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My older (he's 7) adopted LABRADOR RETRIEVER does not like water. Is this odd?? LOL
His former owners said that he doesn't like water and when asked about grooming they said they sent him to the groomer for bathing.
So, retrievers usually LOVE the water, I have a great big creek to play in in my back yard - I wonder if I can get him over this??
Any thoughts??
I have owned several Labs, and all of them loved the water. They didn't like me giving them bathes (except for one, who also liked sleeping in the bath tub), but they loved lakes, pond, creeks, rivers, even puddles.
Most dogs don't like being given a bath. They are like two-year old children in that respect. They will play all day in the rain, jump into creeks and puddles, come home soaking wet, and when you try to give them a bath, they complain.
One of my friends had a Lab who didn't like going into water. My Weimaraner is a gun dog with webbed feet, too, and she doesn't like going into water plus she's VERY afraid of gunshots and fireworks. Go figure! It doesn't matter to me in the least, though, as I don't hunt or care if she likes to swim.
Were you planning to use the lab for water fowl hunting?
We got a 6' kiddie pool for our Golden Retriever who loves it. We've had a German Sherherd who hated water. On a sunny day, I made her put her feet in the pool and after that she would walk in to cool off anytime. Still hated getting baths. The GR hates them too.
Although most labs do naturally like water, they still must be allowed a good experience with it from an early age and if they have a bad experience they can develop an aversion to water. Give your dog time, don't force him, and he may warm up to it yet. As for the weim that doesn't like gunshot...I have weims, I train and hunt with them in competitive situations. So, FWIW -- Just because a breed is a hunting breed doesn't mean they will naturally be okay with gunshot. Actually, the easiest way to screw up your gundog is to not properly introduce him to gunshot. For you, it's not an issue since you don't actually hunt with your dog. But, many dogs do not actually naturally take to the gunshot and must be slowly acclimated to and be made to associate gunshot with birds.
I'll never forget the day that my last dog discovered that swimming in water was fun.
We were walking by the lakefront and someone else was throwing a stick into the lake for his dog to retreive.
My dog watched for a while and then I picked up a stick and threw it in. He went after it!
I'll also never forget the look on his face when he first realized that his feet weren't on the ground and he had to start swimming.
He had a momentary look of terror and he started to sink for a minute. I was just about to go in after him when all of the sudden he figured out how to swim.
It seems to me that he was about 5 or 6 years old when he took the plunge. After that day, he loved it. Every time we went down to the lake he wanted to go in.
Our favorite dog park has a creek running through it, our golden retriever doesn't really venture into the parts deep enough to swim in. In the shallower sections she will wade around and look into the water, occasionally sticking her face in the water. She will go after a tennis ball for awhile but is pretty easily distracted. We have lost many many tennis balls this way. She eventually gets bored and just lies down in the water. Good thing we had no field aspirations for her! Our previous golden loved to swim. We would take her to a pond and she would literally shake in anticipation waiting for us to throw a ball into the water for her to retrieve.
My older (he's 7) adopted LABRADOR RETRIEVER does not like water. Is this odd?? LOL
His former owners said that he doesn't like water and when asked about grooming they said they sent him to the groomer for bathing.
So, retrievers usually LOVE the water, I have a great big creek to play in in my back yard - I wonder if I can get him over this??
Any thoughts??
Our 13 year old Chocolate Lab is deathly afraid of water. It doesn't matter if its a hose, lake or pool. We adopted him in PA and think he may have been a Puppy Mill stud that was given to the shelter after he wasn't an effective breeder anymore. (we adopted him when he was about 6) Take it slow - don't push. Our Bandit will now go as far as putting his feet in the pool but will go no further. He also won't play fetch and retrieve. He fetches just fine but doesn't understand that if he lets go we would throw it again for him. Even though he won't get in the water or retrieve, he is one of the best dogs we ever owned!
My friend recently adopted a lab from a rescue group here in CO. He is about a year and half old (the dog, not my friend!) He brought his pup to a nearby park with a pond and his dog would look at the water and walk away. My friend would throw a ball or stick in the water and the dog would look at him with a "now why did you just throw away a good stick" look! He continued to bring him to the park and eventually, after seeing several other dogs in water, he took the plunge and now he loves it!
I have 3 labs and all of them loved the water from an early age. It just takes time. Be patient, he may have had a bad experience with water at an earlier age.
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