swimming sheepies?
do any of you take them swimming? if they do so regularly, do (you) keep them in shorter coats? I've been curious for awhile, and since we will HAVE to have a pool if I'm going to even THINK about living in AZ, I wondered if Cambridge could enjoy it too. let me know. and post pics! I'd love to see them! |
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I have one that really likes to swim. Baxter fell in love with the pool when he was a puppy. We really did try to discourage it because I worried that he would try to go in when we were not out there. He is very good and only goes in the pool when we give him permission--and that only happens when he is in a puppy cut --never when he is in longer coat. The other one really could care less-- he likes to lay on the side when we are in. |
| so sweet! I would love if Cambridge liked the water. how fun would that be? okay- the shorter coat is what I was thinking. it would be a lot of work in full coat!! thanks for the pic! I can never get enough of other sheepies! |
| It would be a heck of alot of work in full coat, plus the full coat is really heavy in the water. We took Mady swimming a couple of times in full coat and, while she had a blast, the hours of work after were exhausting. If we had a pool, she would be in a puppy cut. |
| and speaking of full coat... C's big boy coat is starting to appear! It's coming up his back legs, and I was just petting him from being gone to TN for the last week, and gray is starting to appear.... he's going to be a big boy soon!  I think in AZ I'll probably not have him in full coat anyway. I'll go as long as we can manage. I sure hope my boy likes to swim!!! |
| Dahlia swims! We started taking her at about 6 months old in the lake and at our friend's pool. We keep her in a puppy-coat, so she dries quickly and less matting. Our other sheepdog didn't swim. She hated the water. She didn't even like to get her paws wet if it was raining outside. This time around, I got smart and introduced water very early on-----so, she loves every kind of water....from muddy puddles to the lake! |
Maggie and Henry love to swim! I always shave them for the summer or else the water makes their fur matted, like it is shrink-wrapped to their skin. These pictures are from end of summer when they open the neighborhood pools to dogs for about 12 days. Henry likes to jump in and make a splash where Maggie walks in carefully to retrieve her ball. For Henry, it took a few days for him to build up his courage to go in the pool. It helps if you can go in the water with them. I couldn't here at the pool but he learned at the Reservoir where Maggie and I could both go in with him so he would paddle around following us. Fun!    |
| Henry the Dock Diving Hair Retriever. Must have been the Florida genes........ and here I though Maggie was the brave one. |
| How fun!!! Love the end of season pool idea. Will have to share it here! |
| Panda HATED the pool...HATED!!!! The ocean was another story...she could spend hours wading out and body surfing back in...zoomies in the waves was a favorite of hers... When we had her in the house, I let her grow out in the winter, as I had a place to groom her...In the condo, we decided that it was just easier to keep her in puppy cut.... The night time winter temps are perfect for sheepie out door sleeping....i had a hard time getting her to come inside.... |
SheepieBoss wrote: Henry the Dock Diving Hair Retriever. Must have been the Florida genes........ and here I though Maggie was the brave one. Funny, right? Usually Maggie is top dog, but Henry is far more brave at the pool. It was funny though because the first few days, he would not even walk in. He just sat on the stairs, ankle deep, intently watching the other dogs. Everyone thought he was just too scared to go in but his first entrance was a big jump and splash. It was if he'd been studying the move he wanted to make until he built up the understanding to do it. By the end, he was even jumping in off the sides but always with a bit more thought and hesitation than the completely instinctual labs. Maggie had a incident up in Maine where she was chasing a ski-boat and ran and jumped off a dock and nearly drowned. Her body ended up vertical and she panicked and didn't know how to bring her hips up. So she was just paddling frantically in circles with her two front paws, eyes glazing over, and her head dunking under the water. It was superscary. Luckily, I was right there and able to rush out to save her. But I think that has made her permanently hesitant to jump in. I was hoping she would learn to do it and get her hips up - but she's nervous. She I put her in a lifejacket if I am worried that she might be triggered to do something beyond her ability level. I still have flashbacks about the near-drowning from time to time. I could not bear to lose my Maggie through some sort of accident like that. So, that being said, sheepdogs learning to swim need to learn how to get their hips up. Apparently, this is easier for dogs with tails. Sheepdogs tend to go vertical when they get nervous. I would walk out in the reservoir and gently guide their hips up. Sometimes, they can correct it on their own but you have to keep an eye on it. |
