I took him for a swim with me. I tried to teach him but had no idea how to exactly. I just kinda assumed that he would understand that he is a dog and he should be able to dog paddle.

Well after a long exhausting walk to the river, I just encouraged him out with me. The first couple of times he just didn't reallly want to go beyond his depth, then, I found a spot where I could stand ok and he couldn't and tried supporting him while he splashed at the water with his front paws, and scratched up my legs with his back and we splashed around in a circle until I couldn't hold him anymore (it hurt me too much). Then I gave him a rest, and went for a swim away from him (maybe 30m). He didn't really like being left behind. So I came back, and then went for another swim away, and he whinged a little so I called him, not really expecting him to follow, I'd pretty much given up since it was still a long walk back to the cabin and he was looking pretty tired already. But he decided to follow and after about 5 or 10 meters he stopped splashing at the water and started swimming properly. I gave him lots and lots of verbal praise, I was pretty impressed. He was swimming just like a dog is supposed to. He caught up to where I was, did a full on u-turn in the water and beat me back to shore. He did stop about half way to see where I was and tried to hop up on me again, but quickly realised he'd be better off swimming back to land by himself.

This was about 8 months ago (he was 2 years), so I'm almost positive I'll have to start again from scratch with his swimming. Jamie needs a little encouragement to swim too, she has never been too fond of going beyond her depth, but I've never tried to get her out. When I ever get the chance I'll know what to do - crackers or floating toy!!! Texas has always loved to swim so no problems there.

Thanks for the tips.

Sam.

[HOOVER]

nice pics

our four dogs love to swim each day to cool down and we didn't teach them they must of picked it up some where else

[Gunny3688]

question...whats a clicker?