Traveler has lost his courage

[AngusMcDubhsMom]

my crazy water dog has suddenly become afraid to go out for his bumper in the water. On land he's awesome and up until last summer he couldn't be held back when that bumper sailed out...or for that matter, to stay out of the water. I'm not aware of any injury he has or had in water.
Now he only goes in to wading depth and whines as his bumper floats away. I don't know what the problem is. He WANTS to get it and paces back and forth, trying to find a better spot, etc. and after about 15 minutes of my encouraging him he finally strikes out, swims a few strokes and grabs it and brings it in. But I am confounded by his hesitancy and anxiety now. Any ideas or suggestions?
Thanks.
want to add that where we used to swim was a lake with muddy, waterlily spot but the neighborhood association decided No Dogs...so now where we go has a very rocky bottom. Could this be part of the problem?

 

[DAWNMERIE]

Just thinking out loud here....you may want to see about a life-vest, it might encourage him.

 

[R Taft]

I had this with katy and she was really good at Rescue work... no idea why. So we bought her the most amazing life jacket from Doonerak and we helped her out...literally a bit of a pull and shove and she is back again... I am thinking it is an age thing, maybe they got a scare we do not remeber or did not see. I think with katy is is also to do withthe over the top young dogs we have at training now. So we have made a working area on our beach. Dogs under instruction get a clear area with no hooligans

 

[2newffamily]

Any change Anne?

 

[AngusMcDubhsMom]

Took him for a swim this morning and he did much better when I got in the water with him. The footing was really treacherous for me too, so I think the rocky bottom has something to do with his anxiety. We'll just keep doing baby steps I guess. Thanks, people for the suggestions. Me & him

 

[Newfs Forever]

Good luck, Anne!

 

[R Taft]

Great Newfs

 

[BoundlessNewfs]

One other thought: was he feeling ok? When we had our Lucy, before we knew about her bad heart, we often wondered why she balked at really swimming. Turned out she got out of breath fast, and it scared her. Life vest helped.