Darcy wrote: The night time winter temps are perfect for sheepie out door sleeping....i had a hard time getting her to come inside.... Funny -- Henry thinks the nighttime winter temps in Boulder are perfect for outdoor sleeping. He likes to stay out on my 2nd floor porch at night. The one time I let him stay out there when I went to bed, he woke up around 2:30 am and barked LOUDLY to wake me up to let him in. So now I make him come in when I go to sleep. I also make him come in when we get the wind-storms because I am worried a tree branch could hit him. But he will happily stay out there in the cold and snow, watching the world go by and falling asleep. |
Valerie wrote: Darcy wrote: The night time winter temps are perfect for sheepie out door sleeping....i had a hard time getting her to come inside.... Funny -- Henry thinks the nighttime winter temps in Boulder are perfect for outdoor sleeping. He likes to stay out on my 2nd floor porch at night. The one time I let him stay out there when I went to bed, he woke up around 2:30 am and barked LOUDLY to wake me up to let him in. So now I make him come in when I go to sleep. I also make him come in when we get the wind-storms because I am worried a tree branch could hit him. But he will happily stay out there in the cold and snow, watching the world go by and falling asleep. on the side of our house brian poured a concrete slab and we put pandas doghouse there...i was ALWAYS afraid of her ''getting cold'' so in the winter, i had a down dogbed and ambulance disposable blankets out there....she loved her doghouse but if i got up in the middle of the night and peeked out, 9 x's out of 10, she would be just laying on the grass.... Henry jumping into the water is an AWESOME pic!!! |
| Lily is iffy about the water. If your in it she will go too. If her wolf is out there she will go out swimming to but she wont do it on her own. On the other hand lilys dad is a water dog. He is essentially a reallly hairy fish. If theres water hes in it or trying to get in it. |
| bloo is obsessed with water, if he sees the lake or the canal or the swimming pool hes off into it! I wish he was scared of water as his recall wouldnt be a problem round it then.  I try my hardest to not let him near ANY source of water as he is in full coat and already very matted, i dont need no more matts lolPuppy cut first before swim  |
Tonks and Luna learned to swim 2 summers ago. They always loved their little yard pool: ...but could never get them interested in the big pool at the kennel. But the ladies at our kennel kept at it, until the girls finally took their first plunge:  Luna learning with the help of one of the girls at the kennel:  It was all downhill from there. We can't keep them OUT of the pool at the kennel now! We like to only let them swim when its warm and when they are in shorter coats; just because it insures that they dry out between swims. But we'll pull up to the kennel in the car, they'll get out of the back seat, and race for the pool! Thank goodness my girls have a really strong recall; they almost always come back when I call them away from the water. Our kennel even invited us to swim with them. So now when we drop off an pick up, I allow for an extra hour or so. Here's me swimming with Tonks:  The girls love it so much, that during the summer months Adam starts talking about putting a pool in at the house. I won't argue with him at all; I really want a pool!  |
| oh my goodness! where have all these great pool pics been hiding? so glad I asked!!! how much fun is that?! a kennel with a pool?!! we need to move there!!!! I loved the comment, my dog is really just a big hairy fish.  keep the pics coming! LOVE THEM! |
| Yep, Chewie's part of the water crowd too. This was our 1st clue as a puppy - he jumped in our yard pond the 1st days after we got him home.  A year later, he was still sneaking off and jumping in   Later that summer I was a camp nurse and he loved the lake!  Out at a local lake (it has a beach, but dogs aren't allowed on the beach portion - so we were off to the side) With granddaughter Norah -  ...just passing by....  and even out-fetching Biscuit the lab!   And I have pictures of him swimming in the pool at The Paw, but I can't find them.  And yes, if you plan on lots of swimming, a shorter coat is the way to go. You need to make sure pretty much any length over a couple inches is all brushed out before swimming, or you run the danger of really bad mats forming. And a longer coat makes it harder (and more dangerous) for them to really swim well and safely. It's like us trying to swim with all our clothes on.  If you have any local opportunities, it would be best to take Cambridge swimming now while he's young, then he will like it for life!  |
