Sinks Like a Rock...

My poor monkey apparently can't swim. We were walking next to a river and I went down by the water so Saxon could get a drink. Before I knew it he jumped in and sank to the bottom! It was pretty scary. I pulled him out by his leash. He was dripping wet and looking pathetic when he looked up at me and he seemed so surprised and confused! I don't think he even knew that he couldn't swim! Poor little guy!

Do you have to teach them so swim? I always thought it was just something that they knew...

hey that's what happened to Winston last week.. Tony had to leap into our dam as Winston was sinking fast!

From what I can gather staffys aren't the best swimmers because of their body structure, but having said that, Jethro loves swimming and apparantly Winston's mummy and daddy love the water and leap in off the jetty! So Winston will have to have some lessons I think, and borrow Jethro's life jacket to help him to start with...

Glad Saxon is okay too !

Poor saxon Moo could just swim I didn't teach her, but she won't launch herself like others do she'll walk in and then when it gets deeper start swimming, she's a proper little water baby

Hope it hasn't put him off!

Oh yes, I remember that thread! Poor Winston! I guess Saxon and Winston are even more similar than I thought!

The funny part was that Saxon seemed so confident that he would be able to swim. He jumped right in! I think he either thought that it was going to be more shallow or just thought he could swim like the other dogs.

Aww poor Saxon! Clover can swim but she tires easily. I'm yet to take Diesel in the water.

Not sure if you can teach them.

Glad to hear he is okay. I think Suki knows she can't swim so she stays away from water

all dogs can swim did you just panic when he went under and just pull him up coz if you had just giv him a sec he would of bin ok not all are great swimmers but they can swim my little pup soler was copying my big one running trew the water when she just disapered in i deeep bit my wife went omg she is gone and the next thing she just poped up and was off again

CatStina wrote:My poor monkey apparently can't swim. We were walking next to a river and I went down by the water so Saxon could get a drink. Before I knew it he jumped in and sank to the bottom! It was pretty scary. I pulled him out by his leash. He was dripping wet and looking pathetic when he looked up at me and he seemed so surprised and confused! I don't think he even knew that he couldn't swim! Poor little guy!

Do you have to teach them so swim? I always thought it was just something that they knew...

How strange.

I too would have thought it a natural inclination, in most cases.

Perhaps there were other reasons why this happened, leash got caught, odd current, something like that?

Poor saxon.

Roxy has'nt been in water deep enough to see if she can swim yet, so it will be interesting when summer rolls around.

I have heard lots of stories of staffy's sinking down instead of swimming, you have to be very careful i think.
I have been taking Russell to the lake here a bit to get him used to water and he loves splashing around it, only for the first time a few days ago I waded out to my knees with him and put him in, and he swam! if only for a few strokes back to shore.
we will be getting him a life jacket when we go to the beach over christmas.

The water was relatively still and his leash didn't get caught. He just didn't even make an attempt to swim. He sunk and didn't move so I pulled him out. Then he just stood there looking confused and wet.

probably shouldnt but kinda laughed at that, silly Saxon, has he got no instinct at all to swim? try holding him over water (if you can) and see if he starts to paddle his legs before touching the water

That's a good idea, I'll try that next time. Don't worry, I laughed at him, too.

CatStina wrote:That's a good idea, I'll try that next time. Don't worry, I laughed at him, too.

Get one of those diver's suits.

With a a snorkel and stuff.

They do them for dogs now.

Milly hasnt been near deep water yet but im sure she would be scared she doesnt even like having a shower lol when my other half showers her she has a realy funny look on her face.

some dogs have to be taught to swim because they are not confident near the water. my wee man didnt seem to like it so we took him to the local centre and he had swimming lessons. its a controlled environment so the dogs are safe and learn to like the water. he loves going in the sea and rivers now

We never taught Harvey to swim but when he was about 12 weeks old he fell in a pond (twice!) and basically swam to the edge to get out and has been able to swim ever since.

all dogs can instinctively swim its the confidence that needs to e bosted and thats why we did the swimming seesions

Lemmy looks adorable in his life vest! I was thinking of getting Saxon a life vest for next season as we probably won't be doing any swimming this season.

Aww poor Saxon and poor you what a fright! I'm loving the doggy swimming lessons for Lemmy lol!

Milo loves water which is fun especially when the kids are involved down the river but my gosh it's a pain in the bum too. He will go in every puddle, pond stream, river, mud swamp, stinky old bog or anything arrrgggghhh! We joke when we go to the local common which has lots of boggy areas, streams etc that we'll come home with the 'stinky dog from the bog' AGAIN! It always ends in tears for us having to travel home with the 'stinky dog from the bog'!! And a bath for Milo!!

Not all dogs can swim.
Some dogs, just know how to and instinct kicks in, some dogs may need abit of help getting them to be confident enough, others wont be able to.

Also, you may have a dog that can swim brilliantly its whole life and then one day, when its in water can just forget and sink. This goes for any breed of dog.


Mouse's father is a sinker.
Mouse's mother can swim quite well.

Mouse does NOT like water, so she springs accross water and pretty much walks accross the top, remarkably she can come out from doing this and be almost 100% dry.