If you love the life you live, you will live a life of Love!
Written by Pam on June 26, 2015
My daughter introduced me to this wonderful quote and I wanted to share it with everyone that visits the HGT website. If I can add a second verse to this already great quote – I would add…If you love the pup in your life, you are guaranteed that life of love! It doesn’t rhyme but it speaks volumes to me! Enjoying that pup in your life, means keeping it safe, happy and healthy!
In this blog I want to talk about water safety for your puppies and your dogs. Most breeds are attracted to the water and actually need no encouragement to jump right in and have a blast with a splash! Our goldens and labs are very much water dogs – I cannot keep them away from the water. There truly is no hesitation in jumping in a local lake and to swim out to get their dokken trainers. We use caution with our dogs – even though we already know they can swim. You always need to make sure the dog knows how to swim before throwing that stick or favorite toy out to deeper waters. Never keep the dog on a leash in deep waters. If the leash were to get stuck on a rock, the dog would be stranded in deep waters. Please take precautionary measures when there is water involved!
Start with the puppies. Introduce them to water in their wading pool or even when you bathe them. It all should be fun. If they seem afraid then you need to entice the puppy with a tasty snack just to join you in the water. Get in that pool with them and splash and have some fun. Once they are comfortable with the water, they will soon experience the fun. You might even want to consider a life jacket for the puppy. They come in all shapes and sizes. Our golden grands – our HGT puppies – are enjoying their wading pool. They seem to jump right into the 8 inches of water the pool allows – sometimes they take all their jolly balls and drop each one in their pool before jumping in themselves.
The controllable water areas that we have here at HGT are always supervised. When you bring your puppies and dogs to those those lakes, rivers, streams you really need to make sure the pup or dog knows how to swim and to always supervise them. Water ways can go from shallow waters to immediate drops of 5 – 6 feet, so I would strongly recommend for the puppy to wear a life jacket. This allows you some peace of mind, it offers the puppy some well-deserved freedom and it builds the confidence while he learns that swimming is all fun and is a good thing.
If you want your puppy to learn how to swim with you in your pool, you will need to make sure he knows where the pool steps are located. Most dogs just jump in and enjoy swimming with you but the problem for them could be in exiting the water and getting out of the pool – especially if they do not know how to exit or where the steps are located. You might even want to consider a doggy ramp for getting in and out of the pool easily.
I hope I was able to answer your questions regarding water safety. Enjoy and be safe! Pam