# Swimming



## birdontherocks (Jul 24, 2008)

Does anyone swim with their Malts? After running many times in the warm weather I will take mine in the pool with me. I set him on a sturdy sponge raft and gradually get him used to the water then coax him in and have him swim to me as I walk to the other side of the pool. He loves the water once he is in. He just is unsure getting in.


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## llf060787 (Nov 19, 2007)

Bianca does the same thing. She approaches the pool and just barks at whoever is in it until they pick her up and bring her in the water. At that point she just swims back and forth between any 2 people that are there or just swims towards the steps and sits on the top step with her tush in the water. A couple of weeks ago my son had her in the pool with him and let her go halfway thru the deep end so that she could swim to me while I was at the stairs. I've been trying to teach her that no matter where in the pool she is that she needs to swim towards the stairs just in case she falls in one day. Anyway, she realized that it was a bit of a swim so she swam to the edge and then placed her face against the tile and swam alongside the edge of the pool (face against tile the whole time) until she reached the stairs. It was like she was feeling her way to back.


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## Moxie'smom (Dec 16, 2007)

No. Never! I don't like the concept of getting him wet, other than a bath. Funny, if i had a Lab or a Golden I would def. do it. 
But for some reason with Moxie's full coat, I'd rather die than put him in the water..LOL


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## Missy&Maggie (Jun 17, 2007)

QUOTE (Moxie'sMom @ Jul 25 2008, 11:59 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=610820


> No. Never! I don't like the concept of getting him wet, other than a bath. Funny, if i had a Lab or a Golden I would def. do it.
> But for some reason with Moxie's full coat, I'd rather die than put him in the water..LOL[/B]


Maggie (whose in full coat) actually went for a swim on the 4th of July in our kiddie pool and jacuzzi. Dealing with her coat wasn't nearly as bad as I had imagined. I just heavily conditioned her and let her air dry for the 1st time. Then, when we got back to Palm Beach, I gave a bath and blowdry. No damage or harm done to her coat.


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## jmm (Nov 23, 2004)

Soda swam in the lake and creek all the time when we lived in VA in the summer. Now he sticks to pools. My Malt before him, Mikey, would swim in the pool, too.


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## camfan (Oct 30, 2006)

I've never tried hard enough to find out if he truly likes it or not. The one time I put him in the pool he didn't seem too thrilled and every time after that when I'd try he'd back away. He gets very upset when I'm in the pool and constantly moves to a spot in the yard where he can see me in there at all times. It cracks me up--I don't know what he thinks he's going to do if I'm in trouble!


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## karebear (Nov 4, 2007)

QUOTE (camfan @ Jul 25 2008, 12:40 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=610852


> I've never tried hard enough to find out if he truly likes it or not. The one time I put him in the pool he didn't seem too thrilled and every time after that when I'd try he'd back away. He gets very upset when I'm in the pool and constantly moves to a spot in the yard where he can see me in there at all times. It cracks me up--I don't know what he thinks he's going to do if I'm in trouble![/B]


That's exactly what Tesla does! He barks and barks until he gets enough nerve to get into the water to swim to me. Once he gets to me to see that I'm okay, he just swims back to shore. We go to the lake and a small creek by my apartment a lot and he LOVES the water. He'll just go plop down in the water at the creek and lay there.

He went tubing with us a few weeks ago. We got him a life vest and he would just swim in circles around my tube.

But strangely enough, when I give him a bath, he acts like I'm torturing him...


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## kathym (Aug 5, 2006)

WELL I DIDN'T KNOW BACI COULD SWIM.LAST SUMMER WE WERE IN CALIFORNIA AT MY FRIENDS . I WENT INTO THE WATER I HAD ONE OF THOSE TUBE THINGS I DON'T SWIM VERY WELL,WHEN ALL OF A SUDDEN BACI RAN AROUND THE POOL AS I WATCHED HIM HE DOVE INTO THE DEEP END THERE I WAS BAAAAAAAAAACHI .I STARTED TO GO TOWARD HIM AND HE TO ME I SCOOPED HIM UP AND PUT HIM ON THE TUBE. :smheat: 
WELL THERE WAS MY ANSWER OF MY LITTLE GUY SWIMMING.WE ARE GOING TO MIAMI NEXT WEEK I HAVE A LIFE JACKET IF HE JUMPS IN I WOULD RATHER HE HAVE IT ON. BUT ACTUALLY HE IS A BETTER SWIMMER THAN ME.


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## binniebee (Sep 27, 2007)

Please be careful if your dog is in full coat. My last Malt could not swim when in full coat. He tried, I mean he COULD SWIM, but once his coat got really saturated with the water he started being pulled under. Luckily I was close by in the pool and watching to see what he thought about being set into the pool (this was when I was with my ex-husband, who set him into the pool) so I was able to pick him up. So don't just assume your dog can swim, or that they can swim well enough to pull their full, saturated coat above the surface of the water. Mine sure couldn't do that.

Midis hates water so I don't think he would enjoy the experience even though his coat is clipped so he probably wouldn't have any trouble surviving, swimming. I may try it out when I go to my mom's this summer, but I don't expect him to find the experience "fun", so if he's really scared I definitely won't push it on him.

