Mallory Kwiatkowski wrote 05/03/2008 10:24 PM swallowing water while swimming #193329 - 05/03/2008 10:24 PM
Mallory Kwiatkowski Webboard User Reg: 11-23-2007 Posts: 947 Loc: Cold-ville, Wisconsin. Offline	Capone is learning to swim, and LOVES water retrieving. But while swimming, he is swallowing huge amounts of water, so much that he comes out very bloated, you can hear the water in his belly sloshing around. It makes it uncomfortable for him to walk and run, at least until he pees several times, or barfs it up. will he swallow less water as he gets better at swimming? None of my other dogs do this, and they swim too.
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Sarah Morris wrote 05/04/2008 12:08 AM Re: swallowing water while swimming [Re: Mallory Kwiatkowski ] #193343 - 05/04/2008 12:08 AM
Sarah Morris Webboard User Reg: 08-29-2006 Posts: 2324 Loc: Central Coast, California Offline	I think they swallow less the more experienced they are in the water, but you'll probably always get a fair amount of water in the gut if he's retrieving something. If he'll go in the water without a toy maybe try that until he's a better swimmer? This has to be an issue with hunting dogs when they're first learning so maybe search around and see what can be done to prevent so much water intake. I know it's stating the obvious but be really careful with all that water. Bloat would be a major concern for me. True
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Mallory Kwiatkowski wrote 05/04/2008 12:51 AM Re: swallowing water while swimming [Re: Sarah Morris ] #193348 - 05/04/2008 12:51 AM
Mallory Kwiatkowski Webboard User Reg: 11-23-2007 Posts: 947 Loc: Cold-ville, Wisconsin. Offline	he will only wade in the water unless i throw something in for him to get. he doesn't just go in to swim like my others do. he won;t fetch on land, only in the water. yeah, i am concerned about the amount of water he is taking in..
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Melissa Thom wrote 05/04/2008 02:17 AM Re: swallowing water while swimming [Re: Mallory Kwiatkowski ] #193352 - 05/04/2008 02:17 AM
Melissa Thom Webboard User Reg: 12-04-2007 Posts: 2781 Loc: Upper Left hand corner, USA Offline	Hm... sounds to me like you're putting the cart before the horse. He should really be fetching on land before water. Perhaps modivational or forced retrieve training is in order? Where is he intaking all this water? Is it on the grab of the item, chomping water in general, or on the swim in? Is the item you have him retrieve large or small? You might consider a small dummy float as a fetch item as it's light, has easy visability, and most dogs can mostly close their mouth around it. I usually see water intake on neurotic swimming, water biting, retrieving large strangely shaped items like sticks or logs or directionally confused dogs in water. I too would be concerned about this water intake if the dog sloshes and intakes to the point of puking.
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Keith Larson wrote 05/05/2008 12:19 PM Re: swallowing water while swimming [Re: Melissa Thom ] #193494 - 05/05/2008 12:19 PM
Keith Larson Webboard User Reg: 04-09-2007 Posts: 363 Loc: Riverside, CA Offline	I've taken Starbuck to the beach several times. Last time she decided to take a drink out of the ocean. I tried to stop her, but she wouldn't listen. I even had fresh water to offer her. Within about 30 minutes she had diarrhea. She didn’t puke, which surprised me. I hope she learned a lesson… My last Shepherd would walk through a stream or lake and just scoop up water like a shovel. She would literally walk with her lower jaw below the water line. She did the same thing in the snow. I don’t know if that help or not. Good luck with Capone.
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Ashley Hiebing wrote 05/05/2008 12:28 PM Re: swallowing water while swimming [Re: Keith Larson ] #193496 - 05/05/2008 12:28 PM
Ashley Hiebing Webboard User Reg: 07-07-2007 Posts: 143 Loc: Madison, Wisconsin Offline	George will sometimes swallow water when he's retrieving in the water, but mostly he manages to cough it out of his mouth. It sounds hilarious when he does it. Maybe learning that comes with learning how to swim.
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Mallory Kwiatkowski wrote 05/05/2008 10:24 PM Re: swallowing water while swimming [Re: Ashley Hiebing ] #193556 - 05/05/2008 10:24 PM
Mallory Kwiatkowski Webboard User Reg: 11-23-2007 Posts: 947 Loc: Cold-ville, Wisconsin. Offline	i probably am putting the cart before the horse. I am not really trying to teach him to water retrieve, as in, we aren't working on that. Capone never swam before, and wouldn't go in the water, so i started throwing in sticks/balls, etc, and he dove right in to get them. Everytime, unless it sank, he would bring the item back to my feet, and wait to do it again. I want him to swim, so that worked for me. He does the eating the water thing, he also is still learning to swim, and has been retrieving sticks, so maybe all that combined equals lots of water swallowing. i have been trying to get him to fetch on land-nothing. He may or may not watch the ball/toy go through the air, and he might on a good day trot over to it, stop a few feet away, and go do something else. i am not really trying to perfect his water retrieve, or anything like that, i am just curious if the water swallowing will go away as capone gets better at swimming, or if it is something i need to work on him with, and if so, how.
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Melissa Thom wrote 05/06/2008 01:35 AM Re: swallowing water while swimming [Re: Mallory Kwiatkowski ] #193574 - 05/06/2008 01:35 AM
Melissa Thom Webboard User Reg: 12-04-2007 Posts: 2781 Loc: Upper Left hand corner, USA Offline	It's a neurotic behavior developing then and I would strongly discourage it before he possibly hurts himself. If he has limited prey drive a force retrieve training may be in order otherwise modivational retrieve is probably the way to go. The best way to teach swimming IMO is directional swimming. Swimming just needs to be another way to get somewhere or get something.
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