How to Train Your Dog to Go Swimming

Video Transcript

"Hi I'm Ty Brown with dogbehavioronline.com, today we're talking about how to train a dog. The topic of discussion right now, is how to train a dog to go swimming. Now a lot of dogs will naturally like to go swimming but, a lot of dogs need to learn how to be taught. They have to be taught to go swimming, and so there's a couple key aspects and a couple key points of how to teach your dog to go swimming. Now the first thing you want to do is teach your dog where the entries and exits are, whether it be a river, a pond, a stream, or a pool, the dog needs to know how to get in safely and how to get out safely. Dogs that struggle with swimming often struggle because they're nervous about how do they get out, and so the first thing to do is show that dog how to get out of a pool, how to get out of the stream, or wherever he's at. The second thing you want to do is try to use motivation to teach that dog to swim. So maybe if a dog loves a ball, throw a ball out into the water. See if he'll go out there to get it, when he goes out, praise him heavily and allow him to get that ball. If he loves food, he somebody out there in the water with some food. If he has a favorite person, have that person go out into the water and entice that dog to come in. Whatever it is, try to use motivation. Now, there are those dogs that need to go swimming but don't really have motivation to get in the water, and so for those dogs we can use a leash to help oblige them in the water, and again show them how to get out. Now most dogs if you can show them time and time again how to get in the water, how to get out and that while they're in there, it's a lot of fun, they're going to eventually learn to enjoy swimming. So in order to teach your dog where the exists and entries are what you want to do is use a leash and use a leash as a tool for communication. So let's say for example, that this line here is the water line, now if I wanted by dog to go in, "Rocco, go swimming." I'd get him in, and immediately get him right back out. So that he knows where the entry is and where the exit is, and that he knows that have can have victory getting out like that, and so I would do that numerous times in order for him to start feeling comfortable each time allowing him to go out further into water. "Rocco go swimming. Good boy. Come on, good boy. Good boy", and that's how you teach your dog to go swimming."