Stopping Fear/Hate of Water

[luvofallhorses]

You shouldn't ever force them in, that's a great way to get them to hate the water more. Let them go in if they want to.

I agree. Jenny HATES water and I only let her choose to go in the water if she wants, I would never force her in. Although, when we take her to the lake with Rocky, you would never know she hates water.

[zoomer]

Georgia, Alaska, and Buddy HATE the hose. They dispize it. Alaska will run away from it, Georgia will cover away, and Buddy will hide. But they all will swim. They don't love it, but they will chase sticks and stuff. It might just be that your two hate the hose, but they like to swim. If not, I would try throwing treats in the water, further and further out.

[GreyhoundGirl]

Jenny doesn't like it at all, she becomes all scared. If i want her to swim with me, the easiest way is to go to the beach on a hot day, walk for a while and she will get hot ( being black, duh ) than, she will go in the water to cool off ( she's not dumb, eh? ). If I'm not fast enough to get in the water while she's in, all i have to do is get her confidence up. Bear with me, this is hard to explain.

In steps:

1: throw in a stick about a foot into the water, so she can still reach it from shore.

2: when she returns with it ( if she fetches ) reward her with a quick pat.

3: throw the stick back in the water about half a foot further each time, rewarding when she returns. Obviously, eventually she won't be able to reach it from shore so she'll have to take a step into the water. Each time as the stick gets farther, she will have to swim deeper. but she doesn't mind if you do it in steps.

( this works with my girl, who is fetch-oriented it might not work if they don't like fetch, i suggest doing it 1 by 1 so that they aren't destracted by the other dog )

The strange thing is, with my girl who hates water won't mind it if you take small steps deeper, like above. Example: if you throw a stick out into the lake 20 ft she won't go get it, but if you throw it 1 foot at a time, she'll go get it even when it's 20 ft.

I don't get it, is this lack of confidence?

Like I said, this works really well for me. Try it see if it works for you. Good luck and i hope it works !