The Water-Challenged Dog

We must have the only Labrador retriever in the world that is afraid of the water. Until recently, she was hesitant to even approach her water bowl. I decided that this summer we’d find out if Maggie can swim, or if she’d be a permanent fixture at the bottom of the harbor, kind of like the Titanic.

The few times we’d taken her to the harbor or the lake, she’d go as far as getting her paws wet, but no further. Out there, where the water is deeper, there are odd things that move back and forth (seaweed) that could be potentially threatening.

Last weekend, however, it was time to face the music. Michael, Maggie and I, along with our neighbors, Derek and Cole, went to Hosmer Pond at the Snow Bowl, with the specific purpose of putting Maggie in a very large dump tank. Derek brought Freia, who is also a black lab, and who gets along fairly well with Maggie. Most importantly, Freia swims. And chases a ball. And chases a ball while she swims. All things that dogs should do that Maggie doesn’t. We thought that having Freia along to show Maggie how it’s done might spark some sort of revelation for her. ‘So that’s how you do it! You jump in and swim to the ball and carry it your mouth! I get it now!’

There is a small bridge and dock at the pond, set a few feet from the shore. I let Maggie get acclimated for awhile, while Freia jumped right in off the dock. After a few minutes, Maggie would run through the shallow water and onto the dock to watch Freia as she swam back to shore, successfully toting the ball. Then, I trapped Maggie on the dock, picked her up, and threw her in. The first few times I did this, she would scramble back to the dock, and place both front paws on it, looking frantic. But the last couple of times I threw her in, she actually turned and swam back to shore. She wasn’t happy about it, but she did it. And she avoided me for awhile after each toss, afraid that I might just grab her willy nilly.

At the end of the day, at least I know she can swim. She won’t be diving in to save a potential drowning victim any time soon, but it’s a start. I plan to continue her treatment when I can, until she’s at least not an embarrassment to retrievers everywhere.



This is about as far as she would go, the big wuss.

Maggie would pace the shore, waiting for Freia to return.



A REAL dog.


Lift...

...throw...

...swim. It's that easy!