Shelties and Water!

When Indy was 3 or 4 years old we were at the Boy Scout camp for a weekend. About 30 minutes before time to leave, car packed, all the kids just milling around the main hall and pond when one of the cub scouts gets the bright idea to push Indy off the dock into the pond.

Indy has a very full coat.

Indy did NOT come up swimming, he did get his nose up but his front paws were flailing and he was obviously panicked. I had to jump in and pull him out. I was SO MAD. A terrified, dripping dog....a handful of scouts to gently chastise...a soaked Janet including my shoes....and of course my bag and the towels packed in the base of the car and a mess to get pulled out so that I could dry myself and Indy. Oh yeah, and one of the scout leaders a jack a@@ saying "ITs TIME to go, get IN your car, we are LEAVING. Jerk. I was not getting in my nice car dripping with muck.:mad:

Anyway, I digress. Not all dogs swim naturally. Indy sure didn't, he was doing a terrified splashing job trying not to drown.
 
This is a very interesting thread, as something that's been on my mind lately is that I walk on the beach a lot with Cadbury and when I get my sheltie pup I'll take him/her down there too.

People tell me I should let a puppy off lead as soon as possible to improve their recall - but it worries me what if the little pup followed Cadbury into the sea? Would it go right in or paddle on the shoreline?

I'm terrified it'll be drowned, but at the same time I want to be able to let it have a good run on the beach.

What do you guys think?
 
They don't come back up the ladder. In a pool, they'll use steps, but at a lake/pond, they come around to the sides of the pond/lake and climb out.
What my friend and I did to teach the shelties to swim was to take them swimming with us last summer in her pool. Some took to it naturally, others not so much. The ones that didn't, at first we had to support them a bit, as they would flail their front legs and not use their back legs trying to figure out what to do with their bodies. Once they figured how to use their back legs, they did fine.
This year, we had a dock built out at the agility field out over one of the ponds. Since the dogs have already been exposed to water, and aren't afraid of it now, we took toys, and threw them into the shallow edges of the pond at first, and let them retrieve it that way. We then graduated to tossing it out a ways so they actually had to go out and swim for it. They're now at the point where they're ready for us to start teaching them to run down the dock to dive out after the toys.
It's a slow process. Some dogs are natural swimmers. Some aren't. The ones that aren't we just had to teach, and they did fine with it.
 
My first Sheltie, Honey, LOVED the water! She could not get enough of it! If we went to the beach, we'd have to keep a careful eye on her because she'd wade out too far and we were afraid that she'd get sucked under by a wave or not be able to swin. If we went to a river, she'd get in. If we went to a lake, she'd find the nearest dock and jump into the water, swim to shore and then do it alllll over gain. Our second sheltie, Jazz, could not have care less about water. We'll see with Ellie Mae.........
 
We are at the beach now and Lexi followed me into the water.. she waded at about chest deep and seemed to enjoy it. I'll post pictures soon! Her first water adventure was last summer. Some friends of ours have a river house and a dock down on the river. We were all floating out in the river and Lexi was on the dock and I guess decided floating looked fun. She jumped off the dock and swam 30 yards to where I was. I was SHOCKED! She had never swam before but she made it all the way to me and climbed up into the float! it was hysterical!
 
all 3 of my shelties hate, despise, loathe, of the water and are very livid if they are wet.
Nikki will fight to not take a bath, and she is very upset at me for giving her a bath, she wont even give me a kiss...so sad :p
After she's had a bath she'll rough house with me pretty rough even at the age of 14 she can still play rough.

Bandit just acts depressed and sad when he's getting a bath

Slate just acts like a stuffed animal all the time so he just unknown
 
Well, I guess I'm hoping I never have to test whether or not they can swim or not, but I'm afraid that I'm going to find out one way or the other.

The two of them huddle so closely to each other much of the time, I can imagine one of them actually getting pushed in (maybe even on purpose! :eek2:)
 
Barb

They do sell life presevers for dogs. Maybe you ought to think about investing in one or two.:wink2: I say better safe than sorry. Of course you could just do as Janet and get wet. I would have shoved that little bugger right in after Indy. OOps Did I say that.:uhoh:
 
elaine2004 said:
They do sell life presevers for dogs. Maybe you ought to think about investing in one or two.:wink2: I say better safe than sorry. Of course you could just do as Janet and get wet. I would have shoved that little bugger right in after Indy. OOps Did I say that.:uhoh:
Click to expand...

LOL! But then I would have to pull TWO dogs out of the water! (btw - the bugger is usually Indy, not Bacca! If Indy ended up in the water it would be only because he deserved it. He really is a brat!)

Good idea about the life vests though. I'll evaluate this weekend when we go back up to the cottage. That might be the best option overall and I must admit I did not think of it. Thanks so much for the idea! It's kinda of a no-brainer!
 
BarbV said:
LOL! But then I would have to pull TWO dogs out of the water! (btw - the bugger is usually Indy, not Bacca! If Indy ended up in the water it would be only because he deserved it. He really is a brat!)

Good idea about the life vests though. I'll evaluate this weekend when we go back up to the cottage. That might be the best option overall and I must admit I did not think of it. Thanks so much for the idea! It's kinda of a no-brainer!
Click to expand...

Layla has one for kayaking. I have one for Annie, too, but she'd probably faint if I put her near that much water!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top