Does your staffy like to swim?

When Sid was a pup I would walk her at the local park which also has a boat launch. She LOVED running off the launch into the water and swimming as far as the leash would allow her. A coworker of mine told me to buy her a life vest since "pit bulls can't swim and will drown". I didn't really pay her any mind but I noticed as Sid got older and started to thicken up that it did become harder for her to swim. One day I took her to my moms house since she has a pool and as soon as she jumped in she headed straight for the bottom. Now I only let Sid swim where she can at least touch the bottom and get out if she gets worn out. Do any of you have staffies that like to swim and if you do how many of you use life vests for them?

Bandit never used to swim unless he really had to. He'd paddle & splash about, but not swim. Dempsey won't go in the water, so I don't know.

I think they can all swim, but why some seem to 'forget' I don't know.

You can get doggie lifejackets, but I've never used one. Well, my dogs, that is - not me!

My lot have never been around water deep enough to have to swim but Taz loves paddling chin high and cassie hates it not tried blondy its been too cold in the summer i will maybe.

Kaiser doesnt like to swim theres a big pond at the back of mine that has lots of ducks kaiser never would go in till one day i heard a splash he had jumped right in to try get the ducks they flew off and he swam back he didnt look at all happy he never done it since dosey bugger

I take Samson swimming to a dog hydrotherapy pool and he swims in the local river ok, in the pool they do fit life vests as they swim against a current, 10mins in there and he's shattered for the day

Wish there was one of those near me.

There's 2 near me the one i go to is 5mins away £12.50 for a 15min swim, wash & shampoo, he's only opened recently but said he's doing ok

When we took Milly out Sunday she just wet her feet in the pond near us and I think she decided that was enough

Marty wrote:There's 2 near me the one i go to is 5mins away £12.50 for a 15min swim, wash & shampoo, he's only opened recently but said he's doing ok

where abouts Marty? There is one just up the road from me but doesnt look much!! Not sure if Logan like swimming.....he's not tried it. But we have a splash pool (you attach the hosepipe to it and its a steady stream of water around the perimeter) for hot days! My old dog used to love it, but have to wait until summer to use it withLogan.

sam and xena doen't like water but billie love it

Sid hasnt really swam but loves water! As for pit bulls not swimming... The dog whisperers dog junior loves it and does it quite well!! So guess it depends on the dog!!

The 1 i go to is in Thornaby on the industrial estate, the other one is on Cannon park industrial estste but never used that one, if your thinking of going i'll put the contact details on here

well i thought about changing shadys name to tarka the otter , he loves water , and not only swims but dives under to the bottom to collect rocks . dakota has swam once or twice but i have to go in to get her in ,

i will when the weather picks up get vids of tarka the staffy diving under

My 2 dont like the water we have a pond but they never go in. When my son took my boy out he jumped in the lake somewere and just sank to the bottom my son had to jump in and save the daft sod thank god they were both okay

Molly used to hate swimming, hated even going near the water, we'd get close and she'd pull to go home. Now she pulls to get to the river, she loves it, she swims in the local river, at the beaches, in ponds, in over flowed ditches, it's hard to keep her away from water. Unless you can to bath her, totally different story then!
She's never had a life jacket, and unless she goes out on a boat then she probably won't ever have one. 90% of the time she is on her long line, so we can always drag her back to shore if need be, but touch wood she's never had any trouble, so long as there is a ball or stick for her to fetch she loves it!

niff wrote:well i thought about changing shadys name to tarka the otter , he loves water , and not only swims but dives under to the bottom to collect rocks . dakota has swam once or twice but i have to go in to get her in ,

i will when the weather picks up get vids of tarka the staffy diving under

Moo is the same, its great to watch and fab exercise

Marty wrote:There's 2 near me the one i go to is 5mins away £12.50 for a 15min swim, wash & shampoo, he's only opened recently but said he's doing ok

That sounds like a bloody fantastic idea..... holly is always smashed after her lil dip... lol
she makes straight for the edge adn out she goes.... runs around like a mad lady and then ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz for hours lol
pitty the blooming kids didnt do that

I can't remember where i seen or heard it but if they dive to hard into the water almost like a persons belly flop, it can affect their hips later in life.

Kuta will go in for a swim when we call him, but he tends to sit on the bank and bark at us most of the time.
If we have freinds dogs with us though he will follow them around swimming. He's not real good though so we have to keep an eye on him.

Noooo,she hates it! When we go on holiday and we go to the beach,she gets so far near the water,then suddenly sticks her breaks on,turns tail and runs the other way

My two can swim, but where Skibadees quite a bully-type stafford she starts off strongly and loses momentum. I think its becase of the short legs and thick-set body it doesn't set them up well! She gradually slows down and starts to sink, if its at the beach and your swimming then she grabs hold of you and holds on. Its quite funny really, but she does know her limitations she loves water but wont jump into it unless she can touch the bottom. She usually finds a fallen tree or a rock and stands on that!

Tali is a much better swimmer but she doesn't really like water, she will splash around in it. When she was a pup it took months for her to even step in a puddle, whereas her sister loves water. you cant get her out of a 1cm deep puddle shes that bad! Think it must depend on the dog.

i dunno shady's as bully a type staff as your going to see , he's a big lump and a great swimmer , 1st pic is after a dive with the rock he sufaced with

awwww bless him big boned heart! I love shady! Ty would honestly rather die than even step in a puddle, he draggs me into the road if theres even surface water on the pavement! Kaos loves the sea but i havent let him in yet coz im worried he will get swept away! I was thinking about tieing Ty's training lead to him when the weather warms up so i can reel him in if i need to! x

blaze wrote:awwww bless him big boned heart! I love shady! Ty would honestly rather die than even step in a puddle, he draggs me into the road if theres even surface water on the pavement! Kaos loves the sea but i havent let him in yet coz im worried he will get swept away! I was thinking about tieing Ty's training lead to him when the weather warms up so i can reel him in if i need to! x

Molly used to be exactly like that! She'd do everything she could to avoid a puddle, then one day, she decided to for a swim and now she loves it!

sorry to rehash an old topic but my oh and i are very water orientated ppl< we both like to sail and fish and generally go boating, and we hope that Max will join us for some of it. How can we teach him to swim and be comfortable in the water?

we have not introduced Miley to water yet but if we did would play it safe, not deep and on her leash

Olly likes swimming but hates the rain

did you have to teach Olly or did he just go for it?

Nope Suki hates the water.

Storm wouldn't swim when I first had him, his best doggy friend was a struggle to keep out of the water, you could see Storm wanting to jump in but wouldn't. When he finally took the plunge he was like a duck to water and I now struggle to keep him out of the water.
I would say to get them used to it in salt water as it is more buoyant than fresh water and therefore easier for them to swim. Just make sure they don't ingest to much salt water.

Pixee cant swim well. And we walk along the canal everyday, ever in the summer, she never did go in, unless there was a ledge and then she would play in that part.

Mani loves swimming, but we only found out when we moved next to Epping Forest and had big ponds to swim in. It's REALLY cold but he loves to go in. He'll also try to break the ice to swim, but that's really dangerous so we try to avoid the pond when it's frozen over. Oh, we also discovered he loves the muddy banks of the pond

Lily loves to swim she is really good for a fat lass! She copied the labradors and spaniels at the beach when she was a pup. She looks just like an otter too

Olly just went in to his knees then one day leapt in and swam ,now hes like a torpedo.This lake was over 20 degrees at 9 oclock in the morning so we were all swimming