With the weather we've been having, it is hardly the season to be discussing swimming - outdoors anyway.
But swimming is a great form of exercise for dogs. If you have a breed of dog that tends to have a genetic predisposition for joint issues, like I do, then swimming is not only a wonderful low-impact exercise, it is also a form of physical therapy to help maintain muscle mass and range of motion in and around an affected joint.
I firmly believe that one of the main reasons my 11-year-old German shepherd Zumi isn't afflicted nearly as badly as her sibling with hip dysplasia and degeneration of the discs in her spine is because, for the first yearand-a-half of her life, her main form of exercise was swimming.
Zumi took to the water like a duck. I like to say I taught her how to swim, but in reality she taught herself. Zumi teaches herself everything, I just agree with her choices or not. Nothing like having an alpha female! (eyes rolling). In fact, if I gave her the keys to my truck she would probably teach herself how to drive too! When Zumi taught herself to swim she sort of glided into the water from the edge of the Seymour River bank. The gradual slope of the shallow river into deeper waters helped her learn buoyancy and how to use her front legs first, then her back legs.
Piper on the other hand ... not so much. As a hunting dog, he does fall into the category of "water dog," but he couldn't swim to save his life. His deep chest and long legs make him look like a giraffe trying to swim. It is painful to watch.
When Piper was a youngster I would watch with trepidation when he would dash into a creek or pond after a duck, waiting for that moment when I would have to jump in and save him. Over time he safely learned his limits and now he thinks before he leaps - a tough thing for a German short-haired pointer to do! So I have a water dog that doesn't swim and a herding dog that swims like an otter. Hey, wait! Aren't all water dogs supposed to know how to swim you ask? Well, no. Swimming is not considered an instinctual trait of a water dog. They are not born with a natural ability to swim any more than humans are. Just like humans, some dogs display a greater attraction to swimming than other dogs, and teach themselves to swim faster than others.
Water dog is simply a term given to dogs that have been selectively bred over many years to have an affinity for activities around water. Historically that had to do with retrieving water fowl that had been shot, or retrieving small boats or buoys that drifted from the mooring dock. Through selective breeding, their coats display a degree of water repellency. All dogs have webbed feet (it's true and I know you are checking right now), but water dogs' feet tend to be unusually large so that they resemble a flipper when paddling in water. This is also because of selective breeding. Piper's foot is easily twice as large as Zumi's, yet she is the better swimmer!
So how do you teach a dog how to swim? Well there are a number of indoor facilities such as K9 H20 and AquaPaws Canine Water Wellness that can assist in teaching your dog how to swim. Or you can choose to do it yourself. But take your time. If you have a super keen dog that will do anything for a ball, begin by tossing it close to the water's edge and allow the dog to slowly get used to how their body feels in the weightlessness of water. If your dog enthusiastically jumps in for the first time and goes over its head, it may become afraid of water! Please do not toss your dog into the water hoping it will "figure it out." You may be diving in yourself to rescue your dog from your foolishness!
What about my youngest dog Raider, you ask? He's a leap-before-you-look kind of dog with a unique behaviour of swimming with his nose and eyes tucked beneath the surface and his ears above, as if he is looking underwater ... such a weird dog.
Joan Klucha has been working with dogs for more than 15 years. K9kinship.com.
