Thought I would hide this dumb question further down the board <vbg> I know, I know, they all smooth out in time but, Harley and I don't have much time with HT season approaching LOL

Last year he was swimming fine. The trainer called me yesterday laughing hysterically about Harley's new swimming style! Any tips on getting him horizontal in a hurry other than letting him swim every day and figuring it out on himself?

I'll save the frog obsession and why is my 82#, 11 month old pup still squatting and not lifting his leg questions for next week

Susie,

Try one of those kids blow up floatee's on Harley's tail. I heard that they work wonders...

That is from keeping people from laughing at how he is swimming to laughing at the floatee's... lol


Maybe a girl to impress will help with the other issues....


It's good to have a sense of humor about these things isn't it.

Let him chase a bitch in heat swimming around a piece of water with a bumper or bird in her mouth. You will find out real quick if he is a retriever or maybe interested in something else she has. Plus, he might learn to swim real fast.

A floatee?!?! OMG, if I haven't been humilated enough! May be I can find one that look's like a duck ROFLMAO

quote:

Originally posted by KevinS: It's good to have a sense of humor about these things isn't it.

If I didn't approach this dog training thing with a sense of humor I would start crying and I've been told that's pretty scary LOL

Lots of water retrieves with the big bumpers should get him horizontal again, or better yet with big ducks!

Kathy

Susie I think you remember my tales about Panda who was such a loser I couldn't even find anyone to take her this time last year as a give away. Ahem, remember my story about having to swim out and rescue her at club training in front of a large and gleeful audience? As embarrassing as a non swimming Chesapeake can be just remember a 50 year old woman swimming out to get it covered with algae and seaweed is more embarrassing. Unless you still look good in a wet T shirt! Everyone but me was laughing about this time last year and my friend who took pictures still blackmails me with them.

Panda not only did a lot of splashing with no forward progress, she'd start sinking after 15 or 20 minutes. Or so I thought... Anyway what finally helped her was recruiting a bunch of kids to take her swimming. We tried ducks, weighted bumpers, etc. to no avail. Ducks were pretty funny though--since she really liked them she'd swim out furiously and sort of normally til she got about 5 feet away, then she'd start pulling her front feet out and going vertical (which makes a wake gently pushing the duck ahead of her...).

My sister brought her stepkids & friends over regularly last summer and they'd play with the dogs and our yacht. We also took Panda to the Chesapeake Bay where the water has a long gentle slope, firm sandy footing, (jellyfish). Thank heavens for little boys that don't mind swimming in farm ponds and jellyfish!

Anyway see if you can recruit some little boys to play with Harley in the water. It's a sure fire way to develop confidence and normal swimming skills I never tried Keith C's suggestion, but it also might work for a young male.

I'm editing this to add a photo of our yacht. It's a 10' Sears model, circa 1972

Susie,

I ran into this with my older male and had quite a few tips given to me by some of the other people on these boards. Ultimately, I spent countless days in the river with him, letting him swim upstream to try to get to me. This leveled him out pretty quick, along with using the heavy bumpers that others have recommended. I'd literally start out with my arms under his hips, picking his rear end up to level him out until he'd do it on his own.

He always did it more out of panic than anything else. The first few times he had a duck dive on him were perfect examples of this. He'd swim just fine on the way out to it and then come straight up out of the water to try to see where it went.

I've also had luck with using a rope or bungee cord with a flat buckle collar to "pull" the dog around a pond or lake from a small boat. Obviously not trying to "drag" him, but make him swim fast enough to force his shoulders down and keep his butt up. I think it may have been Steve Parker who suggested this when I asked the same question a while back.

Good luck!

quote:

Originally posted by Keith Carlson: Let him chase a bitch in heat swimming around a piece of water with a bumper or bird in her mouth. You will find out real quick if he is a retriever or maybe interested in something else she has. Plus, he might learn to swim real fast.

Not a bad idea...everyone is coming out of heat here so, I'll take one of the girls out with me when we visit him next week. I'm really more afraid he won't be interested in what she might have to offer than retrieving LOL I know, I know males are slow to mature, especially show dawgs, but he acts like an 82# puppy! On a serious note, he really does want to please, his obedience is coming along nicely and he will hold and fetch anything including frogs now!

