What do you do if your dog doesn’t want to swim or has not become accustomed to water as a puppy and doesn’t really want to start now?
Well, you have a few options at your disposal.
Remember that it’s worth taking your time if your dog has had a fearful or traumatic experience, or even just an unpleasant experience with water. Sometimes this is as simple as falling in the pool accidentally or being tumbled by a wave at the beach when your dog wasn’t watching. It doesn’t take much for a dog to be watchful or not trusting of water…and fair enough, water does behave differently to the solid world around us. Having a couple of trips a week with low stress and positive reward for investigations in water is helpful.
Go slow and give your dog plenty of reward for investigating. Allow them to settle and explore the environment and don’t put them in the water. Our aim is to encourage them to explore.
If your dog wanders in a little way, make sure to heap on the praise, and have a reward or game ready to go.
Have a think about your dog’s strongest motivator. This may be food, or a toy…or it could be you.
Our aim is to reward your dog with their favourite motivator while they are in the water.
This is the pay off your dog may work for and conquer something they are not sure of.
Plenty of dogs will get into the water to swim to their owner – but won’t get in for any other reason. And then it’s about how motivated YOU are, as opposed to your dog!! Summer months are always the best to get started if this is the case!!
If your dog flat refuses to swim, but will get in the water and walk with you, that’s great. Walking in water is a great alternative to swimming. It doesn’t quite fulfil the same purpose or engage the same muscle groups and work the joints like swimming does, but it is beneficial in its own right.
Walking in water is like resistance training. If the water comes half way up your dog’s body, then you have effectively reduced their weight (and the load on their joints) by 67% or roughly two thirds. Because water is difficult to walk in, your dog will be forced to move limbs in a straight line. Any compensations that your dog makes will be straightened out when they walk in water.
If your dog is still reluctant to get in the water, maybe it’s worth trying a hydrotherapy facility that will take your dog in the water for you. We are lucky in Newcastle to have a hydrotherapy pool at Dog Overboard in Adamstown. Great facilities are thin on the ground, but in some instances, it’s worth the drive to get your dog over the line, so to speak.
Seek out a hydrotherapy pool or underwater treadmill near you, to help, especially if you and your dog are not feeling comfortable with the process.
Lastly, it’s worth mentioning that we don’t ever want the treatment to be worse than the disease. Hydrotherapy is a wonderful tool to be able to use, but if you’re fighting a battle and losing and feeling discouraged, it may be time to give it a break.
To learn more about veterinary rehabilitation or hip dysplasia follow the links to New Life Vet or the Hip Health Project.
