When I was a young boy my Father had a yellow lab named Simba, he was a trainable dog yet at the age of 2 years old he still wouldn’t swim. I happened to bring Simba and our older dog Shane to the old swimming hole and was bound and determined to teach Simba how to swim. So with shorts on and 2 bumpers with me I began my lessons. I first threw Shane a dummy and as usual Simba just watched, Shane retrieve it. Then I threw another one and while Shane was out after it I threw the second one. I got in the water calling Simba to me and although he only went in a little bit I knew there would be progress. The look on Shane’s face was total confusion but Simba was really beginning to get the picture. Then I started to call Simba a short distance in the water and began throwing the bumpers on shore and as soon as he picked it up I ran into the water calling him in until he was swimming. After about 3 more tosses I was so excited I began teasing him like you would a pup on the first retrieve and yelled "hey, hey" and threw it a long distance in the water, well Simba swam all the way out and brought it back. This whole scenario took probably two hours and although you wouldn’t normally hold a session that long with a pup, it’s exactly what Simba needed. It was the non-pressure type of situation with no forcing, just fun that made him swim. That is what we should remember when we introduce our dogs to water. Fun, fun, fun.

No matter what age you start at (12 weeks probably being the youngest) the procedure is the same. Start in warm water. If it’s to cold for you it will probably alarm him too. Its good to start on a warm day and take him for walks around the water. The shoreline should be relatively clean and a hard sand or gravel bottom with a gradual slope is ideal. We don’t want the pup freaking out when he hits a sharp drop-off or getting tangled in weeds. Put on a pair of waders or shorts and walk into the water up to your ankles calling the pup, maybe then running splashing and just having fun. I like to throw small pieces of treats into the water and let the pup eat them gradually throwing them farther and farther out. After a couple of sessions start moving out up to your waist calling the pup throwing treats or dummies and coaxing him out to you. When he gets to you, hold him so he doesn’t go under the water and praise him like he’s the greatest. Then gently set him back in the water and run from him calling him to you, and do this again and again until you can throw a bumper on land and have him retrieve it to you, and throw it from shore a short distance having him retrieve it to you. A key to this is simply that you’re in the water with him and your giving treats as a reward until he is doing it for the retrieve as his reward. Try not to have a lead (leash) on him so he doesn’t get tangled. Just remember to keep it fun and you shouldn’t have any trouble getting your retriever to love the water.

On occasion you may find a retriever that lacks the love for the water. This is extremely unusual and if this is a problem you may want to really look at this dog’s attitude and trainability as well as its usefulness in the field. I had a lab in Florida when I was a new trainer that as a 16-week-old pup wanted nothing to do with the water. Now as I look back I think the salt water may have got in his eyes at a young age and he was leery of the water because of this. I brought him to a park with fresh water walked him down to the end of a pier, set him in the water, I think he thought I was going to drown him, because the way he looked at me you might have thought I was throwing him in the fire. Anyway I just had to get him in there to find out it just wasn’t that bad. I let go of him and I ran up the pier calling him, well he swam (if you call barely staying afloat swimming) and yes he was scared. But the second time he wasn’t as scared and by the fifth time he was kind of almost, well liking it, sort of. I took him home and by the third time doing this he was jumping off that pier and loved every minute of our trips to the park. He became a hell of a duck hunter. Forcing a dog in the water would be a last resort and should be done by a professional or someone that has experience (successful experience) in doing this. It’s normally done with ropes and several helpers, and should only be done after the dog has been forced back on land and through a program designed for fieldwork. I mention this because you could certainly ruin a dogs desire to retrieve in the water if not done carefully. This is not normal procedure for a happy working properly trained retriever. Force to a pile in water will be discussed later.

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