(Ep.47) Introducing a dog to water & tips to get that dog swimming!

In this episode I talk about introducing a dog to water and some tips that might help to get your dog swimming. Thanks for listening!

Introduce your dogs to guns and start them out right or help fix your gunshy dog using, "THE GUNSHY FIX" at www.gunshyfix.com

Check out Kuranda dog beds and click on name below to buy one of the best dog cots on the market. 

Also, if your looking for some paw balm, shampoo, dog supplements, treats or other awesome healthy products click on the All American Canine link below for their awesome products. This helps us out a little financially to support the show and we really appreciate it. I like the whitening shampoo if you have a white dog in any shape or form. It really makes the white pop and does an awesome job. The paw and nose balm is good stuff for sore feet and pads after you hunt all day. Really everything they make has good quality ingredients in it. 

Links to products:

Kuranda Dog Beds

ALL American Canine

Crispi Boots

Gunshy Fix

If you want any dog training topics or questions discussed shoot us an email at thebirddogpodcast@gmail.com or DM us on Instagram.

For Gunner kennels shoot us an email and we can get you a price at thebirddogpodcast@gmail.com

Looking for an E- Collar shoot us an email and let us get your a discount on one of those. Just let us know what you want. We use the Garmin Pro 550 the most for your yard work. For pointers we like the Garmin Pro 550 +.  If you are tech person check out the Alpha. 

For our training and breeding websites visit the links below:

www.utahbirddogtraining.com
www.fieldbredgoldenretrievers.com
www.utahpointinglabs.com

Follow us on Instagram @fieldbredgoldenretrievers, @thebirddogpodcast and @utahbirddogtraining

Thanks for listening everyone and good hunting!

