Ever Have A Dog That Can't Swim?

[jonp]

My Valley Bulldog is a sweetheart but i've now had to save her for a third time. Once when I was rowing across a pond she jumped in and tried to follow. I reversed course and dragged her into the boat as she was flailing away maddly. The second time she somehow managed to get on the far side of a boulder and got trapped. I had to launch a canoe to get her. Yesterday we were walking beside a river and she decided to get a drink then fell in. I had to jump in and hoist her out and since she is 80lbs it was not as easy as it was 10yrs ago. Boy, April river water is still kinda chilly! Good thing that doesn't bother me having grown up way north.

[GhostHawk]

I dropped my little pup in the river once, leash attached, He went around in circles twice, then gave me a dirty look as he paddled 3 feet to shore and crawled out.

Now hot water from the shower with a scrubdown of Johnson's baby shampoo and a rinse then a towel dry scrub from dad with lots of sweet talking and face licking. He likes that. River water, not so much, for sure not if it is cold. He's spoiled rotten, but who else do I have to spoil?

[Survival Bill]

!!!!!

[dverna]

Never seen a dog that cannot swim.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

You might consider a dog life jacket when near water. Seriously. They don't cost much.

I had a Springer that swam 18 miles down a river one day. She refused to stay in the canoe and insisting on swimming along side. I was worried she would wear out and drown, but she made it . I would have put a life jacket on her if they made them back then but they didn't.

[Stewbaby]

French bulldogs notorious for this...too front heavy

[Parson]

I don't know if mine can't or won't, will go in the water, retrieve as long as at least her back feet are on the bottom. I can lift her hind end up, take her to deeper water and let her go. She will thrash until she gets close enough to shore that her hind feet touch bottom and then walk to shore. I can throw the dummy back out and she will go right out after it but will not swim. She is 3/4 Poodle and a 1/4 Lab, fantastic pheasant dog but no ducks

[shortfal]

My PitLab mix can swim well but apparently does not like to. If I put her in deep water she'll swim directly to the shore every time. But she will run up and down the bank in water about up to her belly chomping at the splashes as long as I let her.
Pete

[dagger dog]

French bulldogs notorious for this...too front heavy

My first Boston terrier was like that, very chunky and top heavy, she would jump out of the canoe and swim straight to the bottom. I got her a jacket, she would ride on my kayak sitting on the back deck, jump off and swim over to the wife's boat, had to walk her around any big rapids and tie her up to keep her safe while we ran the rapid.

[salpal48]

I have 2 dogs that can't swim. 'Bassett Hounds" legs too short body too heavy and short . will sink like a rock

[tygar]

TYGAR & his son & grand kids. GSDs can retrieve in water or land just like any retriever, but can't do the real cold water since then don't have the oily skin like labs. We can't keep ours out of the water.

That said, I have had a few that can swim, but don't like it, & will bale as soon as possible.

The one swimming at bottom of pool pic is preparing to dive down several feet to attack the light on the side.
194347194348

[runfiverun]

yeah seen a number of dog's that can't or won't swim.
BIL had a Staffordshire terrier that was pretty good at walking on the bottom of the lakes around here.

[54bore]

Never seen a dog that cannot swim.

Me either? Thought that was born right in them?

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I think nearly all dogs can swim in an emergency. It is so much like trotting, or indeed dreaming. But of seven dogs we have had, only the cairn terrier would swim. I suppose when you have legs six inches long, you don't have much of a choice. Lanty Hanlon the Irish terrier is the only one that even dislikes wading or getting his feet muddy, but then, he was a puppy in dead of winter. That's his story and he's sticking to it. I've seen him with water a third of the way up his fuselage in summer, when kids enticed him in, but that's his limit.

