# Do German Shepherds like to SWIM?



## thepoultrygirl (Jun 24, 2009)

My GSD is barely a year old. I'm going sand camping at the lake in august and would like to take her with me, but I'm not sure if German Shepherds even like to swim? It will be hot, but we'll be right on the water, and she'll have endless opportunities to cool off exect for being crated at night.
HOW ABOUT YOU? EVER TAKEN YOUR GSD BEACH CAMPING? DO THEY LIKE TO SWIM? We don't live near water, so I've never had a chance to see if she wants to swim or not! She's a long coat if it makes any difference.


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## SpeedBump (Dec 29, 2008)

Some do, some don't

http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/ubb...&gonew=1#UNREAD


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## elisabeth_00117 (May 17, 2009)

Mine does not like swimming in the pool (inground) but LOVES swimming in his kiddie pool or in the lake.. LOVES the lake and river!!!

I can hardly get him out!


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## tawnyhillshepherds (Mar 30, 2008)

Mine all love it but it is harder for my LH (that hair gets really heavy when they are wet!) so my experience is that all of mine love to swim but don't force her and make sure you are with her the first time she goes over her head (Believe it or not some dogs haven't a clue how to swim and actually sink!) Even if she doesn't like to swim I'm sure she will love wading and keeping cool that way and bet she will love the camping!


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## Jessica H (Mar 14, 2009)

Dozer loves swimming, he even jumps off the back of the boat. 

Here is my recent trip to the lake.
http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/ubb...rue#Post1142336


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## JJDBike (Dec 11, 2003)

My 1st two loved to swim, especially when it is warm out. They want to get out. They both hod to learn but they quickly figuered it out. My last on used to bite at the water like she was playing w/ it. I can't wait to get my latest two resuces in the water. We'll do some hiking in the White Mountains on our upcomming trip to NH, I'm sure they will appreciate a cooling dip in a mountain stream.
JD


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

all of mine like the hose and swiming. my dog
is 23 months old. he just started swiming.
we're in the woods a lot with a lot of dogs.
when the other dogs went swiming my dog
would only get his feet wet. slowly he started going in
deeper and deeper. last summer he only went
untill the water reached a foot deep or so. i could see
him going in deeper and deeper. 

i guess it's like anything else some like
to swim and get hosed while others don't. i've had Lab
owners and Golden owners tell me their dogs
won't near the water.

since this is your dogs first time swiming maybe
you should get a life jacket for her and have her 
attached to a long line.


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## LDB158 (Jan 25, 2010)

I was surprised a couple years ago to find out Speedy loves to swim. I always take him walking at the park and there is a stream there that he would always go in and splash in when he got hot. I got to the point where I would always make that place a spot we would stop and I decided to play fetch with him there. I would at first keep a retractable leash on him and throw a stick into the stream and he would swim out and get it and come back. Now when we go, I take the leash off and let him go and splash around and swim all he wants to. One of my goals is to eventually take him to the beach or our local lake and see how he does there. I want to rent a boat out on the lake and take him and Satin out there.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Jax screams, twist, and yodels as soon as she gets near water until I let her go. She's so embarrassing. :wild:


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

Nah!!!! *wink*

Actually, I'm not sure if he really likes swimming, or if it's just a function of loving fetch/Kong Wubba. He does go in on his own to cool off or get a drink.


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## Doubleminttwin (Aug 21, 2009)

Baya hasn't quite figured out swiming but she LOVES to wade and play in the water. I think come summer when we can swim with her she will swim with us :fingerscrossed: I really hope she eventually comes to love it because shes going to be spending a lot of time at the water anyway


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## Andaka (Jun 29, 2003)

Tag loves swimming. And when he gets tired, he likes to float on his raft.


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## Chicagocanine (Aug 7, 2008)

Wow, looks like Tag sure has a hard life! 

Liesje do you do dock diving? Those are amazing photos.


This is Bianca's contribution to the discussion:


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## DianaB (Jan 3, 2007)

Siena loves the water. She'll primarily swim in lakes or ponds (actual swimming), but will go into the ocean too, just won't go too far out like some dogs do. She likes puddles and all that getting mucky mess, but I bought her a pool to wade in and she had no idea what to do. It sat around for a couple of years (unused) so I donated it to my friend's one year old as a sandbox (which is what it actually was).

Diving, not for her


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## SuzyE (Apr 22, 2005)

Paige doesn't like deep water, she will swim only out of desperation. She will play on a beach 24/7. She loves beaches/waves. When we camp we used to tie her out on the beach because no one can play 15 hours like Paige.


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## Samba (Apr 23, 2001)

If your German Shepherd likes to swim, then you can go dock diving! Lots of fun!


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

We can't wait!


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## Northern GSDs (Oct 30, 2008)

Some GSDs love swimming, some like it, some just like to wade around. 



