Helping alex to learn to like the lake...

Mine is 8 mo's aswell. But she will get in teh water chase balls, etc etc. Just not swim, haha. I want her to swim w/ me. Ive tried carrying her out and just holding on to her, but she just makes a B-line to shore... haha

Some dogs are just NOT swimmers and no matter what you do, they never will be. And to me, it is just not worth it to try to force it.

I have an 8 yo dog that will NOT swim, he is a "wader" like yours. On the other hand my GSD puppy, started swimming on her own at 10 weeks.

Mine are all waders. I have only had 1 swimmer. If she wants to swim she will.

My GS is 9months old. About a month ago we brought him to the river. Big river (St Laurence River) and we threw a tennis ball in the water and he went for it. He just loves water. Sits in the water and lets the wave push him, puts his head in the water stays under water for a few seconds. Hes a real labrador!! HA! On the other hand, my brother brings his GS over cause both were raised together and his dog barely goes in the water. Puts his feet and that's about it. He just doesnt want to go with ours for a swim. Usually both does do the same stuff but not in this case. So i guess just keep going to the lake and evenually your dog will go in on his own. Whatever you do, dont force him. We bought our dog a kiddy pool and he loves it.

Yea she only likes to wade around in the water, she will do that ALLLLL day long and play fetch in about 2' of water. Deeper than that, no dice. AHHAHA

My GSD is just 8 months old, and he is going on vacation with us to a lake in two weeks. I'm curious to see how he'll be with the water... but I'm assuming he will love it. I put a kiddie pool in the yard one hot day and he had a blast. He also loves to play in the sprinklers.

But, if he doesn't want to venture out in the water that will be up to him. I don't think trying to force a dog to swim is any nicer than trying to force a child to swim. If he has fun in the shallow water just wading around, then we'll make that our fun instead.

Just like people, not all dogs are natural swimmers. To try and coax the dog into deeper water though, why not put yourself out there rather than toss a toy? I would think wanting to be with you would be the incentive that would work, if anything does.

The first time we took our dog to swim he would not do it. He went into the kiddie pool no prob, but not the real pool! I pushed him in and he swam just fine. Ever since then he LOVES to swim and chase tennis balls/toys into the water and fetch them. He even loves to dive off a dock to go after his toys in the pond!