Comments on: My Labrador won’t swim!

By: Kelly

Kelly — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 02:32:23 +0000

My yellow lab never liked water. He will even fo around mud puddles. I tried your suggestions, however he just wasn’t interested. All of our other labs couldn’t wait to get into the water. Then I found out his mother didn’t like the water either.

By: Pippa Mattinson

Pippa Mattinson — Sat, 10 Aug 2024 14:15:09 +0000

In reply to Claire. Sounds like a Lab! :)

By: Claire

Claire — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 00:37:26 +0000

My first girl ignored our in ground pool, until we had an outdoor dinner party. She decided to swim, came out and shook all over everyone! Couldn’t keep her out after that.

By: Major

Major — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 13:03:36 +0000

hi, we have two labs yellow 7 year old ‘Chip’ black 3 year old ‘Diesel’ – the yellow lab loves water and would swim all day if he could – not so keen on bathing though! he will walk happily past the sea, river, pool but if you tell him its ok to go in, he will run straight in and swim about, play come out roll around the sand, stones grass people, then run back in, our younger black lab, follows his older bro everywhere, jumps in after the yellow lab, but as soon as he cant touch the ground he stops, he will jump up and down (excited) but wont or cant swim, he never minds being wet. the last time we took them swimming the yellow lab swam to his hearts content, but the black one barked, bounced and seemed to attack the yellow one, for leaving him? or not being able to swim? I filmed the behaviour to see if we could figure out what was going on.. if they go to the river they have a bath when they get home, we took them swimming yesterday and after the bath at home the back one has dropped tail.. at no point was the black lab made to go in the water, its his choice. both labs are strong fit males, now we are concerned that the black lab is feeling upset at maybe not being able to swim? he is a lovely dog, very well behaved and wanting to please.

By: bonnie stewart

bonnie stewart — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 01:28:47 +0000

I got a black lab when he was 6 months old. We lost him last year at 12. For 12 years that baby walked around a puddle on the sidewalk if he could. Would go all day with out going out to pee if it was raining. He didnt want to be wet. We tried a kiddle pool in the back yard, a calm clear river, the ocean….nope. No treats, balls ,other animals or his hu ans could coax him into even a kiddie pool.. He seemed to get anxious when we got in the water, pacing, panting, whining and barking for us to get out of the water. When he was 3 or 4 we got a 2nd lab and she went right in the kiddie pool and later in the ocean….he stood out of the water barking at her too. He was a happy dog his whole life, but his happiness just didnt include swimming or going in for a dip on a hot day.

Now he loved a car ride….my female doesnt like to ride in the car.

By: deb

deb — Tue, 11 Oct 2016 03:14:04 +0000

My lab was im my pool.when she was a puppy she loved it still loves lake and pool at 11 .you have to put them in water when puppies if you can got lab feb by may in pool climbed up ladder jump.in for ball.had fun

By: Ian

Ian — Wed, 14 Sep 2016 10:35:07 +0000

Getting my lab comfortable in and around the water is a must for me as I want him to join me on canoeing trips in the future. We are fortunate that we live a couple of miles from the coast and he’s been going to the beach at least 2 or 3 times every week since he was 8 weeks old. At first he was cautious of the water but we worked through that by getting him to run through shallow puddles and slowly building up the depth as his confidence grew. We found having mum on one side of the water and dad on the other was a good incentive for him and also walking through it with him.

We got him used to being out of his depth by finding water that went up to about thigh/hip depth on me and I would walk through beside him, supporting his collar a little until he got used to the idea that he wasn’t going to sink. We then progressed onto encouraging him to swim solo by throwing his ball for him to retrieve.

He’s now six months old and swimming for his ball is probably his favourite activity (though excavating the garden is a close contender!). We’re slowly introducing him to waves and moving water as well as working on his swimming stamina by gradually increasing the amount of swimming he does each trip. On my to-do list is to dig out my wetsuit and go in with him for a proper swim.

I’m really happy with his progress and think the key is just to keep it fun and progress at a speed that never puts him outside his comfort zone.

By: carolyn

carolyn — Mon, 12 Sep 2016 20:08:35 +0000

Love, love, love that our Labs will swim all day at the lake. Our yellow boy can be lazy about retrieving whereas our black girl will retrieve all day. They love their kiddie pool, the shower and if there is nothing else available, dipping their whole heads in their water bowl and blowing bubbles. Best dogs ever!

By: Bonnie

Bonnie — Mon, 12 Sep 2016 15:30:11 +0000

Our 9 month chocolate lab, Abbey learned to swim at 6 months in our salt water pool. She would watch all of us while she would run around the pool, then watched our son’s black lab who will dive for toys, and FINALLY relaxed enough so we could wade her in, holding her in our arms & letting her swim to each of us back & forth. Now she will not stay out of the pool, swimming in delight whether with us, & with or without toys. SOOO… any suggestion on how to get Abbey to be a polite swimmer ? She jumps in almost on top of us as we enjoy the pool, and often dunks our inherited Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, who only swims due to our mandatory request to exercise. Abbey also worries about ALL, young & old, if anyone goes under the water, hovering over us, & zig zags in front & near all so a grand children’s race in the pool is impossible. ANY suggestions on how to reign in her enthusiasm while swimming with ALL would be greatly appreciated. Thanks…

By: Mandy

Mandy — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 18:48:41 +0000

Are you going to do an article entitled ‘my Labrador won’t stop swimming’. We’ve got three labs who can smell water (be it clean rivers and lakes or stagnant ditches) from a mile off and always make a beeline. We have to keep them on leads if we don’t want them to swim!