A good lesson--don't try to rescue your dog from the waves!

[Ginny Nightingale]

Recently there have been heartbreaking stories about people rushing into the waves along California's beaches to save their dogs from being swept out to sea--in all of those instances, one or more people drowned while their dog paddled back to safety. Another incident happened in my area when a couple in their 60's who were rowing a boat in a pond BOTH jumped out to save their new pup and both of them drowned--the puppy made it back to shore with no problem. 

Although it goes against our nature to let the dog find it's way back to shore, the experts in this article explain why that is the best thing to do...

http://news.yahoo.com/experts-dont-attempt-save-swept-away-pets-090...

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Good article and really hard to fight that maternal instinct. When I first taught Murphy to swim in the ocean he would panic and get turned around and swim further out, id get nervous and just as I would start to go get him, he'd turn around and get back to shallow water and out.
He did it several times before he figured it out, but once he did he learned to body surf with the waves and jump waves, and retrieve balls and I never felt the need to rescue him again. But it did take awhile to realize he really was going to make it out ok.
If you don't have that experience with your dog and they fall in or swim out too deep, I can see why you'd want to go get them. And it did occur to me that I wouldn't know what to do once I swam over my head to get him, but it didn't stop me.