My old pacifist collie, bought for thirty shillings in a Glasgow petshop, was surely the most obedient dog I ever had, although I've known some as crafty. The cairn despised her when she wasted good legs by trying to get rabbits to play with her. She would obey invisible hand signals fifty yards off, and glared at me indignantly for a whole second first if I gave visible ones, for that was calling her an animal. But she got quite panicky when her cairn friend swam, for she thought she was amputated at the waterline. Once I took her along the shore, where she was used to getting permission to leap down from a concrete ledge onto the beach. I saw her looking over the edge, and thinking about something else, I gave her the signal. I was amazed when she hesitated a moment before jumping. I hadn't noticed, on a glass-calm day, that the tide was in. So she jumped into four feet of water without ever having swum a stroke in her life. I never knew if she could have done, because there wasn't time before I grabbed her collar and heaved her out. But she was full of herself all the way home, doubtless thinking like the dying Nelson "Thank God I have done my duty."

[farmerjim]

Even my neighbors 3 legged lab can swim and retrieve ducks.

[buckwheatpaul]

We are mainly a schnauzer family and in a total of 7 of them....two would drown....could not swim....

[bedbugbilly]

Somr dogs are made for swimming . . . some aren't . . . no different than people. Even a dog that can swim can get in trouble in water . . . same as a person who can swim . . . . and I was involved in "recovery" operations of more than one person who was described as "a good swimmer". If you love your pet . . . if you love your children . . . . if you love your spouse and friends . . . . a life jacket is cheap insurance.

[Morgan61]

I have a Beagle/Basset mix that can't swim, she'll sink like a rock.
My lab has always loved water but would not swim until she was about 4 yrs. old. I finally got her to swim by wading out with her as far as as she would go, then I would go just a little deeper and encourage her to follow me. Once she learned that the sensation of buoyancy was nothing to fear the rest was easy.
Now she'll spend hours swimming out to fetch sticks I throw in the lake.

[WILCO]

Had a dog that I thought couldn't swim once. He eventually came up kicking like the S.O.B. he really was.

[brass410]

I've had two that could not swim 1 was a huge rottwieler 140 lbs of muscle and tongue and the other and English mastiff 180 lbs plus she was all nose and tail

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Great post! My wife does accents and I had her read it aloud for effect!


I think nearly all dogs can swim in an emergency. It is so much like trotting, or indeed dreaming. But of seven dogs we have had, only the cairn terrier would swim. I suppose when you have legs six inches long, you don't have much of a choice. Lanty Hanlon the Irish terrier is the only one that even dislikes wading or getting his feet muddy, but then, he was a puppy in dead of winter. That's his story and he's sticking to it. I've seen him with water a third of the way up his fuselage in summer, when kids enticed him in, but that's his limit.

My old pacifist collie, bought for thirty shillings in a Glasgow petshop, was surely the most obedient dog I ever had, although I've known some as crafty. The cairn despised her when she wasted good legs by trying to get rabbits to play with her. She would obey invisible hand signals fifty yards off, and glared at me indignantly for a whole second first if I gave visible ones, for that was calling her an animal. But she got quite panicky when her cairn friend swam, for she thought she was amputated at the waterline. Once I took her along the shore, where she was used to getting permission to leap down from a concrete ledge onto the beach. I saw her looking over the edge, and thinking about something else, I gave her the signal. I was amazed when she hesitated a moment before jumping. I hadn't noticed, on a glass-calm day, that the tide was in. So she jumped into four feet of water without ever having swum a stroke in her life. I never knew if she could have done, because there wasn't time before I grabbed her collar and heaved her out. But she was full of herself all the way home, doubtless thinking like the dying Nelson "Thank God I have done my duty."

[gwpercle]

Dogs with short legs , stocky bodies and if on the "well fed" side have a hard time swimming, they just aren't built for it. After a short time they tire, factor in age, think old fat out of shape dog and yes I can this dog not being much of a swimmer.
Gary

[bikerbeans]

30 years ago I had a pair of Dobermans, all chest no butt. When they got in the water their butts would sink and their big chests allowed them to float like a fish bobber. They could stay afloat for a bit by flailing their front legs but they made no forward progress. I used to take them canoeing and they were very well behaved, neither wanted in the water.