| And don't just throw him in. We made that mistake of doing that with Brick. He didn't like it and to this day, he really doesn't like the water. He'll wade in to his belly, but that's about it. |
Cooper trying to swim. We were afraid he would rip the pool liner so we sort of held him afloat (he had a long body). He did love being in the water. He was not happy just sitting around on the deck, he wanted to be with us in the water.  Ahh, I really miss those days, and I really miss Summer!!  Oh, I forgot about the time we took him to a local state park swimming beach. We were on a sand beach away from the swimming area so it was kind of a mucky bottom. He kept trying to eat the sand even though we tried to stop him. He pooped out sand for a while.  He loved going in and wading around, got a little dirty and stinky, we did our best to towel him off for the ride home, then a bath to clean him up. |
Growing up we had a pool, and sheepdogs. That last photo made me remember that I had this photo from probably about 1977... |
| Dawn, I sincerely am accusing you of being full of crap. (no offense) There is NO way you are old enough to have a grand daughter You obviously borrowed Norah for that picture. Very respectfully, Lori |
ruforgvn wrote: Dawn, I sincerely am accusing you of being full of crap. (no offense) There is NO way you are old enough to have a grand daughter You obviously borrowed Norah for that picture. Very respectfully, Lori  Lori - I hate to tell you, but I have 3 grandkids, and Norah is the YOUNGEST!  My daughters are twins - LeAnne and Keith have 2 - Breanna is 9 and William is 3. Lisa and Alex have Norah and she just turned 2. Son Travis is the youngest of our kids, and at 24 he has none... |
| WHATEVER than that is SO NOT YOU in your avatar pic if it is.... I WANT YOUR GENEs! |
ruforgvn wrote: WHATEVER than that is SO NOT YOU in your avatar pic if it is.... I WANT YOUR GENEs! Yep, that's really me.  And yes, I got good genes for aging, as my parents both look(ed) young a long time. |
| I'm so sad I WAS thinking we could be great friends alas, it's just not meant to be! on the other hand, I bet you have ONE HAPPY HUBBY!  geesh. making botox appointment right now!!!!  |
ruforgvn wrote: Dawn, I sincerely am accusing you of being full of crap. (no offense) There is NO way you are old enough to have a grand daughter You obviously borrowed Norah for that picture. Very respectfully, Lori  I think the same thing.... |
I've had one of each kind of dog. Drezzie LOVED, LOVED, LOVED (did I mention she loved?) the pool. She was the first one in when we opened the pool in the spring, and any time anyone was in the pool, she had to be, too. If we put her behind the fence so we could swim around peacefully, she'd bark her fool head off because - there were people in the water who needed herding, damn it!! Drez's favorite place to be.  But Mom! I don't WANT to come out!! So I naturally assumed Sammie would be the same way. NOT!! She HATES, HATES, HATES (did I mention she hates?) the pool. I bought a life jacket for her and on the really hot days, I make her go in. We put a pool noodle under her belly by her back legs to help keep her bottom up, and the life jacket has a clip for a leash. So I pull her around the pool with the life jacket on, a noodle under her belly, and her paddling like crazy trying to get back to the steps. Geesh!  Looking towards the steps.  Is this the face of a happy camper?? We keep trying, though. And slowly, VERY slowly, she's getting a bit better. Like - she'll actually go to the pool and stand on the top step, which is a HUGE improvement for her. Truth be known, it's probably just to cool off her feet when the deck is hot. Yeah, well! |
Mady swimming in full coat:      Only her 2nd time ever being in water! |
| Lovely pics..... wonderful to see how much they love jumping and swinning in the pool!   Aurora always swimmed with my in the freshwater lakes in the mountains. She did not like to swim in the ocean......just playing in the sea with water up to her stomach.  Maurice love this......he was a tough guy. And Joy swimmed in the sea with me this summer, suddenly it was,t fun anymore...... maybe she got a little to deep into the water or the wawes.  |
| Oceans can be tricky; when I was a little girl, we almost lost our sheepdog in the Atlantic due to strong rip tides and the current! She was fetching a tennis ball in and out of the waves, and a huge wave pulled her our and she was gone. My dad called and called, swam out looking for her; it was awful. We stayed a while, I remember crying, hoping to find her. It was like a miracle when about 90 minutes later (at least it felt that long, I was very young and don't remember all the details correctly, I'm sure) she came running up the beach WITH the tennis ball! We figured she must have been pulled out, and down the beach a fair way. We were lucky she knew which way to go to find us again. I don't think we ever took the dogs to the beach after that. The Atlantic off the coast on NJ can be treacherous if the weather and the current isn't on your side. I'm sure calmer ocean waters would probably be lovely for any dog to play in! |
