just took my 14 week old springer for a quiet lunch time walk along the river bank and she launched herself into the water and then appeared to sink!
luckily the current brought her back close to the bank and i managed to get her by the scruff of her neck and pull her out

it didn't seem to bother her as much as it did me as a few hundred metres later she tried to do it again so i put her on a lead – flippin nutter

My old Staffy would go in water all the time but was only happy if his feet were on the bottom. On day at the beach he went in to far and suddenly found himself swimming. The look on his face was comical. Then he became a complete fool for water even swimming out about 50 metres to scare the bejesus out of a snorkeler in Pembrokeshire.

Your spaniel should be a natural 🙂

no. my mum's dog, Jonty, only likes to paddle whereas his brother Jake loves it. threw jonty in once and panicked as he seemed to be a delay in him rising to the surface. he rose eventually. he can swim but he doesn't like being out of his depth. pussy.

We had a springer, best dog ever and couldn't get him out the water.
Being a gun dog they would be faced with all sorts of terrain and water/swimming should come natural.

Throw a rock in for mine and he would totally submerge himself until he found it.

Not easy but keep him in situations where if there is a problem you can rescue him.

Lock him up as I want him for myself.

My Golden Retriever, Morris, never swam unlike my other Retrievers, just walks in it. Mind you, he's never been a retriever either, chases things, looks at it and comes back without it. Not quite genetically with it. Now he's just wee'd on the floor when the door was open! Is this the beginning of the end? He's 14 1/2 btw.

Nope. Lurchers and greyhounds are notoriously bad swimmers, due to their low body fat I believe.

Ted (big lurcher) once decided to lean down to get a drink from the canal, and promptly fell in. He disappeared from view, I assume touched bottom, and came out vertically, like a polaris missile and landed on the towpath.

He can swim, but it's all application, and no talent.

Not looking before he leaps, and finding the beach drops quite steeply.

Glarkcoughsplutter

Bloody water in me lugholes.

I think they get a bit more buoyant as they get older !

Our Cocker Spaniel is half Dog half Otter !

My dog will not go in the water full stop. Hates it. The only thing he ever gets wet are his tongue and if he's really ambitious he'll get his front paws wet.

Been tempted to throw him in to see what happens, but the wife said no.

My lurcher also hates swimming, but he's got a real OCD thing going on with shallow water. He'll spend literally hours standing up to his chest and snapping at the surface of the water – we think he's after the bubbles, but not sure!

Parents' black lab charges into heavy surf, at every opportunity.

I have a Staffy and she can't swim for s*#t, I always thought it was because she is built like a pig. When she trys to doggy paddle I assume she catches her chin with her front paws.

She still tries, she will go in on the lead and then when she sinks I pull her out.

Being a gun dog they would be faced with all sorts of terrain and water/swimming should come natural

Sadly not IME.

Black lab/retriever cross – can't swim for toffee. On the occasions he's ended up in water too deep to paddle in (feet on the bottom) he has done a remarkable impression of Jesus, or possibly one of those lizards where speed and weight don't quite overcome the water's surface tension.

One of our dogs is a Black Lab – goes without saying, can't get him out of water, was even going into 3 or 4 foot surf and looking at the waves with contempt.

Other one, an Airedale Terrier will just about get his stomach wet.

My Springer refuses to launch herself off anything to into water. She will only go in if there is a gradual gradient and then paddle around. And will only swim if you through a rock or stick. She has v recently though started sticking her head under to retrieve rocks. So not your typical gundog.

Cute springer. Looks like it's marking something.

14 weeks? What's it doing off a lead & hope it's had all the vacinations.

Springers can be very fast in water, our's is, other's can be scared of it.
Our Springer leaping in water.

Saw a Black Lab t'other week down the FOD "bombing" into a lake!!

It would run up to the edge, leap, and tuck his tail and bum under to create a huge splash. Never seen anything like it.

My old shetland sheepdog used to walk around puddles, that was how little he liked water!! 😀

http://s992.photobucket.com/albums/af45/bruce_nikki/?action=view&current=Thomas200810004.jpg

2 year old Sporting/Working Cocker, and will swim in anything – and drink/eat anything, and I mean anything 😳

i have 3 whippets and none of them will go in the water !!! infact the youngets whippet even skips and jumps over puddles !!! he really does ! he hates puddles….i wonder if he thinks hes going to sink…lol