Chaos at Lake Michigan this afternoon... - Page 2

By the end of the week she was out pretty far swimming around my nieces and nephews.  She would go out as far as they were.  The one thing I had to watch out for was she liked to bite at the waves as they crashed in on her.  Didn't want her to swallow too much salt water.  She was fine - it was me just being too cautious afraid she would be swept out to sea!

C

SW it looks like you had a wonderful time with him.  I can't wait to get my dogs up to Michigan.  The heat down here is getting unbearable to work them in.  So many lakes and trails up there.  You're so lucky!  He looks superb in that stack, not that I'm an expert or anything.  Just know what I like!

My first GSD was a water nut. When we took him to Myrtle Beach he was a great attraction for the other campers who would ask what time he was going to put on his show . He'd  jump into the surf biting the waves and barking like a lunatic.  Blitz, on the other hand, refuses to go into water above his elbows and I've never seen him even attempt to swim.

Renofan, after Labor Day  you take probably take your dog on most any beach in Delaware.  It'snice then and the water is at its warmest through October. There are some beaches around the Delaware National Seashore at Indian River and Fenwick Island. We've found plenty of areas where you can pull off the main route and walk a few steps to the beach with a dog. There are some campgrounds in Florida that are oceanfront and they allow dogs as does the one I mentioned in Myrtle Beach and another at Hatteras, Camp Hatteras. We seldom go to the shore in the season, so haven't really had much trouble finding a beach that permits dogs.

Do our GSDs like to swim? Let me put it this way: we had an above ground pool built for them. Beats driving to the lake :)

All of my Shepherds wouldn't go swim by themselves however if I go in and swim out to the middle of a pond they all followed. I could stay out for twenty or so minutes and they would be right there swiming around me.

One bit of caution, be careful when swimming with the dogs as they will do the dog paddle right over you. They tend to swim towards you. I always keep an eye on where they are and reach out and grab their collar and direct them around me. Otherwise  they will accidently scratch you to death.

Thanks for all of the great comments guys.  It's nice to see positive rather than negative : - }

I'll have to hunt up a pic of Tasha in her life vest. We used to canoe with her all the time, and she only tipped us once that I can remember, and that was when she was getting out and decided to use the gunwale as a springboard! (Roger and Tasha got soaked, I was on dry land already. She learned her lesson, and never did it again.)

She would swim, but there had to be a good reason. She had to be coaxed to chase after a ball or stick in the water, if she had to swim to get to it. But if Roger and I were out there swimming, she always had to come to us to make sure we were okay. I'm not kidding...one time she was tied up, and she fussed like crazy until she was allowed to swim out to us and give us a good sniffing. Then, I took her back to shore, tied her up again, and she settled down. Another time, she swam out to the rowboat we were fishing from, and I had to drag 65 lbs. of dripping wet GSD over the gunwale. She spent about 10 minutes with us, then dived back into the water, and swam to shore!

Funniest thing that ever happened was the time she went after a brood of young ducks in the water. She swam until she caught up with one of them, then watched in astonishment as it took off and flew away. I wish I'd had a video camera. The look on her face was priceless! Then she took off after another one of the ducks, and the same thing happened! She didn't quit until she was too tired to swim anymore. She REALLY wanted to catch one of those critters!

Ranger is frightened of water, as his asshole former owner tried to teach him to swim when he was a young pup by just picking him up and throwing him off the end of the dock. I am gradually getting him used to the water, bit by bit. Last summer at my mom's cottage, I put him on the leash, and took him out deep enough that he had to swim. I didn't do it for longer than about 30 to 60 seconds, before taking him back to shallow water. I did this a couple of times, and each time he panicked, thrashing the water wildy. Then I decided that was enough, and took him back to shore, while I went for a swim.

Well, I'll be darned if he didn't swim out to me!! I praised him to the skies, and swam back to shore with him, and this time he was doing a nice, relaxed dog paddle!

Oh! Such a pretty girl jo!

My dogs love to swim.  My boy goes out and dives into the water and swims out as far as he can, yes, biting at the water all the time.........

Blitzen:

Thanks for the advice about DE beaches.  I started searching and have found a few possibilities.

C