North Texas Dog Trainers

http://northtexasdogtrainers.com/
Intro To Water..


What seems like common sense to some can be hard for others. Intro pup to water can go great or very bad. The new pup will either run like a dingo in and play or can be very timid. Never let the pup step off into deep water. Let them have a shallow to gradual slope into the deep water. I hope we all know not to push them into the water. If the pup will not go in after it’s favorite bumper or a bird try using another dog. This has worked for a lot of pups. The just start playing with the other dog and then there in. When all else fails prepare to get wet. Put waders on in the winter and shorts on in summer. Go in with the pup to have them follow you. If the pup swims to you and hangs on for dear life very slowly increase the depth. I have gone so far as to wear a life jacket and let them float on top of me. Then I hold them up under the belly as they swim. At some point I let them go and the naturally follow me back to shallow water. The will follow me back out the next time and try to get on board. I make a game out of this untill they never think about jumping in on there own. Some of you my wonder “What the heck” all dogs swim. No I have had to go in after quite a few of them as they just tried to go straight up in the air. They can drown after they get too tired to tread water. If you are patient with the odd pup that can’t swim you will figure it out . It will go very bad or just be a small bump in the road.