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Teach Your Dog How To Swim In 3 Easy Steps
Teach Your Dog How To Swim In 3 Easy Steps
Does your dog know how to swim? If not, you may want to consider teaching your buddy just how easy it is. Why? It’s great exercise, it’s a bonding experience for both of you, and it’s a lot of fun! The process is not very complicated, and it can be broken down into 3 easy steps:
Step 1: Gently carry your dog into the water a few feet where she cannot touch bottom, turn around and “point her” back toward shore/land. She will naturally start to paddle and return to the safety of dry land. Do this several times.
Step 2: After several repetitions of Step 1 (when she is less tense than when you started), have a lightweight training line attached to her collar, and coax her into the water. I use a hollow braid polypropylene line (it floats and dries out quickly). If she runs away or absolutely refuses to get in the water, go back to Step 1 for more repetitions. If she gets in the water, lead her around (without pulling on the line) for a short distance as she swims toward you.
Step 3: Begin to encourage her from farther away (she is on the dry land, you are in the water) to get in the water. You can do this with verbal encouragement or her favorite, waterproof toy (in the video below, my other dog, Fiona, was the encouragement). Soon enough, you will have her going into the water on her own.
Watch my dog, Kora, as I take her through these 3 steps at Warner Park Pool in Chattanooga:
If your dog does not know how to swim, go through the process, and enjoy the rest of the summer with fun times in the water!
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Jeff