Cyndi


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## SpringHasSprung (May 4, 2007)

Oh boy am I jealous. Spring positively HATES getting wet to the point that if the ground is wet from rain the night before, she won't go out and get her paws even the slightest bit wet.  It's a problem for me because when we spend our time in Florida, we walk the beach every single day...and she won't even go close to the water. Not to mention that we do alot of boating as well. I keep tryiing to coax her because I do think if she ever got over her "phobia", she'd love being in the water with all of us. So far...no luck. I keep hoping that maybe Summer will be different and teach Spring that going in the water is a FUN thing to do and should not be considered torture. We'll find out soon enough whether the new baby can teach her older sister that life in the water is GOOD!


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## MKLadee (Feb 26, 2008)

QUOTE (llf060787 @ Jul 25 2008, 10:41 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=610813


> I've been trying to teach her that no matter where in the pool she is that she needs to swim towards the stairs just in case she falls in one day. Anyway, she realized that it was a bit of a swim so she swam to the edge and then placed her face against the tile and swam alongside the edge of the pool (face against tile the whole time) until she reached the stairs. It was like she was feeling her way to back.[/B]


One comment on that: don't let your dog's...any kind, really...be around a pool when you're not there. My inlaws used to have a little pekingnese who fell in the neighbor's pool when nobody was around and she drowned. We guess she either got disoriented or simply didn't know where to go toward the steps and just wore herself out swimming around. It was SO heartbreaking thinking about how panicked she must have been.  

Debbie


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## tigerpawswhit (Aug 7, 2008)

QUOTE (MKLadee @ Jul 27 2008, 11:07 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=611858


> QUOTE (llf060787 @ Jul 25 2008, 10:41 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=610813





> I've been trying to teach her that no matter where in the pool she is that she needs to swim towards the stairs just in case she falls in one day. Anyway, she realized that it was a bit of a swim so she swam to the edge and then placed her face against the tile and swam alongside the edge of the pool (face against tile the whole time) until she reached the stairs. It was like she was feeling her way to back.[/B]


One comment on that: don't let your dog's...any kind, really...be around a pool when you're not there. My inlaws used to have a little pekingnese who fell in the neighbor's pool when nobody was around and she drowned. We guess she either got disoriented or simply didn't know where to go toward the steps and just wore herself out swimming around. It was SO heartbreaking thinking about how panicked she must have been.  

Debbie
[/B][/QUOTE]

That is my worst fear! ::shudders at the thought of that poor puppy!:: I'm so glad we dont' have a deck built around our above-ground pool yet because I would worry all of the time (even though Stella is NEVER outside without someone else and very rarely let off her leash). My mom and sister were the ones who put her in the pool first because she just kept barking. I was furious because I tend to be a little overprotective and don't like for them to do things like that while I'm not home. My first Maltese Jaxon was injured and eventually died because he was left alone outside while I was not home. I'm still very cautious when they put her in the pool and make sure they don't let go of her!


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## Lois1103 (Oct 11, 2006)

I take B & B to the lake. But I always have a life jacket on them when in the boat and when swimming. I usually just have them on my shoulder one at a time when in the water and I may let them swim a short distance between two people. But I NEVER let them swim without a life jacket. As one person said -that coat gets too heavy. Brighton likes to get in...Bentley ...well...-not so much.


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## lilguyparker (Aug 16, 2007)

I would like to go for a swim with Parker, now that I know he likes it. I had seriously doubted he would like to swim, since he really dislikes baths. Then one day, we went to a creek/stream with a bunch of dogs and their owners. Next thing I knew, I see this white blur flying past me as Parker lept into the water. His little legs were paddling away as he tried to reach the lab that got into the water first. He was all muddy, but his top knot bow managed to stay in place.


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## BABYSNOWY (Jul 8, 2008)

Snowy starts trembling as soon as I bring her near the pool.....the times I have put her in the pool she immediately swims to the ladder and tries to get out. i hate it because I would love to play with her in the pool but she just wont stay in. :smheat:


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## pebble's mama (Jun 1, 2008)

Pebbles hates the water! She is much too prissy to go swimming. When I take her to the beach and set her next to the water she just stands there with one paw up in the air and gives me this look of disgust.


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## SpringHasSprung (May 4, 2007)

As much as Spring has hated the water, she's been watching her little sister romp around recently in our neighbor's underground sprinkler.  OH! Does she ever love that! Chases around under the sprinkler and then lays down and flops around underneath. It's quite funny! She comes out in no time looking like a little rat! LOL I hope Spring is taking notes for our next trip to Florida. I'm even wondering about a little baby pool in the backyard?


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## jaceybaby (Sep 16, 2008)

Jacey is really scared of water. I have a pool, though. I really want her to swim. I try by getting her favorite treat and feeding them to her while she is next to the pool and when we go in they stop coming! It is working! She comes next to it now!


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## jaceybaby (Sep 16, 2008)

Jacey went swimming today! Yeah!


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## pebble's mama (Jun 1, 2008)

QUOTE (jaceybaby @ Sep 20 2008, 10:59 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=638049


> Jacey went swimming today! Yeah![/B]



:new_shocked: And we don't get to see any pictures of it?


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## jaceybaby (Sep 16, 2008)

LOL! I was too scared/excited/amazed to take any! Maybe tomorrow!


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## kez (Aug 21, 2008)

I just wish i had a damed pool to try them in :smcry: 
And the weather to go with it :smpullhair: 
they do hate to get wet,Kaiser wont go out in the rain.....
when your in the bath they jump about mad trying to get in it with you,when your out they follow you all over the house trying to lick the water off you.
but different story when you put them in the bath :rofl:


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