Pup doesn't use hind legs while swimming

gregers85

Hi All,

Just looking for a bit of advice on this one, A cousin of mine has a springer spaniel, she is about a year old now and she loves the water but as the title says she does not use the hind legs when she is swimming! she keeps her head up high pointing upwards and it looks like her body is at a 45 and she pounds the water with her two front paws! My own fella is about a month younger then her, he did this the first one or two times and he was grand from then on! We taught she'd out grow it but never did and only for we had a few dogs with us on Sunday we would have lost a few birds! she is good to retrieve from land and hits the water without any bother but she splashes so much she cant see where she is going to retrieve!

Anybody ever come across this before? any ideas on how to get her out of this habit?

A friend of mine has said to try one of those dog life jackets as it would keep her body straight and upright in the water and might entice her to kick with the hind legs, any comments on this idea?

thanks in advance

springer man

gregers85 : im guessing your using an area where your dog can walk into the water? this would be the reason why the dog is using his fron legs , he is trying to find his depth with his hind legs , your best bet is to throw a ball or dummy out quiet far (25 metres ) and then he should start swimming! Hope this works it worked for me!

dicky82

is there anywhere you could take her that you could stick waders on and give encouragement to start kicking with the back legs. i think the dogs panic when they are not confident in water and thats where the thrashing comes from.