Transcript

Speaker 0:49

Hey everyone. Welcome to the Bird Dog Podcast. Hope you're having a great day today and having a great weekend. Um, I wanted to and get a podcast out for you guys this weekend so you have something to listen to. Um, my name is Tyce. I am the host of this. Podcasts. Uh, a little bit about me. If you haven't tuned in before, this is your first time. Wanna say thanks for listening and hope you can get some information from this podcast that can help you to be a better hunter. Better dog handler. Better dog trainer. And, uh. Yeah, that's why we listen to these things, right? For some, uh, entertainment and to learn something. So, um, if you're interested in following us, uh, you can follow us at the Bird Dog Podcast on Instagram. I need to do a little better updating that. Um, our, our Instagram also on Utah Bird Dog Training is there. We also breed. Uh, golden retrievers, hunting golden retrievers, and that's field bred golden retrievers. You can check those all out on social media and Facebook and give us a follow. Um, appreciate that. And then our dog training website is Utah bird dog training.com. And, uh, we train all sorts of bird dogs. Been doing it for now about 20 years. And so this information I'm sharing with you is from boots on the ground. Uh, handling these dogs, handling all these different breeds, and, uh, learning what works, doesn't work, and developing a program that we've found that does work and that we've taken dogs to, um, you know, uh, higher levels for a hunting dog, obviously. And also, um, uh, you know, in the hunt test world, uh, through the Master Hunter and Grand Master Pointer retriever at the A PLA American Pointing Lab Association. So. Uh, never ran HRC tests. Looking forward to that. Gonna run first HRC test here in Utah, we just don't have a lot. I still have young kids at home. I don't, uh, travel like crazy for these hunt tests. Um, I do do'em and I've done a lot of'em, but, um, my ultimate, if I go back to my roots, my love is actually hunting with these dogs and seeing them in action and getting'em in the field. Um, not testing. Um, but it does feel good when your dogs do well in a test, and it's something to do in the off season. I don't discourage it in any shape or form. Um, it definitely if you get into hunt tests and testing your dog and watching other good handlers, you will become a better handler. And it is fun world. The good community, a lot of good people that are passionate about dogs, um, passionate about hunting and so it's, it's definitely something, um, if I. Was not a professional trainer like I am, I would definitely, uh, you know, be in touch with the hunt test world, um, and test my dogs and have that experience. So, uh, anyhow, um. That's a little bit about my background. Um, if you're, uh, interested, if you have a dog, just a little plug here. If you have a dog that's gun shy or you're trying to introduce it properly to guns, check out the gun, gun shy fix.com, G-U-N-S-H-Y-F-I x.com. Um, it's a little program I've developed to help dogs get comfortable with gunfire or if you have a dog that has had, that is gun shy, which we encounter a lot of people with dogs that are that way. Um. Check it out. It's so, it helps rewire the brain, helps desensitize the dog to it. Um, so when you do try to do that proper gun introduction, the dog's brain is more comfortable with the situation and dog and gunfire. And so, uh, and if you have a puppy that you're wanting to be introduced to those sounds of gunfire in a, in a positive way, um, check that out. Gun shy fix.com. If you, if you do that, that really helps us out too. And we really appreciate you guys. And, um, check out NDA dog beds. So nda, KURA and K-U-R-A-N-D a.com. Um, and if you. Go through the show note links and buy a cot, um, through there. Um, that helps us out too. So these little things helps us, motivates us to, um, put these podcasts out, spend some time doing this and share this information with you guys. So really appreciate you guys that have. Purchase those things. And then we also love crispy boots, so check out crispy boots. Um, you can check them out online. And we love their boots. That's what I use. And I'm upland hunting and big game hunting. I'm a really big, big game bow hunter. Um, I have llamas for the back country, so I do, I do a lot of that. But since the Bird Dog podcast, we try to focus more on bird dogs and bird dog hunt or, and hunting with bird dogs. But maybe one of these days I'll do something about big game too. So. Anyhow, today I wanted to talk. Today's not gonna be a real long podcast. Um, I don't think, I dunno, we'll just see how we'll just roll with it, see how long it takes. But, um, I wanted to talk about, uh, water introduction. With, uh, a young dog. So, um, when you're introducing a dog to water, ideally you won't have that temperature like 60 degrees or better. So, and some of you may have a dog that's already good with water and, you know, maybe this is gonna be information you don't really need, but there's a large variety of people that are listening to this podcast and hopefully, you know, some little tips and tricks. I'll try to share some stuff with you guys you may not have thought of. If you have a dog that's struggling. With, uh, swimming. But, uh, anyhow, let's, let's dive into this. So, if you have a, when you're introducing a dog to water, the biggest thing, number one is gonna be temperature. You don't want it too cold, right? If you're wanting your kid to love swimming in a pool, you don't throw'em in a pool in the middle of the wintertime and or go do swim lessons and freezing water. It's just gonna create a negative experience. The child's not gonna enjoy it. Dogs are a li living animal. They're not gonna be, um, they're not much different than us that, um, temperatures are cold and when it's cold, it's not fun and it's something they don't understand or how to swim yet, or they're not comfortable with it. Again, you want warm water, so shoot