My Doodle's booty keeps sinking!

[Priscilla]

Hey guys!

I am in Puerto Rico for two months with my mini-labradoodle Charlie Brown. From the first day at the beach he dove right in after the frisbee... But after a bunch of trips his butt is still sinking. He can move through the water but I am scared he can't keep himself safe with only the front two paws. Has anyone else had this issue? Do they eventually learn to level out? Is there anything I can do to help him along?

[2SCdoodles]

Java Joe, one of my two doodles, swims every day in the pool. His rear sinks when he goes very fast. It doesn't if he swims slowly. I bought him a life jacket for the boat and beach, but he swims so frequently in the pool that I can't always keep a life jacket on him.

Capp, my other doodle, has excellent flotation and will almost float with no effort at paddling. Java Joe is wide open in everything he does, and I think that contributes to his sinking rear end. It can't keep up with his front!

Sounds heavenly to be in Puerto Rico with your Charlie Brown!

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

We had a Lab for our first dog. We took him as a puppy to Dog Beach and he did the same thing. Basically he looked like a person floundering to stay afloat by dog paddling with his front paws. My husband had to go into the water with him and lift up his back half to make him horizontal to the water. Then he just started walking with him till he got the ideal and feel of what it should be like. After that he was a gorgeous swimmer. We automatically did the same thing with Gracie Doodle. She was 3 months old when she first went in the water and she did the same thing as our Lab Rodney had done. Once my husband realigned her body to horizontal, she took off and has never stopped since. She is mad about the water and will swim forever!! You might have to get in the water with Charlie Brown for a swimming lesson!! I have heard that dogs don't just automatically swim...they need a little help every now and then! Good Luck!

[Priscilla]

Thanks! About how many times did your husband have to hold the back up? We have been doing that everyday for about 2 weeks now and his rear still sinks :( it looks like he is actually reaching for the bottom with his back paws so he can walk upright. It is pretty funny/cute but also has us worried that he just can't swim : /

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

That sounds exactly like Rodney and Gracie Doodle did but it seems like they caught on in a couple of sessions. My husband is on an errand right now but I will ask if he remembers how long it took. It just seems like it happened very quickly and was not an ongoing problem. Do they give swimming lessons to dogs??? ha ha In this photo you can see that Gracie has it right because you can see her tail trailing along.

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

My husband just came home so I asked him how long it took for Gracie Doodle to learn to swim. He said she took to the water instantly and after he pulled her back end up and held it for a while walking with her, she got it instantly!! Now our Lab from years ago was a different story. It took him a while. He was not a pure breed so we have no idea what his other half was but it probably was not a swimming dog!! What we did was train him on a beach where he could walk in so the water was up to his back and then my husband would cradle his back body in his arms and walk around with him. Rodney liked to know that he could touch the bottom if he wanted. Then he started faking us out by going out in the water and just getting his back submerged and start swimming...or so we thought. What he was doing was walking along the bottom with his tail out. He would go anywhere my husband went to he went out into the channel with a boogy board and Rodney started following. If he started flailing John would take his front paws and put them up on the board. The water was not over John's head. Eventually, Rodney got the hang of it but was really never the swimmer that Gracie is. He would go in, swim a little, walk a little with water covering his body and then come out. He just wanted to cool down. Gracie chases her ball that we throw into the water and would swim forever for a ball!!! Yes, when they both started they were actually standing upright like a human and flapping their front paws!!! Very cute and funny but not if you want to make them water safe!!!

[Priscilla]

Gracie is too cute!

I think I am going to try to hold his back up for longer, usually I do it for a few minutes then either cradle him (as long as it is sideways he relaxes instantly) or let him just swim back to shore. I guess he is not 100% comfortable in the water yet, he will jump in after the frisbee and once in awhile to be with us (and be held up) but he never hangs out in the water too long.

Thanks again and I will let you know how it goes!

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

Just start out in shallow water...maybe up to your waist and let him get comfortable there. He can swim in toward shore a bit and feel the floor of the ocean. It is probably the security of knowing there is a bottom. My grandson can swim beautifully but won't go where it is over his head. He just has to be able to stand and bounce on his toes. He is 6 years old and it is just that he panics and doesn't have confidence in himself. You could try where one of you stands waist deep with Charlie Brown and the other person a little closer in to shore and call him back and forth between you so he will learn to swim that way. I think it is really a comfort thing. Good Luck!

[Ronna, Murphy & Wilson]

Hi everyone! I am new to DK but had to join in on this. My Murphy had his first swim last weekend..........my boy is NOT a natural! His butt sinks too and I just knew he would drown if I took off his life jacket. I attached some pictures. He loves riding on the boat so I hope he figures it out :)

[Ronna, Murphy & Wilson]

Okay, so I can't get the pics to upload. I'll send them when I figure it out!

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

Ronna, you should be able to add photos from right here in your dialog box. Only if the files are too large or not JPEG will you have problems. Just click on the camera icon above your dialog box and "browse" to the folder on your computer that has the photos. You have to load each picture one at a time which is a bummer. It would be nice if we could mass select and load all at once.

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

Do you have a way to resize them? Depending on which photo editing program you have you can do it. Some just say "save for e-mail" or "size for e-mail"...something like that. I use Photoshop so I have to resize and lower the resolution to 100 or less and save it as a JPEG if it was originally saved in another file type i.e., TIFF. I do it the old fashion way so I am not sure how to do it otherwise. Hope you figure it out. WAIT...I just remembered what to do though the photos will be smaller than mine above. Click on the camera icon, get your photo and when it takes you back to the "Add Image" box click on options and then check the resize square and click ADD. That should do it for you!

[Adina P]

You can take them from your page. Just right click on the photo, click "properties" and highlight and copy the image URL.

Then come back here and click the camera icon and paste the URL in the box. If that doesn't work, tell me what happens instead? Where do the steps break down?