Springtime is here, in all of her glory, in beautiful southeast Texas, and everything is turning green! The flowers are blooming, bees are buzzing, and the birds are making their nests. Along with all of the wonders of spring comes rain and in our case, lots of it. Instead of sitting around moping because it’s so wet outside, I want to encourage you to take advantage of the wonderful opportunity that lies right in front of your eyes… It’s a great time for introducing your pup to water! Here are the basics you will want to consider when getting started.
First and foremost, it is important to make sure that it’s fairly warm outside and water is not frigid. Freshly filled water puddles and low spots are usually some of the warmer spots to look for. Take your dog to these shallow spots, and begin to walk in them yourself, doing all that you can to encourage the dog to follow. Play with the pup, and keep it fun! Don’t worry if your pup is not playing in the water. Just repeat this process daily until he does. Remember, this is a new experience, so never force your dog into the water or use harsh tones. Keep it a game.
Once the pup is playing confidently in the water, it is time to bring out his retrieving dummy that I assume he is already loving to fetch. At this point in the process, you will need to exercise your pup to the max with his training dummy and pitch the dummy into the shallow puddles. Keep the retrieves short and fun. Once your pup is proficient, then gradually lengthen the retrieve. This is probably enough for the pup’s first session. On your next session, repeat the same process giving the pup great praise for each retrieve.
Once your pup is fully confident in these shallow water fun retrieves, it is time to move to deeper water. When searching for a pond to train your pup it is important that you find a pond bank that is gently sloping, meaning that it starts off shallow and gradually gets deep enough that the pup will have to swim. I will caution you to do a thorough scan for alligators and snakes during this time of year! It is important that the bumper be tossed just barely into the deeper water so that the pup will only have to swim a few feet at first. Be patient, and let your pup learn at his own pace! Many will begin to swim readily, and others will be more cautious. However, by continuing this process, you should have the pup swimming in short order. After your pup is swimming, then you can gradually increase the distance of the retrieves and begin to add new locations as well.
Now that the pup is confident in the water, you will need to take him to new locations and introduce him to various scenarios such as lily pads, marsh grass, reeds, cane, and boats. The process is the same…take it easy, and keep it fun! Good luck with your training, and be sure to take advantage of all of this water while you can!