Soooo has anyone had any success with getting their dobie to love water??
It's a hot 33 degrees (92F) today and I decided to put on the sprinkler to cool the dogs down. So I'm jumping through, over, around the sprinkler yelling 'Wooooo!' to try and get my dobies excited about the water but alas, they just sit there looking at me. Eventually they tip toe over but as soon as a drop of water hits them, back away they go.
I have little blue shell pools that I fill but the most they will do is step in and blow some bubbles. Neither will sit or lie down! Same with the beach.
Obviously I'm not going to force them and would love a few tips to get them through this hot summer. Is this breed specific? Love to hear stories!
Bonnie has never been one to go deep enough to wet her chest in the water. When at the lake with my sister and trainer's dogs, she'll play with them until they go deeper than her chest; at which point she'll look longingly after them with a dreamy expression, as wistful a dog as I have ever seen.
That's exactly the same with Eales! I was hoping today to start at a young age and show Sake the benefits of cooling off. I enjoyed it (lol) but she just wasn't interested. Having said that, she loves to put both feet in her water bowl and splash around. Go figure!
I take my dog to my parents to play in the lake all the time. He was always really interested in the water, and I had tried to get him to swim but with no luck. Last summer I bought him a life vest from Ruffwear and with some hell bent determination got him swimming. After he got the rhythm down I released one buckle at a time until the vest came off completely. He doesn't have the grace of a Lab in the water, but he loves it.
Phoenix has been going to beach and lake since he was a baby. We have a dog park on lake so he would run and play and just follow dogs into water. Also living close to beach he gets to go swim and jump in waves. He has not been big fan of pool because it it's not at a slope. By any chance do you have any type of water that your dobie can walk in? An maybe follow you? My last dobie hated water and rain so at 4 months old Phoenix was around water and if raining he didn't have choice but to go potty then run back in. I have been told many times dobermans are not water dogs and I should have gotten a lab then but Phoenix swims in the ocean...lake... And is a really good helper while I aw my truck! Lol
We do take Eales to a creek however he only went right in when there were other dogs swimming. He took his cue from them however as soon as they left, he was back to tip toeing in!
My girl doesnt mind the water so much. I am not lucky enough to have gotten her to swim but I havent really had her anywhere where she could go past chest deep. When she was young I played with the hose with her. I squirted it on the ground and she would chase it. Slowly from there we moved it to where she would let me hose her down and there was a place I could take her to get chest deep in the water. I also took her walking in the rain since she was young. We went walking in the rain Sat morning. I knew with the amount we recieved that her large pools or water would be in the field which they were and she had a blast running thru them.
Koa didn't lay down in his pool at first either ... then one day it "clicked" - he plopped down and was hooked! Now his little pool is his most favorite thing of the summer. Im not sure what he'd think of a sprinkler, but I will play with him with the hose, he likes to "chase" the stream of water around and I "accidentally" get him more wet than he anticipates when it's hot out
Devon loves the water and also a water hose with water running out of it:roflmao:
We are on water restrictions here so she can't always have the water running freely.She stands and waits for us in the shower and she sticks her head inside LOL!
Oliver loves the water, he has a blow up pool we put up last summer. He loves when the hose is on, he bites the water. I got him in the pool by putting his tennis ball in the pool and he would stick his head under water to get it and he blows bubbles through his nose, it's the funniest thing to watch.
It took 2 summers for Shanoa to like her pool, but now she likes to lie down in it on hot days. She doesn't like to swim, but does like to wade in the lake or river. She'll go in up to her neck, and that's deep enough for her!
Dakota had to be taught to enjoy the water; having a pond and goldens next door who are part fish definitely helped! They lead by example The clincher though was when I brought her toys into the picture. She has a really high toy drive so I bought some floaty toys and worked her up to swimming out to get them. Now on hot days she'll wade in up to her chest and walk around on her own, but she won't go in any further unless there's something out there worth getting!
I bathe Kaiser by filling pitchers with warm water and slowly pouring them over him. If I did it any other way, I think our neighbor's would call the SPCA because of the hollering he does...
Jonesy only likes the water if I am in it or I throw the ball in the water for him to go get... but even then if I throw it to far he won't get it... He melts in the rain (but only if he has to potty) if it involves playing in the rain it is okay.
Mia the foster actually loves the water, it's only 50 out this morning and she wanted in the water, she likes to chase the waves that roll in. She loves to just hang out in the water...
My experiences are if I go, my dog will follow. If I dont, he wont. Just try sitting in the pool for a while and see what happens. Dont even try to call them in, they will come with confidence and knowing that you are there. Or they wont. Good luck!
In all the many Dobes I've had I've only had one that really loved water. He would swim in lakes, steams, big rivers, swimming pools. The kids at an apartment complex I visited a lot taught him to get on a surf board and balance. They also taught him to dive in the pool from a low diving board.
He would retreive things from river bottoms which were mostly stone bottoms--beige stones and if you threw a white one in he'd bring that one back.
Beyond that I've had one dog who would go out into a small and very placid lake following the Aussie--if he got deep enough the Aussie would come and push him out further and he'd swim.
But the rest of them--no way! Well except for the best tracking dog I ever trained. He was a very "melt in the rain" type unless I had his tracking harness in my hand--then he didn't care how hard it was raining. And we tracked a lot in grass fields (Oregon--we grow grass seed for the world) where the fields were often divided by drainage ditches--he'd track into and through water in those ditches because that's where the track went, that he wouldn't have ordinarily considered setting foot in.
Great pics! Especially the sprinkler one! Currently we'll go for a jog but you have to either get up very early and go when it's dark because it's so hot. I would love if swimming made up part of the exercise regime! So much easier!
So I'm jumping through, over, around the sprinkler yelling 'Wooooo!' to try and get my dobies excited about the water but alas, they just sit there looking at me. Eventually they tip toe over but as soon as a drop of water hits them, back away they go.
Take a video and we will be glad to critique your technique. LOL.
My boy Jordan and the boxer love water. I can't get the water hose out to water flowers or fill the pond without them getting excited for playtime. They also love the pond, getting in it and playing. I can't say I did anything, it just happened.
Zephyr, that 2nd picture is great. That's worthy of a calendar. Your last picture is priceless.
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