2 year old black Labrador

conradlarkin

I have a 2 year old black labrador that loves running into water but wont swim. He has swam accidently but i dont think he realises he can swim... Any suggestions please

SingItOut

My labrador (also black) was terrified of water until he was about 3! now we can't keep him out of it. Swimming is a built in instinct all dogs have. Does your labrador fetch sticks? You could throw one into the water and he might go after it

tk123

Will he go after toys/sticks/treats? That's how I used to encourage my retriever to swim - if there were no ducks around for him to swim after lol!! He swims at the beach and does hydro so is a very strong swimmer..he's the only one out of the dogs his size in the park that actually swims - the rest just paddle. I have to keep him on his lead in the park near the river or he dives in - especially to rob bread!:rolleyes: : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awI8RhPZ40I

conradlarkin

He will go after sticks, balls and most things but seems to get board easily. Sometimes he's great retrieving but then again he might retrieve and drop it halfway back.. I'm not sure if I should carry him as best I can into deeper water but I don't want to scare him at the same time...

conradlarkin

I have tried everything but will keep trying.. He's worth the wait. I was looking for a quick fix if you know what I mean.... Any more suggestions are welcome

tk123

Quick fix would be to take him to a hydro pool if there's on near for a swim - he'd build up his confidence in the water then. My guy definitely has - much to my despair as I can't keep him out of the river lol!! :D

conradlarkin

No hydro pools.. Plenty of lakes and rivers/canals so they are my only options.. Ill keep going with him...Thanks and again all suggestions welcome

SingItOut

conradlarkin wrote: »

He will go after sticks, balls and most things but seems to get board easily. Sometimes he's great retrieving but then again he might retrieve and drop it halfway back.. I'm not sure if I should carry him as best I can into deeper water but I don't want to scare him at the same time...

He's still very much in the puppy stage, Labs take years to mature, mine didn't really start to calm down until he was nearly four! He'll be 5 in July. At two they don't really have that great of an attention span anyways. You can try picking him up and bringing him to the edge of the water but don't put him in it the first few times, as I'm sure you've realised labradors get over bad experiences very quickly. Don't worry about it he will get into the water eventually, take him to the beach even, it'll be less scary.

conradlarkin

Thanks for all the positive feedback.. It's all excellent

tk123

I'd try treats tbh to lure him into the deeper water. My guy has only started retrieving his ball from the river the last few months - before he'd only retrieve it at the beach. I went out into the water one time with him at the beach and he was DELIGHTED lol - maybe wait until the weather improves before you try that though!!

conradlarkin

That's great, I'll try anything at this stage. Thanks for all the input.

Dirk Gently

I've a black lab too. started off letting her in the river, where she would splash about a bit. Then I let her into different parts of the river with different depths. A wrong step and she was into a deepish channel. Gradually over a few weeks she explored the river and was comfortable in both the shallow and deeper parts.

build them up slowly, let them get use to shallow / deep water in their own time. I'll stick up a video in a while of the type of thing I done with her to get her use to water. (a few weeks of letting her explore deeper stretches of the river)

Last week she swam her first width of a small lake. She wouldn't go near it before getting experience in the river which had shallow and deep channels in it.