Jax08 said:


> Jax screams, twist, and yodels as soon as she gets near water until I let her go. She's so embarrassing. :wild:


LOL It must be the name that causes them to do that!! My Jax does the exact same thing. We live on the lake and in the summer when we are on the dock all Jax wants to do is swim swim swim swim swim. If I don't swim with her or throw her toy in the water she will swim around the dock until I have to force her to take a break and hang out on the dock. She will also dive underwater into the water to retrieve something from the bottom, so we need to be very careful that her toys are good floating toys and don't become waterlogged, otherwise she will just keep going for it. If we didn't have a fenced back yard with gated access to the water, she would always be down there swimming.

Especially embarassing is the fact that our home is situated on a bay, so when the seasonal folk come to their lots across the bay in the summer you can actually see them looking over as she yodels to get to her toy. When she "swims" to get out to her toy she actually uses so much force that she propels her whole upper body out of the water...seriously! She is getting a bit quieter and calmer now but still......I think this summer I will have to videotape her and post here to give everyone a good laugh.


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## Northern GSDs (Oct 30, 2008)

Andaka said:


> Tag loves swimming. And when he gets tired, he likes to float on his raft.


That is too cool!!


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## spidermilk (Mar 18, 2010)

Jax08 said:


> Jax screams, twist, and yodels as soon as she gets near water until I let her go. She's so embarrassing. :wild:


Dax doesn't make a lot of noise or anything but I have to stay alert if we are walking on leash and a lake or stream comes to view because he will dart for it. There is a lake nearby and I thought I could let him swim while holding the leash and he nearly pulled me in!

I don't know why but Dax LOVES to swim. That is half of the reason we go to the dog park- because there is a huge, clean lake where it is safe to allow him off-leash. That is most of what he does when we are there (and roll in the mud). We want to get him a kiddie pool because he LOVES the one at dog class (he "digs" in it, lays down, and puts his head underwater) but they have been sold out here because it is so hot!

Can't blame him though, sometimes I wear a black tshirt to see what it would be like to be him and it is unbearable! Needless to say we have only been walking to somewhere we can swim, in the shade, or at night.


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## treemedic (Jul 15, 2010)

We can't keep Heike out of the water. She just turned 16wks


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## Caledon (Nov 10, 2008)

Dakota loves to swim.


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

NONE of my current shepherds like water unless they're drinking it. We took Shelby to the beach yesterday and she tried to drag me back to the car as soon as she saw the water. Shasta is a work in progress. Riley acts like you're trying to kill him if you get him in the water. Zena loved to swim. Throw a ball in and she could go for hours.


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## nikkiscriv (Feb 10, 2010)

My Kali absolutely LOVES to swim! She loves water in general.. playing in her water bowl, chasing the sprinkler, swimming in the pool, etc.


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## High Impact (Jul 16, 2010)

Zoot can't stand baths or the hose BUT she will head directly into a lake. She will fetch a ball for hours on end if you allow her.


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## ba1614 (Feb 17, 2010)

My Abby loves water of any kind as well.
She started going off the end of the dock this past weekend. It scared me a little the first time because she hadn't done it to that point, (9 1/2 months now), but I jumped in and when I came up and turned around to try an' coax her again she was about 10ft in front of me, and coming fast! I headed for shore and almost made it unscathed, her paw got my forearm once.
That was Fri night, Saturday she was going off the dock running after her tug toy, and by Sunday she was climbing up onto the raft, which is about 50ft from the dock. We helped her up onto the raft 4 times and then she was off on her own.

From about 3 months she's played in the water, and loved it, but never took the plunge to full out swimming. It was like someone flipped a light switch this weekend! It's awesome because I love the water and have been hoping she would swim with me.


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## frillint1 (Sep 2, 2010)

I love those shots of him jumping in! My dog don't like to swim, but he goes in when I ask him to for exercise since he has arthritis and it hurts to walk to long. Swimming is easier and it works well.


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## Andaka (Jun 29, 2003)

Tag had his own raft for when he got tired of swimming and just wanted to hang out.


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## GSDBESTK9 (Mar 26, 2002)

My GSD Gala was a fish in another life.


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## JKlatsky (Apr 21, 2007)

Mine do...
Argos in the Gulf as a puppy









Argos and Anka at Big South Fork in Tennessee


















And not that this necessarily counts as swimming...but they love the kiddie pool too! (Although Anka wonders what Cade is doing)


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## Eva von Selah (May 7, 2010)

Eva loves to swim! 

She followed me out into a river I was flyfishing on when she was 13 weeks. She's loved it ever since! Way more than my brother's yellow lab that had to be coaxed into the water with hotdog slices.

Eva will wade right in and swim laps in the deep pools or jump off of the bank with a big sploosh! Sometimes she just crosses the river to see what's on the othe side.


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## KS Andrea (Jul 8, 2010)

*Yes!*










Pictures by hailey2007_2007 - Photobucket


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## Larien (Sep 26, 2010)

YES! With a passion! Rem is my first, and he's just a pup and it's winter, lol, so he'll have to wait until late spring - but he splashes in his water bowl and tries to get into the shower with me, he loves the water!

My neighbors used to have a stunningly beautiful GSD called Max - I petsat him whenever they went away. We have a lake on our street, so he'd follow me down every day (no leash, aren't these dogs amazing) and play fetch in the lake for hours on end, he loved it! He was aging and arthritic at the time, it soothed his joints. Great exercise!


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