Do most doodles have a natural love for water and swimming?

[Gumbo and Ashley]

As the time is quickly approaching for our Gumbo to come home to his new family, of course I am racking my brain and researching every possible puppy scenario.(imagine that). We live in Louisiana where it is hot and humid and we are always swimming in the pool. I'm very curious at what age a puppy should be introduced to water? Should we hold him the first time? Or am I over thinking this and the puppy will dive in when he/she is ready? How did your dog do the first time in the water/river/pool? Are they naturally strong swimmers or did you have to work with him? Do any of you have dogs that can't swim or hates being in water? Just curious.

[Gumbo and Ashley]

Oh no! Poor Georgia. I bet that was scary for you as well. I hope it didn't traumatize her too much. Poor baby!

[Suzanne & Jack]

At the end of the summer I always take Jack for the dog swims.  I come out of the pool with long scratches and bruises.  I will say that he prefers the pools that have a zero entry as opposed to the regular pools.

[Gumbo and Ashley]

Awww! How cute!!! Look at Jack. Holding him like a big baby. love it

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

We go to the beach every Summer.  My standard Doodle likes the water and will go right in (although he never swims out over his head) especially if I throw his tennis ball,  and my mini is happy just to play around the edge. 

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Luna (mini goldendoodle) LOVES water... and loves swimming.... however she HATES having her ears wet! 

She will stay inside all day if it's raining and refuses to go out to pee.  When she has a bath she spends a LOT of time rubbing her ears all over the house to dry them :/

Whatever you do don't do what we did... we put Luna into a pool without trying her in shallow water first and she went under a bit, so now she's afraid to jump in :/  She will use stairs, a shallow beach or a ramp but refuses to jump in... and whines and runs all over asking someone to put her in the pool.  Silly girl.

She does love swimming though :)

[Chelsea Herman]

I don't have a doodle yet, but my experience with dogs in general is to take it slow and let them pick when they are ready.  My last Great Dane was the ultimate water dog.  His first day home at 8 weeks, he seemed very curious about the pool.  But that did not prepare me at all for what he did on the 2nd day.  I was taking him potty and heading back to the house.  I thought he was following, but when I turned around, I saw my sweet little (little being a relative term- he was probably 20lbs) puppy diving (purposefully) headfirst into the pool.  I panicked- literally I think my heart stopped- but he just started swimming happily around the pool.  And he continued to love swimming for the rest of his life, usually jumping in the pool 3-4 times a day.

We don't have a pool anymore, unfortunately, but we are planning on taking Annabelle with us to the lake later this summer.  I think it's important to expose them to water/swimming when they are young!

[Richard Crowe]

Holly, at first, would not go near our pool.  It was not until our daughter and her lab visited that both dogs began swimming.  Now, unless the lab is here, Holly will join us in the pool for a few minutes and then quit. However, when the lab is here, they will both swim for an extended time...

What we always do with any dog is to place the dog in at the deep end of the pool and have the other person at the other end of the pool where our steps are and call to the dog.  That way the dog can learn how and where to get out of the pool using the steps.  IMO, that is about the most important thing that the dog can learn and it might save the dog's life. 

However, we have our pool fenced off from the rest of our property.  That keeps the dogs out of the pool when we are not out with them...

[Bonnie and Kona]

Kona and Owen were both hesitant at the ocean when they were puppies. They are both swimmers now. We take them to the beach a few times a week and they will paddle out on their own or with us. We never forced the situation for them. They do just love to fetch in the ocean and that was a big draw. Here is Kona!