Swimming finally..............

Jeepin' Rob

Jeepin' Rob

New member
My wife & I took advantage of our daughter & her Golden Retriever’s early departure back to Athabasca Alberta this morning and took Moby to a local dog beach (tidal) Blackie Spit (Crescent Beach) to try swimming again. High tide was just after 6:00 am and we arrived around 7:30 am. On with the wet suit and into the water. First we tried to walk him deeper in the water but his usual ‘panic’ set in when his feet couldn’t touch the bottom with Moby flailing away as he has done in the past. My wife had picked up an “Outward Hound” life jacket a few weeks ago so we put it on Moby. Again when his feet started to leave the bottom he was flailing away but with the handle on the back of his life jacket I was better able to control him rather than by his collar. I kept working him in & out of the deeper water to shallow water with lots of encouragement and he realized he could swim. He started real swimming stokes keeping his head up looking across the water. Unfortunately I forgot a floating retriever buoy for him to focus on so a stick and floating seaweed had to capture his attention. We kept with up until around 8:20 am when I noticed he was kicking up the sand on the bottom. The tide had receded far enough that he could walk rather than swim. We will get him out again with his life jacket to build confidence and later try without the jacket.

Happy that we have a Newf that now swims, at least with a life jacket!! :groovy:

Enjoy the long weekend.

Rob, Cassie & Moby
 
M

mike clayton

New member
Hi Rob & Cassie,
Good to hear you are having success with the water training !! iT can take a while but sure is worth it .. so much more fun with a newfy that isn't afraid of the water !!

A few years ago my brother and 2 friends took a 260kl. canoe trip down the Athabasca ..from just below Jasper for 5 days ..what a trip ..hadn't been on the water 8 minutes when we saw our first Griz !! the rest of the trip was great as well !!
Cheers and best of luck
Mike
 
Jeepin' Rob

Jeepin' Rob

New member
A few years ago my brother and 2 friends took a 260kl. canoe trip down the Athabasca ..from just below Jasper for 5 days ..what a trip
Click to expand...
Surprised how many time people have mention canoe trips to me when Athabasca is mentioned. We had not really heard of Athabasca until our future 'son in law' applied on a job there.

Rob & Moby
 
robertjt

robertjt

New member
Congrats Moby!! We're still working with Scuba. Yesterday was the first time he showed some interest in the water. We'll keep trying. :)
 
Jeepin' Rob

Jeepin' Rob

New member
We're still working with Scuba. Yesterday was the first time he showed some interest in the water.
Click to expand...
Saw in your other post that Scuba was 7 1/2 months old, still lots of time. Moby is just over 20 months. you see lots of pictures of Newfs lying in wading pools, not Moby he will walk through the pool but never lays down. We also thought he had no interest in water.

We had him down at the beach again this morning. Have to take advantage of the high tide schedule in times when the dog beach is not packed. Worked in the water with him again, a little hesitant at 1st but I brought the retrieving buoy this time which held his focus. Good job at retrieving the buoy back to shallow water and looking for it to be thrown again. As with yesterday the receding tide eventually had Moby walking rather than swimming.

Rob & Moby
 
Milliejb

Milliejb

New member
Yeah Moby!!! I knew with a name like Moby and a being a newfie, you had it in you!!! Great job!!! :) Now we need pictures next time ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top