My gun dog is water-shy, what can I do?

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Praise and encouragement should be given at all times during training.

Monday, 18 June 2007

My two year-old spaniel dog refuses to enter water. How can I overcome this problem?

OUR EXPERTS
Jeremy Hunt
Jeremy has been breeding labradors for over 25 years. He is a member of the Kennel Club and lives in Lancashire and is well known as a writer on country sports and rural issues.

Mark Whitehouse
Mark is an 'A' panel Kennel Club judge for spaniels and has represented England six times in international gundog events. He trains and breeds labradors and spaniels at the Cheweky Gundog Kennels in Yorkshire.

MARK SAYS:

Water work can be a major stumbling block for all breeds of dogs, and I would recommend it be introduced at an early age, ideally between six and nine months.

TO BEGIN:
Locate a shallow entry point along the banking sides of a pond where you can enter the water yourself. This is so you can encourage your dog to wade in alongside you.

Remember, plenty of praise and encouragement should be given to your dog at all times during this exercise.

As your dog's confidence grows introduce short retrieves by throwing a small canvas dummy along the water's edge.

Repeat this exercise several times increasing the distance at every throw.

If your dog at any time refuses to retrieve the dummy or become stressed with the situation, shorten the distances you are throwing the dummy.

Try to ensure your dog never fails to retrieve the dummy, you can always increase the distance of the throw at a later stage once his confidence returns.

To move this exercise forward I would encourage young dogs to chase and follow more experienced and confident dogs into deeper areas of the water where they would have to start and learn to swim.
This type of play training is another way of developing your dog's confidence in water without causing any undue stresses, and I find this works for me every time.
I also ensure my early water training is done in the warmer weather months, and I never train young/novice dogs in water if the weather is icy and cold.

If you have have any gundog related questions/queries then please send them in to:
Gundog Questions, Shooting Gazette, PO Box 225, Stamford, Lincolnshire, PE9 2HS.

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Comments

Derek Watts delwatts@ntlworld.com

October 12 01:18

My first Spaniel while very young decided to take a leap off a high river bank into deep water. This made her very water shy I was able to cure the problem by wading in a shallow lake parallel to the edge gradually getting deeper until she floated off the bottom all the while talking softly and encouraging her.Once she gained confidence it ceased to be a problem and we progressed to water retrieves. Keep calm and talk softly stress will only make the dog less inclined to follow you.

Linda Shipley

April 01 13:09

With ref to water-shy gundog, I have a spaniel who refused to enter water from 10months-2years old, She would not wade out above her knees, I tried everthing similar as Mark mentioned to no avail. I even had 4 other dogs in the pond at same time, and i even out put on my swimming costume and swam with them, (summer time of course!) still she would not enter. What worked for me was to gently carry her into the water where her feet were just off the bottom and guide her to the edge while supporting her. Then each day gradually going a bit further out until she was swimming on her own.

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