BB

[Bookworm]

I had a pit bull that thought he was a Lab. He LOVED water, would retrieve sticks, logs, and give yeoman effort on rocks. It may not be the rock I threw in, but he would usually come up with something. If I could pick it up and throw it in, he would go after it.

Years later we had a Pug. She could swim, but would rather not. That dog would go in the water with me, but only because she would be lonely on the bank 20 feet away. Wherever we were, that's where the pug wanted to be.

[texasnative46]

To All,

As they are very popular as "adoptees", BE WARNED: Greyhounds (as well as Salukis, Afghan hounds & Ibizan hounds) are about (in my experience) about 90% SINKERS, as they have too much bone/hard muscle to float.
(One of our local vets says that IF your sight-hound CAN swim, he/she seriously needs to be put on a diet.)

Two of our local "greyhound adopters" have had their dogs drown when they jumped into a swimming pool, promptly went down & didn't come up.

Fwiw, my sister & I used to raise Afghans & they all loved the water but could NOT swim unaided. - We kept them in life-jackets, when we were at the lake/beach/on the houseboat.

yours, satx

[Moleman-]

We have a dachshund that is a "little" over weight. He likes sunning himself on the pool deck or on whoever is floating on a tube. He's not a good swimmer though. After about 30 seconds he's under so we have to keep an eye on him when he's around the pool. It's funny, when he's swimming his legs move slowly, but his tail is flipping around fast. It's hard to keep our labs out of the water though.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Here is one that had to learn quickly:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6015835/Cocker-spaniel-survives-two-cliff-falls-and-swims-a-mile-to-the-safety.html

The British cocker spaniel is a little bigger and closer to the working type than the American strain, but it is still a long swim. There have been several cases of dogs falling from much higher cliffs onto land, including this one, and surviving with remarkably slight injuries.

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/14426500.Miracle_puppy_survives_fall_off_Beachy_He ad/


194379

It is one of my favourite places, but not for looking 500 feet downward from the edge. Another fell 250 feet into the Dover dockyard and walked into the vet's. I don't think they reach anything like the terminal velocity of a human, and have less inertia when they land.

[Rick R]

Many years ago a friend had a new high dollar Brittany Spaniel, which should be a great water dog. We were grouse hunting with the little fellow who was still very much a pup and he'd found something to roll in. Something very dead and stinking and which may have passed through some other creatures digestive tract prior to being rolled in.
We were walking along a river fed by various mountain streams, clear as crystal and cold as a glass of ice water when my friend grabs the stinky spaniel and lobs him into a deep slow moving pool of water. He sank about three feet down and just seemed to hover there. He was quite clearly struggling as he was kicking and not making any headway. I looked at my buddy who I knew was a poor swimmer and asked "which one of us is going in to save him now?". I had just got to the point of unlacing my boots when the dog popped to the surface and swam to shore. After that we couldn't keep him out of water.

[km101]

Had a beagle/mutt mix when I was a kid. That dog COULD swim if you dropped him in, but absolutely refused to get in the water on his own. Once when fishing at a stock pond that was about 15 acres we swam to the other side to see if he would follow. He ran all the way around. Later we swam back and he did it again. He hated to even get wet except in the heat of summer when he would sometimes play in the sprinkler with us.

[tygar]

I've had two that could not swim 1 was a huge rottwieler 140 lbs of muscle and tongue and the other and English mastiff 180 lbs plus she was all nose and tail

I also had some big dogs that could swim. Male Rotty at 125, female at 80, 2 St. Bernards, Male at 140 & female at 110 that loved the water & swam like fish, that is until, they tired out (about 5 minutes), then the sinking started. Did have other St.Bs, that didn't like to even get their feet wet, but could still swim enough to get out if they fell in.

I think most dogs can swim a little, at least enough to get out of the water if it was calm, but there for sure are dogs, that sink like a stone.