for 60 degrees or warmer. If it's even warmer than that, it's gonna be that much more enjoyable to a dog. You know, sometimes more enjoyable to get in a hot tub when it's really nice warm water compared to, you know, even a kind of cool pool. So anyways, warmer the better. Um. Water can technically be too warm, but generally that's not an issue. Uh, most of the time water's generally cooler, right? So, um, we wanna find a place where it's a gradual, gradual slope into the water. Uh, where dogs have, uh, develop a fear of water or issues is they, a dog falls out of a boat. The guy takes him outta the boat for the first time. Dog's never been in the water. Plop, sees something, sees a bird or something like that, gets excited, falls over, dives in the water, dog gets all scared and he's, it takes him a while to come around on water. Um, so look for things to gradual slope. We just want it to slope nicely into the water with the correct temperature. And ideally, uh, most of the time with water work, you're gonna be doing some retrieving. You know, you're, it's a retriever of some sort generally, or it could be a versatile breed, um, that you're gonna be doing some hunting with. But generally it's gonna be a lab or a chessie or a golden or maybe a versatile breed, like a poodle pointer or maybe a wire hair of some sort. But, uh, um, if you find something to really enjoy, like a bumper or a ball or a bird, anything, it doesn't really matter what is exci as, as long as it gets'em excited and I would get. Plan to get wet, get in the water with them, or take your waiters for sure so you can kind of get in the water.'cause they'll mimic your body language. So if you go to the edge of the water and you kind of throw something and you don't advance towards it, like, Ooh, why should, why should I? Go in there. He acts like he's nervous about this thing, right? So, but if you walk in the water, hey, come on, let's go. And you just call that dog in with you. It's jumping around with you. And then you take a bumper, you throw it out there again, it's just baby steps with training. But you're gonna take that bumper, throw it out there a little ways, dog runs out, grabs it. Ah, a boy give it a lot. That a boy, that a girl give him a lot of praise. Um, and then, you know, just encourage the dog to retrieve it back to you. Next thing you do, throw it a little further, throw it a little further and progressively. Um, that dog's just gonna get comfortable, right? He can fill the ground, he's running in the water. It's not a big deal. Like start him off in that running water. That's gonna be the most comfortable. Just get'em running in the water, get'em splashing around. Sometimes weeds are a little sticks in the water. If you got a nervous dog, they might touch their foot or something and they'll, what, what was that? Or the, they'll see the tail like I've seen commonly they'll be like. Swimming and they'll see their tail or something will splash water behind'em and they kind of scares'em. They run at you real quick. But again, it's just getting'em real comfortable. So get'em in that running water, getting'em splashing around. It's all warm. Things are good, man. It feels better to be in it than out of it if it's a hot day. And those dogs just love it. And then when it starts sloping where they actually got, they have to, um, advance to where they have to swim, actually leave the ground. That's where. You know, it gets exciting. You'll throw that bumper out there a little ways, and the dog. It has to, you kind of maybe get to the edge and kind of hesitate, and then they'll jump and then they'll start splashing, and I call it puppy splash where they're breaking the water. They're swimming upright, so their feet just splash by splash, and it looks like they're drowning. So a lot of people get nervous sometimes they haven't seen dogs, they'll like. Go under for a second as they're kind of trying to splash. Whoa. And then they get water in their face or mouth, and then they kind of start splashing again. It actually looks like they're, they're panicking. Well, they kind of are.'cause they're just like, what, what the heck's going on here? Um, and there's a lot of variables to the swim. Some dogs, you throw something, it's like. And they're, I've had young puppies, you know, and it's warm. And we take'em out there and you throw something and they just start swimming like a little beaver, just a little otter bop bop. And they just go out there, no problem. And then I've had some, right? I have one right now, a golden retriever in. He's, I picked him up later in life from the owner, and he's four years old and he doesn't know how to swim. I can tell they'd never done water work with him. And it's taken a lot of work to get him where he's starting to swim, and I'll kind of tell you how I did that. So, um, but again, gradual, those gradual slopes, uh, be patient. The more, um, I've never had a dog drown on me. Okay. So when you teach'em to swim, I think sometimes people sometimes step in a little quick'cause they just don't know, right? Their dog's kind of flailing there for a second. Acting nervous. Uh, well the dogs, dogs innately will learn how to swim. So, um, what you want to do is just if the dog splashes out there, pause the bumper, hopefully grabs it, brings it back to you. We'll do it again. Do it again. Do it again until what happens a lot of times is that's so tiring when the dog swims upright, that they actually kind of relax'cause it's tiring, like splashing the water and holding their head. So it actually brings their head forward and then they'll kind of just start. They'll just start swimming. They'll just start doggy paddling, right? And the, the feet won't break the water. And all of a sudden they'll get that muscle memory and they'll find their stroke. And then once they find the stroke and find oh, how to use their back legs and their front legs and that fluidity, then they'll just start swimming. Uh, something you can do too is take a bumper. A