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BC's and water


anngreenthumb
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Duncan learned to swim in Lake Michigan in early spring (you know when the sun and sand are hot but the water is still cold enough to numb your skin). He loved it. He was ready to continue swimming even while he stood there shivering hard enough to shake water off his coat. To this day he heads straight for any water. If we had a pool he'd spend all day lying on a floating chair. The down side of Duncan's love for the water is that his heavy rough coat will mildew before he dries.

 

Mark

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Love every ones pictures!!!!

My dogs love water, hoses, pools, the pond. Well the three BCs love it the BCx is very suspious of the pond. She convinced her self no way after seeing the Carp in it. But she does like the sprinkler in the yard. I guess she isn't much for the wild stuff. That suprised me because she is the dominate dog. But only a water dog in controlled circumstances I guess :rolleyes: . Even the Greyhound will swim in the pond, she love to run and jump in and race out and do it again.

Andrea D.

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I love all the water dog stories!

 

Our BC Tenaya didn't like water when she was a little pup last summer. My husband got a kid's wading pool, started with just an inch of water in it, and would toss a ball (her favorite) into the middle of the pool, to get her used to getting her feet wet. We tried to get her to go in a pond but no way.

 

then I tried standing in a slow spot in a river last summer, with a stick, and her on the shore. I would toss the stick close to the edge and she would wade in to get it (she LOVES to chase sticks!) Before I knew it, I had a water dog! and now we can't keep her out of it, even when she is cold and shivering (yes, we do make her come out and get dried off and warm!)

 

On the other hand, our Collie pup just doesn't want to get deeper than her knees, no matter what her BC sister does. She'll steal the stick away when Tenaya brings it out of the water but not chase it herself if it means swimming.

 

and yet Tenaya hates baths (warm water in the shower) and Willow the Collie doesn't mind them much at all.

 

Deanna in OR

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The first time I took Spike down to the River Stour, he didn't realise it wasn't solid and tried to run across it. I've never seen a dog look more shocked! But after he'd leapt out like a scalded cat, he thought about it for a minute and leapt back in... it was the start of a beautiful friendship. He loves the river, the sea and big puddles, to play in, swim in, jump over waves, bite his reflection or just lay down in (like Red Dog). However, he hates water falling on him, be it shower, sprinkler, hose or rain. He won't even go out in the garden in heavy rain unless he absolutely has to - he'll sit by the back door, watching it fall and heaving big, depressed sighs like a small boy whose vacation time's a-wasting. If we have another wet summer like the last one I may have to get him a Playstation....

 

Liz & Captain William the Muddy xxx

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A Kelpie X we had when I was a teenager really did not like water at all. Liz?s story reminded me of the day we took Kim walking through a paddock along a fairly high bank of a river. He saw a dog playing on the other side, and ran happily down to go across the river (which he obviously thought was solid too) to play with the other dog. Of course he disappeared, and came up spluttering and trying to swim with his front feet out of the water. On the way back, we saw the same dog, but this time, Kim was a wake-up. He raced down the slope, and leapt with great confidence onto a green patch which he was sure was solid ? but it wasn?t ? it was reeds growing in the water. Poor boy found himself spluttering and scrambling out again ? with my mum and me laughing like mad, while my dad was saying ?Don?t laugh at him? ? yeah, right!

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Mine like water to varying degrees:

 

Indy: belly wet=way deep enough for him. Has no interest in wading pools, etc.

 

Farleigh: Pretty much the same as Indy, though will sometimes be overcome with self and accidentally go deeper. Loves a wading pool and puddles of water and the like. Mud is a favorite too.

 

Willow: Likes and will swim in any sort of water, especially if fetching is involved. Will dive off piers to fetch balls or frisbees.

 

Boy: Doesn't go out of way to swim, but will. At the beach he likes to run in the surf, at any time of year, and will have bright pink skin and be shivering in winter but still wants to run in the water.

 

Twist & Jill: My swimming powerhouses. Both will happily head out into the ocean, pond, basically any body of water for a swim. If there are waterbirds around they will swim after them. Jill will just swim to be swimming, which has been great for her rehab as all I have to do is send her into the ocean/bay and get her to swimming depth and then I can walk back and forth on the beach while she swims laps. Twist perfers to swim *after* something, even if it's just Jill, but of course seagulls and ducks are even better....

 

Kat: Likes water a lot, but not terribly interested in swimming. Prefers to attack surf at beach or ripples in river. Did see her swimming recently in a river at a dog trial, but really think it was an accident. Is wild about the hose (which can be problematic when hosing other dogs off), but would rather not be hosed down herself unless she is also allowed to attack the stream of water. I'm sure she can have lots of sprinkler fun come summer.

 

None of my dogs are thrilled by baths, though they do tolerate them just fine. Twist is probably the one who hates being bathed the most. Farleigh is quite used to getting hosed down as he is a real pig and runs circles in the mud. In really bad weather his rough coat can be completely mud-coated (which is probably why he is so resigned to being hosed off at all times of the year).

 

J.

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