[pjames32]

I had a lab that could not swim. He came to me as a pup and was introduced to water at a young age. No fear of the water he just could not get his back half in motion to swim. He'd sink then lunch himself with his back legs off the bottom. After a couple saves in a swift river I gave him away to a family since he was my duck dog. We tried everything in the ponds and lakes, but he never got it right. I was afraid he would drown since he'd jump in a swift river if I had a duck down. Our 2 miniature doxies can swim. One does not like it, the other does.

[2ndAmendmentNut]

A neighbor used to have a border collie that could barely swim. That goofy dog would paddle furiously with his body almost perfectly upright. He could keep his head out of the water but barely get anywhere and would tire quickly. My current mut is terrier and corgi, she can swim better than a beaver.


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[Duckiller]

Sons share an English Bull Dog that can't swim. When James coached the local swim team Tank liked to go along and see the kids and kids liked to see him. Occasionally he would fall into the pool and James would have to pull him out. Tank would play in the ocean , he just woukdn't go in deep enough where he had to swim.

[petroid]

I'll never forget the first time our dog, Dozer, a lab mix, went swimming. We went to my parents', who have a pond. When she saw the water, she went full tilt for it. Once at the bank, which dropped off steeply about six feet, she launched herself, fully stretched out, and dove straight in. Her distance was impressive, hitting the water twenty feet from the bank and she disappeared in the murk. I watched and waited for her to surface, but she was just---gone! After 10-15 seconds all the bubbles from her entry had cleared and still no sign of her. I was seriously worried at this point, thinking she may have encountered some underwater obstacle, debris, or fishing line and become trapped or tangled. I was just preparing to jump in after her when she breached like a submarine doing an emergency blow, her body coming nearly full out of the water and her paws were still paddling in the air 50 FEET from where she dove in. She cruised around the pond as though she was a marathon swimmer and could keep going for days. She loved the water her whole life and there were times, especially as she got older, that she wouldn't come out of the water for anything and I thought she would become too tired and drown, but she could swim for ever. RIP Dozer

[MaryB]

Misty my lab mutt swam like a beaver. When I got to the lake she would tear down the dock and launch and land 20-30 feet out. I couldn't keep her out of the water. She would dive into the river here in spring when it still had ice chunks floating downstream.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

You have to remember that with dogs as with human swimmers, turning corners is a stage further on than learning to swim at all. A major difference is that dogs swim in the horizontal, and are almost automatically out of their depth. They can't just put their feet down when they realise they are heading for an ocean crossing, as we can. It is a good idea to start them in small waters, with the far side within easy reach.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

To All,

As they are very popular as "adoptees", BE WARNED: Greyhounds (as well as Salukis, Afghan hounds & Ibizan hounds) are about (in my experience) about 90% SINKERS, as they have too much bone/hard muscle to float.
(One of our local vets says that IF your sight-hound CAN swim, he/she seriously needs to be put on a diet.)

Two of our local "greyhound adopters" have had their dogs drown when the jumped into a swimming pool, promptly went down & didn't come up.

Fwiw, my sister & I used to raise Afghans & they all loved the water but could NOT swim unaided. - We kept them in life-jackets, when we were at the lake/beach/on the houseboat.

yours, satx

I used to be a sinker myself, in earlier years, but got away with it. I think those breeds could easily be in trouble quickly with hypothermia, and Afghans with the drag of all that long hair. So probably it is just as well they mostly prefer not to swim
The marvellous thing about dogs is that selective breeding has changed their instincts as much as their physical characteristics, like our totally amateur golden Labrador who used to carry kittens around the garden unhurt, till the one we kept used to come and beg for a ride. But those instincts are only about as old as guns, and a lot less reliable the ones that took millions of years to evolve. There will always be the occasional gundog that hates water, or decamps with the loot, or proudly hands you some duckburger, or the occasional Doberman that loves night-time visitors.

