Puppy Afraid Of Water

[brigitta]

Hi

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to teach puppy to not be afraid of water.

I've tried coaxing him in with steak, getting in myself and calling him etc. I've even put him in a lukewarm spa in case he thought the water was too cold. Every time I do it he shakes with fear and then runs away from the water as fast as he can.

I've no idea why he's scared. He's a poodle so he should love swimming!

Any suggestions? I want to be able to take him to the beach and swim with me one day.

thanks

[Dogsfevr]

Breed has nothing to do with being a natural swimmer.

Sorry to say but not every dog wants to swim nor enjoys it & you may find you need to change what you want to what is in the best interest of the dog,You just cant make it want because you feel its a poodle & should.

Forcing the issue will only make it worse & associate you with the fear.

.

If you want it ti swim you needto be patient not pushy,you need the dog to accept the water & it will in its own time become curious & with baby steps you may progress to a dog that wants to swim .

Plenty of poodles have drowned just like plenty of other water retrievers

I would also gather from a previous post you would have only had this dog for a week or so??

Give the pup a chance to trust you because what you do now will make & break a major life experience

Edited November 29, 2008 by settrlvr

[Teebs]

I have a dog who hates water, bath time is a nightmare, he hates the hose, freezes in fear

i took him to the beach with my water lover dog, and he was the first one in! he LOVED it!!

[Eileen]

We just kept walking further out in the sea until Dolly though she was being left behind and swam out to us. Then she realised it was sort of fun and now she loves going for a swim. But before that she was well and truly not going into the water.

[Guest belgian.blue]

An idea ... maybe take him to the beach with a dog that loves water and also a dog that your pup knows/trusts. If your pup sees the dog enjoying itself in the water then your pup may be more interested in going in after a few visits?

[brigitta]

Breed has nothing to do with being a natural swimmer.

Sorry to say but not every dog wants to swim nor enjoys it & you may find you need to change what you want to what is in the best interest of the dog,You just cant make it want because you feel its a poodle & should.

Forcing the issue will only make it worse & associate you with the fear.

.

If you want it ti swim you needto be patient not pushy,you need the dog to accept the water & it will in its own time become curious & with baby steps you may progress to a dog that wants to swim .

Plenty of poodles have drowned just like plenty of other water retrievers

I would also gather from a previous post you would have only had this dog for a week or so??

Give the pup a chance to trust you because what you do now will make & break a major life experience

We've had him for three weeks and he already looks to me as Mum and to see how to behave. We spend all day together every day so we've bonded very quickly.

I'm not trying to make him "because you feel its a poodle & should". I know forcing him is the worst way and am insulted you'd even suggest it. My last poodle hated water and in his 16 years never set foot in the ocean and I was fine with it. I was generalising when I said that poodles normally love water.

thanks to everyone else for the advice. I'll give those ideas a go :-)

[Dogsfevr]

Breed has nothing to do with being a natural swimmer.

Sorry to say but not every dog wants to swim nor enjoys it & you may find you need to change what you want to what is in the best interest of the dog,You just cant make it want because you feel its a poodle & should.

Forcing the issue will only make it worse & associate you with the fear.

.

If you want it ti swim you needto be patient not pushy,you need the dog to accept the water & it will in its own time become curious & with baby steps you may progress to a dog that wants to swim .

Plenty of poodles have drowned just like plenty of other water retrievers

I would also gather from a previous post you would have only had this dog for a week or so??

Give the pup a chance to trust you because what you do now will make & break a major life experience

We've had him for three weeks and he already looks to me as Mum and to see how to behave. We spend all day together every day so we've bonded very quickly.

I'm not trying to make him "because you feel its a poodle & should". I know forcing him is the worst way and am insulted you'd even suggest it. My last poodle hated water and in his 16 years never set foot in the ocean and I was fine with it. I was generalising when I said that poodles normally love water.

thanks to everyone else for the advice. I'll give those ideas a go :-)

Why insulted im only echoing your phrase "I've no idea why he's scared. He's a poodle so he should love swimming!"

As to being insulted re read your post about forcing .You placed the pup in the spa ,it shakes with fear & runs away fast.At present your are forcing .You have had him for 3 weeks be patient .

Buy a clam shell & let the pup do its own thing at its pace not yours.

If your insulted i dont care i am posting for the dogs interest not yours

[brigitta]

I guess that's the problems with forums....the tone never gets across....

The comment on why he's afraid was said in jest. Of course he's going to be scared when he's first exposed to a big body of water! I can see how you misunderstood my intention though...sorry we got off on the wrong foot.