I was hoping to enter him in Juniors at the PPRC test in June but, if it doesn't work out it just doesn't. May be we should just wait, save my entry fees and work towards Senior...novel idea huh LOL

Hey, Julie...Doug doesn't look too stable in that boat LOL

As stated, just get into the water and assist him by holding up the rear until he learns to swim using both front and rear legs.

The dog might be overpowering his rear with the front legs until he learns how to actually use those rear legs.

quote:

Originally posted by Susie:
Hey, Julie...Doug doesn't look too stable in that boat LOL

I've been in that boat with 4 dogs before! LOL, NOT a good idea unless you plan to go swimming.
Rub a dub dub....

quote:

Originally posted by ginnyreed: As stated, just get into the water...

I consider myself a pretty good sport. However, we had winter storm warnings and snow just a few weeks ago and this is the first week it's hit the low 40's at night...he will just have to figure this out on his own until the water warms up for this old lady LOL

Susie, I had one that swam normally/horizontally as a pup but went on to work so much shallow water, where he could push off bottom with his hind legs, that reaching for the bottom apparently became his habitual default mode. Would have to make a number of retrieves in water too deep for that to serve before starting to level out. Don't know if that's a possibility in your area and dog's particular case, but do know I've made a point of insuring lots of deep water work with my two since that sorry swimmer.

quote:

Originally posted by Susie:
I consider myself a pretty good sport. However, we had winter storm warnings and snow just a few weeks ago and this is the first week it's hit the low 40's at night...he will just have to figure this out on his own until the water warms up for this old lady LOL

This is why you find some little boys, normally as soon as ice thaws off the water they will be swimming in it. Hopefully Harley will be swimming normally by the time it warms up to where you might wade in up to your knees (ask me how I know this ....)

I hear its' because his "boys" are up in his throat when the water is cold...

balance is a disrupted.....when it warms up they'll stay back where they're supposed to be and give that little extra floatation in the rear end.....leveling things out...

When Dayzee was a pup she swam vertically and also was a freak....Soooo I put a rope on her and pulled her faster than she could swim through the water...This leveled her out...Trick is to make sure the rope is right at water level (you might have to get low to the ground or get in the water to accomplish this)..Definitely helped Dayzee Duke...
Juli

I've always taken the dog in a slow, safe place in a river. Swimming in a current will auto-level. Tie a bumper to their collar in case you need to send in someone more experienced to fetch pup

UPDATE....

Went out to see the goof ball yesterday. I'm really happy Harley misses me! He came up to me, let me pat him on the head once and high tailed it back to Ben (trainer) who was heading down to the water LOL

Harley is starting to smooth out thank doG. Going out to the bird his butt is slightly down but, I think he is worried about seeing the bird. Once he get's the bird he levels out and swims like a trooper. Guess I won't have to get out the bikini LMAO

They set some live birds out so, I could watch him on land. He uses his nose and quarters nicely...my husband is going to have soooo much fun pheasant hunting him this year. I did feel better when he decided to bring one of the birds back to me instead of Ben...he still remembers I am his Mom LOL

Thanks for all the advise! I can't wait to get him home and have more questions

I just figured out Utube...now I need to learn how to work the video camera LOL



Opps now I have to figure out how to post a video I guess. Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5u09W-zgXk

Heck i was hoping to see yo flip flops

Susie
Holy smokes..thats the mirror image of Theo when she was about that old..swam like a post..actually what he is trying to do is get on top of the water..yes, they do get out of it,,but it's awful frustrating. I think my first post on this site back in may or June 2008 was '' MY DOG SWIMS LIKE A POST'' or something like that..Here's a trick, get in the water with him and walk out to where he doesnt touch, have someone on shore call his name and walk back with him holding his tail up and putting your hand under his belley..he'll get the hang of it. Ashe gets better, if you have another dog around, throw a small bumper out and let both dogs go ..his competitive nature will come out and it helps with the swimming. dont forget to say GOOD DOG..loudly the minute you see him level off. Sometime having them swim around with a small bumper in his mouth while doing the tail holding thing works also. Be real big on the GOOD BOY's!!

all the best

Marc