[funnyjim014]

My basset can't swim more than 10ft before she starts to sink. Too front heavy and not enough leg length lol

[Moonie]

We have a new puppy we picked up this weekend. She swims in her water bowl... She should be a good swimmer as she is a Newfoundland, even has webbed feet. We will see when the weather warms up and we start swimming in the pool.

[scarry scarney]

My last dog (a Britney) thought the pool was his personal pond. My daughter has an English bulldog, sinks like a bowling ball. With his weight and short legs, he would do better walking up the shallow end (but legs to short to get up over the steps). (Had to go swimming for the little guy). He stays away from the pool. My new dog, (pound puppy) adopted last year, showed me that he could swim, when he was running across the yard, and didn't know that there was a pool in the middle. It was like a cartoon, he was running, and about half way across the pool, forward momentum stop, and down he went. When he surfaced, he swam to me (next to the steps). So far, he only takes drinks from the pool. We will see if this summer, he go swimming with me.

[jonp]

Ralph loves to wade in the water and chase frogs. She just can't swim. Must be the front heavy thing as she is built like a barrel up from and narrow in the back.

I was at a resort in Belize a few years ago and lounging by the pool reading. Out of nowhere I here a horse galloping right at my back and turned to look at a huge dog that ran past me full speed and jumped in the pool then started swimming happily around. The guy following came up and introduced himself. An American Ex-Pat, he lived in the small Bungalow next to the resort. He built there when there was nothing on the beach for a few miles then the resort came in. They tried to buy him out for $1,000,000 he said and give him a condo for life free of charge to get his land for expansion but he was not sure he wanted to do it. They gave him free run of the place in hopes of swaying him.

[xs11jack]

Years ago had a small German Shepard(62lbs) that loved the water, when we went to the lake we used a private beach that a friend owned. There was a steep hill about 20 feet back from the beach and Smoky figured out that if he ran up the hill a ways he could get more speed coming back down for a higher longer jump into the water. He would do that until he was worn out and come and flop down on me and bark like saying "Wow what fun dad!" I sure do miss him.

[Rufus Krile]

Ballistic's comment about 'duckburger' made me think back over 50yrs to a quail hunt in West Texas behind our beloved English Pointers. The breed excels at upland game birds but often has a reputation as not the sharpest crayon in the box... On a covey rise we'd knocked down 3 birds on the far side of a very small, but very cold, stream and had sent our old dog to go get them. He had two of them, carrying them by the heads, and located #3. Looked at me, #3, the stream, back at me, the stream... and promptly ate #3 in full view not 25 yds from me, staring at me the whole time. "If you want it, come get it yourself but I'm only making this trip once." Same old dog never figured out the 9-band armadillo. Would bring me every one he found... unhurt. RIP Gus.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Lanty Hanlon the Irish terrier goes on point or crouches when he notices anything interesting, which makes me wonder if someone in the late nineteenth century, when red hair began to be more popular than the browns and wheatens, smuggled in a bit of Irish red setter blood. The first canine Lanty Hanlon was my grandfather's Kerry Blue of the 1940s, surely a distinct breed long before then, as they are a smoky-grey soft-curled version, and due to rarity a tougher proposition for health and temperament. But the current Lanty and the earlier one's daughter, which we owned, are the only dogs I have known to do such elaborate grass-flattening circling, where there is no grass, before lying down. Clearly the breeds were close relatives a long time back.

The present-day Lanty seems to have no idea that terriers are into violence. He isn't afraid of much, wants to drag me to a firework display, and I have seen him reluctant to retaliate but more reluctant to retreat, under serious attack by a Rottweiler and a giant labrador. Yesterday I saw him perplexed but not angered by three shi tzus all barking ferociously from a foot away. When he was half-grown he handed me a baby rabbit, hamster-size and entirely unhurt. I don't think I would want to be his second rabbit, though. He might be saying "Damned if I'll trust him to do the shareout next time." He is manically energetic, especially with kids and footballs, but convinced a dog can't do very wrong as long as he is friendly. It isn't entirely right, but it isn't that wrong.