lot of times you'll throw a bumper out there. If the dog's really splashing out to it, what happens? They'll grab that bumper and it'll one block their legs from coming up and breaking the water surface. It can, depending on the size of the bumper. And then two, if it's heavy, it kind of brings the dogs head forward, which puts'em in more of that natural position. Now the weight of that bumper is pulling their head forward, and then it's putting'em in that head up, head forward, butt up, tail out position, and then they start finding their stroke that way. So, um, what I'll sometimes do is take like, um, a dead foul. Dock and bumper, like a mallard duck, something bigger. And I'll throw that out and that's gonna be better than a can, like a little plastic bumper that, um, it's gonna have that weight that's gonna pull that dog's head forward. And if you use kind of an older one, what happens? And even the newer ones to a point, if you let'em sit there long enough, they will soak up some water and so that it will, um, it can, it'll get heavier and that'll help pull that dogs forward too. So that's kind of a, something you can do. A little tip, um. Uh, kinda something I've done. Uh, I think only two or three dogs over the years. Um, a tip kinda outside the box is if you have a dog that really loves to break the water, they get excited. I've had dogs that get far enough in training and they can kind of swim. They can swim, but it's not, it's not pretty. So they're kind of breaking the water. They're kind of frantic, exciting, and, and it's just like they haven't found that muscle memory. Well, if you can teach a dog to sit on a whistle on land when they're out in the water and they start frantically going and you blow a sit whistle in the water, it stops'em. And it kind of like turns off their brain and it makes'em kind of tread water.'cause you're basically telling'em Sit, right? So they're like, oh, don't move. And they sit and they kind of relax. And then they start swimming and then all of a sudden if they start going frantic again, start you cast'em a direction, maybe they know how to cast like back or over and you handle'em that direction. They start going frantic again immediately. Bull that sit whistle beep. If they don't sit, reinforce the collar, they kind of relax in the water. They're treading, they're finding that muscle memory. And then all of a sudden they start swimming and then they say, oh, oh, this is easier. So I've done that with, I can think of two dogs off the top of my head that just like struggled to find their stroke, but they handled, they were Labradors and they handled, and then I was able to get'em to sit, get'em to calm in the water, relax themselves. And then they started swimming. They became excellent swimmers. So, um, that's something you can kind of think outside the box. Try that. Um, another option is you can try vest, try some flotation, give that dog some buoyancy, um, to help it maybe. Float a little bit better, but a dog should know how to that. I've never had a dog in that couldn't learn how to swim that way. But another thing I've tried is I've taken, uh, bumpers and I've tied'em together and I've put'em right back in the hip kind of pocket there where the legs meet the stomach and when you put the, the bumpers you time, they actually force the. The bump, the rear end up in the water and so it forces the dog to go kind of in a natural position and that rope's just kind of there and they can still swim. I used that one time on a dog to speed up the process, uh, of getting its rear end to just teach it how to swim. So. So they use these little tick tips and tricks. Um, it you're gonna need when these dogs are puppies splashing. And again, most dogs are gonna figure out how to swim pretty quick. They start kind of getting tired. They, they kind of fall into that position of head forward or they're reaching for that bumper, looking forward at it, and they're going and it puts'em into that doggy paddle position and then they start swimming. Nice. But, um, I've had a couple dogs where. You're just throwing a bumper literally for an hour, and they go out there and they just, puppy splash. Puppy splash. Puppy splash. And. Initially, this dog is not figuring this out, and it can take some time. Um, also, let me talk about depth of water. If your dog is, let's say you're in an, um, a lake and the dog can kind of feel the bottom, what they'll do sometimes they'll purposely swim upright like a cork to kind of touch the bottom. Try to almost hop or jump off the bottom if there's any, if there's, if there's, if it's a shallow area. So kind of don't do your, don't do yourself a disservice and, um, put yourself in a spot where the water is for sure deep, where they cannot touch the bottom. So that's gonna really help, uh, that dog not try to touch the bottom and sw up swim upright. So when it gradually goes, make sure it goes. It's gonna go deep and your dog's gonna get enough swim time. So if you're in a situation like that where your dog's really trying to touch the bottom swims upright, I've done this a couple times. I've taken him out in my boat and I've actually, don't throw'em overboard. Just gently put the dog overboard and drive forward with your boat, drive away from your dog, and just obviously keep an eye on your dog. If there's any situation where. It's gonna be dangerous to the dog. Obviously you can zip around real quick in the boat and grab that dog, but just it's an easy way instead of throwing a bumper time and time again, um, to not have to worry about. Throwing that bumper time and time again and just get the dog goes out and doesn't get that big swim practice. So if you want a big swim practice, take him out on a kayak, take him out on a boat and just gently put'em over so they don't, and then just keep play, keep away from'em, encourage'em to come towards you, and eventually that dog again is gonna get tired enough or he's going to get his head forward. And he's gonna find his swim