I spent about 2 hours with him sitting next to the water, showing him that I was ok in there, giving him treats and talking to him. He put his foot in the pool and pulled it straight out. That's why I thought I'd try and see if he'd get his feet wet in the spa as it's a bit warmer. I carried him in my arms (as the spa has no steps he can use) and just gradually wet is feet but as soon as his paw got wet he started shaking so I put him on the side and he ran.

I think I'll wait for a warm day and put a shallow tub of water on his balcony and see what he does. He's so small a paddle pool might still be too big for him. Hopefully if I play with him near it he'll get used to it.

I like the idea of taking another dog to the beach with him that's not scared so he follows their lead. That's a great idea :-)

I've bathed him twice now very gently and talking to him heaps and he still hates it...sulks for hours afterwards! There's just something about water he really doesn't like! I think gradually is the way to go, it was the same with brushing him, at first he hated the brush and would struggle, now he lets me brush him all over and play with his ears and paws and teeth.

We'll keep working on it :-)

[Nicole...]

My cocker loves swimming in areas where she can put herself in and out - beach (doesn't like big waves though), rivers, creeks, etc. And she will also chase the hose or splashes of water if given the chance. But if you put her in the bath (whether we use the basin or the bath) or in the pool, she absolutely hates it. I think it's just that she likes to be in control of the water situation, not submerged in it. So perhaps your pup is the same!

[helen]

Great idea. My girl Bella loves the water so we were doing some retrieving one day to encourage a few other dogs in the water and it worked a treat.

An idea ... maybe take him to the beach with a dog that loves water and also a dog that your pup knows/trusts. If your pup sees the dog enjoying itself in the water then your pup may be more interested in going in after a few visits?

[puggy_puggy]

Some dogs like water and some don't.

How old is he?

[poodlefan]

Start with shallow water.. take him to a non-surf beach or to somewhere he's not required to immerse himself in it.

Much easier for him to be able to dip a paw before having to go all the way in.

[Jigsaw]

Good ideas above. Somewhere where there might be lots of interesting smells near water, probably calm water would be best. A lake or creek maybe. Seeing other dogs chasing balls, each other is also a good idea! Gentle encouragement and taking it slowly are best. But do realise that some dogs just aren't water dogs - my previous dog - a toy poodle wouldn't get his paws wet even on wet grass let alone the beach! But my koolie - take her for a walk and she's in the water more than out!

[BigBen]

Ben had no choice about having a bath... I had 3 weeks holiday, when I got him at 9 weeks... Then I had 2 weeks on nightshift, where he was crated... The first 3 nights he pooed in his crate, and was covered in it... So he went straight in the bathtub... and consequently got to hate water... or so I thought... I find that he's always coming into the shower with me... I just used to pat him on his wet head and laugh at him, and now he comes in all the way while I pat him... Afterwards he's loves getting towel dried...

We're also playing with the hose outside, where he's starting to chase the water... Ben is nearly 6 months old...

[brigitta]

Ben had no choice about having a bath... I had 3 weeks holiday, when I got him at 9 weeks... Then I had 2 weeks on nightshift, where he was crated... The first 3 nights he pooed in his crate, and was covered in it... So he went straight in the bathtub... and consequently got to hate water... or so I thought... I find that he's always coming into the shower with me... I just used to pat him on his wet head and laugh at him, and now he comes in all the way while I pat him... Afterwards he's loves getting towel dried...

We're also playing with the hose outside, where he's starting to chase the water... Ben is nearly 6 months old...

We had the same prob with Elmo...he had to be bathed early on, how can you not bath him when he's covered in slobber from our neighbours dog and has been rolling in the park all day? He hates the bath but I've been so gentle and encouraging with him so he puts up with it (until I turned the hairdryer on the first time then you'd think I was killing him even though it was on it's lowest setting, still he has shown a lot of improvement over the last few weeks).

The good thing is he does look to me for his lead....for example the first thunderstorm he saw he was watching the lightening then watching me to see my reaction. I just yawned and read a book so he took that cue and he's now fine with it (although he does try and paw the rain which is soooooo cute!).

I'm starting to desensitise him to clippers this week so wish me luck! I'm also going to put a baking dish with a couple of toys and water in it in his room to see what he does. Hopefully he will paw at the toys and get used to that then we can move onto bigger things :-)

[ZEPING]

have you tried marker training!

positive re enforcement for ANYTHING related to water?