| Oh I love all the photos! Mine do not swim. Well bogey likes the water and splashes around. Then he likes the dirt. He enjoys being muddy! Gigi no way she will get wet! Ruin her doo! Never! Dawn, What's your secret! |
Darth Snuggle wrote: Oceans can be tricky; when I was a little girl, we almost lost our sheepdog in the Atlantic due to strong rip tides and the current! She was fetching a tennis ball in and out of the waves, and a huge wave pulled her our and she was gone. My dad called and called, swam out looking for her; it was awful. We stayed a while, I remember crying, hoping to find her. It was like a miracle when about 90 minutes later (at least it felt that long, I was very young and don't remember all the details correctly, I'm sure) she came running up the beach WITH the tennis ball! We figured she must have been pulled out, and down the beach a fair way. We were lucky she knew which way to go to find us again. I don't think we ever took the dogs to the beach after that. The Atlantic off the coast on NJ can be treacherous if the weather and the current isn't on your side. I'm sure calmer ocean waters would probably be lovely for any dog to play in! What a horrible experience, I imagine you all had tears of joy when she came running back! |
Darth Snuggle wrote: Oceans can be tricky; when I was a little girl, we almost lost our sheepdog in the Atlantic due to strong rip tides and the current! She was fetching a tennis ball in and out of the waves, and a huge wave pulled her our and she was gone. My dad called and called, swam out looking for her; it was awful. We stayed a while, I remember crying, hoping to find her. It was like a miracle when about 90 minutes later (at least it felt that long, I was very young and don't remember all the details correctly, I'm sure) she came running up the beach WITH the tennis ball! We figured she must have been pulled out, and down the beach a fair way. We were lucky she knew which way to go to find us again. I don't think we ever took the dogs to the beach after that. The Atlantic off the coast on NJ can be treacherous if the weather and the current isn't on your side. I'm sure calmer ocean waters would probably be lovely for any dog to play in! Oh, what terrible experience - however so good she made it! I do have respect for the ocean too. Sure you never quite know when an understeam, underwave, can pull you downunder or out into the ocean away from the sheltered waters. |
Labbetussa wrote: Darth Snuggle wrote: Oceans can be tricky; when I was a little girl, we almost lost our sheepdog in the Atlantic due to strong rip tides and the current! She was fetching a tennis ball in and out of the waves, and a huge wave pulled her our and she was gone. My dad called and called, swam out looking for her; it was awful. We stayed a while, I remember crying, hoping to find her. It was like a miracle when about 90 minutes later (at least it felt that long, I was very young and don't remember all the details correctly, I'm sure) she came running up the beach WITH the tennis ball! We figured she must have been pulled out, and down the beach a fair way. We were lucky she knew which way to go to find us again. I don't think we ever took the dogs to the beach after that. The Atlantic off the coast on NJ can be treacherous if the weather and the current isn't on your side. I'm sure calmer ocean waters would probably be lovely for any dog to play in! Oh, what terrible experience - however so good she made it! I do have respect for the ocean too. Sure you never quite know when an understeam, underwave, can pull you downunder or out into the ocean away from the sheltered waters. Oceans have my respect for sure! How scary, and amazing she made it back, ball and all. |
| ok, no ending this thread with a scary story!!!! I need some happy pics to make me forget so I won't have nightmares!!! pics! Now!! I insist!  |
| Sorry! My intent wasn't to scare anyone-- just be knowledgable and smart about it, and all will be well! Mom! You're ruining the swim party with scary stories! Can we just get in the pool already?!?  me swimming with my girls  |
| Thanks! |
Golden Retriever Turner comes to visit. We think you are crazy!! Come back!!! (6 years living on a lake they never went in the lake.) Your back thank goodness! (actually cringing when he shook the water off)  |
Darth Snuggle wrote: Growing up we had a pool, and sheepdogs. That last photo made me remember that I had this photo from probably about 1977... AWESOME!!! |
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