position. And then you wanna swim long enough where he creates, creates that muscle memory.'cause that's what it is. You're training the brain and the body to move in a certain direction. And then once he falls into play place and he's gonna get, the dog starts getting tired, he is gonna get the head forward and then he is gonna become an excellent swimmer. And, um, once they create that muscle memory, when you get'em back in the water, they're just gonna, like, that's more efficient. It's not splashing water in my face. And you're gonna have a good swimming dog. So. Um, it's pretty simple, but you don't wanna, you don't wanna rush it too much. Uh, you kind of wanna read your dog. Some dogs jump in real quick when it's nice and warm and they swim right outta the gate and then you're gonna have some that struggle. So, um, it's fun teaching these dogs how to swim. When they find that stroke, it's a beautiful thing. And then that's just that little step into turning your dog into a good water retrieving animal. Now, when it comes to gun or water shy dogs, I guess you could say. We've had dogs that have fallen, you know, into the pool or fallen into these things, and generally I'm not there. It's not like a gun shy thing where gun shy dogs, it can be pretty severe. I've found. We can always get dogs through if they're a little water shy or had a bad experience. We can always get'em swimming again. We can get'em comfortable again and, uh, and get'em, get'em in the water and get'em enjoying it. So, um, it's really rare if your dog has a bad experience that it's like ruined with water. So again, if you're gonna want to get out there in the summer, if the dog got a bad experience, get in the water with it. You can even go swimming with the dog. That's another thing I didn't talk about. Get in there, um, get'em swimming with you. If it's a puppy, great time. It doesn't take much water depth that you can get up to your knees and that puppy can't touch the ground and, and just have'em follow you around and they just will start swimming. They're fat, they're little. Uh, chubby things and it's easy for'em just to find their stroke when they're young dogs and just start'em out of the gate and they're gonna swim better. So it seems like if you start'em younger like that, then that's gonna help'em again. Their just, their way, their body is, they're gonna swim naturally pretty dang easy and you're gonna have a nice dog. Um, that swims out of the gate pretty quick. Um. If it's winter time, obviously that's an issue. You're gonna have to wait till the dog, till things warm up and then get your dog in the water at that point. Don't go throw'em in the water. Don't create those negative experiences with with training. We wanna have always positive experiences. We want the dog to think of water as a great thing. And then, and then what happens when the dog's comfortable with water and temperatures start changing? Well, they're already comfortable with water. They know what it is. They know how it works. They know how to swim in it. And so when they start encountering colder temperatures and breaking ice, they're gonna do better in that situation.'cause you've already built. Foundation. You built that positive foundation with water and, and, and, and it's a good thing in the dog's head. So anyhow, that's gonna be it for introducing your dog to water. So enjoy it. It's really fun. That's kind of like a big step, right? It's like my dog swims. Like it's just, that's a cool step in your retriever. Your versatile dog's progress on getting your dog swimming. And again, those dogs that are. Geared towards those, the sport of waterfowl hunting that retrieve outta water, um, you know, they're gonna do a little easier with it. Um, I guess one on, one more side note. Um, if you have a pointing breed and you can get'em in the water, it's never a bad thing to have a short hair or have, um, you know, a, a Brittany or a VLA or whatever your dog is. Get'em comfortable with swimming in the water. Uh, the reason I say that with a pointing breed that's not commonly, um, done is. Sometimes you're gonna be hunting birds and slews like pheasants, especially around slews or on the edge of ditch banks or on the edge of rivers. And that's a barrier where that bird's gonna come up, stop. You know, sometimes the bird tries to cross the river or the slough and you shoot it and it drops down into the water. Um, obviously you can choose not to shoot it and your dog's not gonna have the retrieve, but if your dog does retrieve. Reliably outta water. You can shoot that bird and it hits in the river and your pointer's gonna go out there and go get your pheasant for you and bring it in. And no big deal. If the dog has never been in the water that happens, your bird may float away, you may not retrieve it. And that's just a, you know, a waste of a bird and, and is a bummer. At the same time, sohow, get that pointer out there, try to get him retrieving in the water. Um, again, they're not. Where they generally don't love to retrieve all of them. You're gonna have to maybe get in the water with'em, um, you know, and encourage'em to get in there the best you can. Most pointing dogs do have no problem when it comes to like running water. So even at the very least you get'em in the running water and they're comfortable with that. Um, that's gonna help if you knock a bird down the water later in the season. But if you can even get'em swimming, the better. So. Anyhow. Hope you guys all have a great day. Uh, uh, it's a great time of year to be out. Things are starting to warm up, and spring is here. Hunt test season is here. We're getting these dogs ready. Water temperatures getting warmer, getting um, getting ideal for some, you know, uh, water introduction. I have a couple young golden retriever pups of my own that have not been in the water yet, and we're getting'em close to getting'em here and getting'em in the water too. So, uh, hope you guys have a great one, and we'll see you in the next podcast.