Water lovers?

[Jean Schloerb]

My labradoodle loves water from the hose. We are on a lake for the summer and she won't go in the water. She's 7 months old now. Any hints on how to get her in to swim?

[Stacy]

Katie loves water - she would splash around in her water bowl all day long if I would let her. But she wasn't too sure about swimming in the lake. I've seen people out there just throwing their dogs in. I'm not comfortable with that. She liked to wade, but wouldn't swim and so I just let her do that. I would walk out to where she couldn't touch and call her to me. It took 2 summers, but now she's happy to swim out to me. She still prefers to just wade, but she can and does swim. I think some dogs just like it more than others.

[Amy and Annabelle]

Annabelle hated water her first year. Then the second year she would lay in her little kiddie pool, which she loves and spends all summer in. She also loves to play with the hose and drink the water out of it. My daughter has a big pool with depths of 3ft-6ft. It is fenced off and Annabelle has never even tried to get in there until they uncovered it this year for the summer. She was curious and squeezed in through the fence. She took one look at the pool and all the water and ran back to the fence crying. She wanted no part of what she had just gotten herself into. She is a 16lb mini, so she squeezed in easy enough, but was so upset, she just wanted to be rescued. I doubt we have to worry about her trying that stunt again, and she didn't even get in the water. But I think if she hadn't done that, she would have been more receptive to it by introducing it to her gradually. We walked along a beach last summer and my daughter took her wading, that was as far as she went. But she didn't seem frightened of that, her first year she would have been. Maybe if I had my own pool or lived near a beach, I would work with her more about getting used to the water.

Unless she becomes an overnight water lover, it is probably something that is going to have to be done gradually. By the end of your stay she may be swimming circles around you.

[Murph and Me]

Murphy loves the water at the beach, lake, river you name it.
Hates pools. I tried him with dock diving. He was all excited until he got up on the platform and look into the pool. No thanks and I did not push him In even though I wanted to. In the bay and ocean he swims like a champ but there is something about pool that he just won't. He will float on a raft in the pools but don't ask him to get off. And in the ocean he has a great paddle and goes for long swims. The pool, he looks like he never swam before. Go figure..

[Jean Schloerb]

Thanks for your responses. Fun hearing from other doodle lovers.