# Swimming methods



## SL_Vizsla (Aug 4, 2015)

Hello,
I've been a long time lurker but cannot find any clues to my potential problem. My V, Cheza, is just shy of a week from one year old and I have been trying to teach her to swim at the lake on nice days. I haven't had a swimming dog since I was very young so I don't have any practical knowledge on the subject. Whenever Cheza goes out to fetch her toy she will hardly, if at all, use her back legs - its all front legs. Once she gets her toy she immediately starts swimming "normally". The video is kind of crappy due to compression and she has improved significantly since then on her return trip swim but the trip out is still just as spastic-looking. 
Is this normal? Is she just trying to keep her head higher out of the water to keep a line of sight? If not is there something I can/should be doing to help correct this? She always wears a life jacket but if she went in without one I'm a little afraid of what would happen.


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## gingerling (Jun 20, 2015)

Take her life jacket off!

V's are pretty natural swimmers, and yours seems to have gotten the idea. The buoyancy of the life jacket raises her too far up out of the water and prevents her from swimming smoothly, hence the 'spastic' nature of her movements. The life jacket is getting in the way, and is causing her to expend more energy to move about..In a dog that knows how to swim, this would increase the probability of injury. 

If you're nervous, go in the water with her...aside from the really cool nature of doing something with her, being in the water face to face really does give you a different and very personal perspective of who they are.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Slapping the water with their front legs is normal when a dog first starts learning to swim, and having something in their mouth always seems to even them out. She is doing short water retrieves, so there is really no need for the lifejacket. Just keep taking her to the water, and she will get the hang of it.


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## SL_Vizsla (Aug 4, 2015)

Alright, we will do more work sans life jacket and see how it goes. When we are at the beach I am always in the water with her or ready to go in. The nervousness is more so when we are out hiking off-leash, although I would, I don't relish the idea of going into a pond fully clothed after her. Thanks for the advise.


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## gingerling (Jun 20, 2015)

Folks get into trouble with their dogs when they can't/don't/won't listen to them. Learning how to listen..really tuning in...is the key to any successful relationship, regardless of species!

I think she's telling you she can swim just fine, there's little risk of her 'forgetting' how to do that when off lead. If there's some water you don't want her in or don't want her too far out, then the issue is the recall command, or "No". That's a different issue.

But based on that vid, she's got it.


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## tknafox2 (Apr 2, 2013)

Welcome SL_
What you describe as Cheza's style of swimming is exactly how my first Pup (Female) swam...exactly. She improved quickly when competing for the toy , or swimming with other dogs. It seems when she poured on the speed... she just became fluid in the water, If she was on her own, at her own speed, she just though about what she was doing too much... and the high reaching long legged splashing would begin. 
My sons golden lab started his swimming the same way but grew out of it quickly. 
PS I never used a life jacket unless we were out at sea on the sailboat, and then, just because it has handles to grab and pull a pet back aboard if they fall off.


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## MCD (May 4, 2013)

Dharma swims with her head too high in the water and splashes a lot. She actually swims circles around us. We just got her a life jacket which also helps her get less tired and seems to have fixed her swimming with her head too high. She has to swim with a long lead attached as the places we go only allow dogs in certain spots and they have to be on a leash in the water too. Maybe a different style life jacket could be used too? Dharma has been swimming since she was 8 weeks old. We just put her in and let her figure it out.


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## SL_Vizsla (Aug 4, 2015)

Just got back from a trip to the beach without the jacket. She seems to have made a little progress but still spent a fair amount of time going vertical on the way to her toy (I was in the water with her as well). That being said the longer she was out past where she could reach the bottom the better she swam, as if she was waiting for her front legs to get tired before realizing that the back legs would help too... Again thanks for all the advise and we will keep working at it.


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## R E McCraith (Nov 24, 2011)

SL - no big DEAL - great advice given - these pups do SWIM - deep water - no vest - a goal 2 do - took PIKE a year 2 swim like a LAB - he started @ 10wks - LOL !!!!!!


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## harrigab (Aug 21, 2011)

Ruby took her time, or at least it seemed that way, before she started swimming, but when she did start she was very stylish I thought. Can't keep her out of water now. Here's a little vid I made the other day, sorry for the quality it was on my phone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAYMB6hfd4k


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## tknafox2 (Apr 2, 2013)

harri... Is Ruby teaching Elvis??? 
We need more Vid, and a bit longer to see the wooly bear in the water, looks like he wants to go...
He is getting really big!!!


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## harrigab (Aug 21, 2011)

tknafox2 said:


> harri... Is Ruby teaching Elvis???
> We need more Vid, and a bit longer to see the wooly bear in the water, looks like he wants to go...
> He is getting really big!!!


Elvis is already quite an accomplished swimmer, I'll see if I can dig out some vids


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## harrigab (Aug 21, 2011)

not quite as refined as Ruby 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxaHMEm72oc&feature=youtu.be


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## Cooperpooperscooper (Jan 25, 2015)

Cooper will be one in about a week. Cooper uses his back legs to keep an eye on the toy when he is charging waves. Once he knows where the toys is he just swims to it. If he loses sight of the toy, he will raise his head as high as it can go to get a better view. Cooper also uses his back legs almost like anchors when he is trying to get through a crashing wave (if its shallow enough). In calm water like lakes, he's like a silent ninja ready to attack you with kisses. You can't hear him in the water. He glides. 

The only time we use a life jacket is if we go kayaking.


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