Time to make a splash

With warm weather finally upon us, it's the perfect opportunity to improve your dog's confidence in the water

- Ellena Swift

Like many, I am so relieved to finally see the sunshine. It seems to have taken forever this spring and summer to warm up, but finally we are seeing some decent warmer spells. In one respect it is not great for the dogs working as heatstroke is very serious. However, the positive is that as the weather warms up, so too does the water, meaning it is the perfect time to not only train your older dogs but also introduce any younger ones to the water. I have three such dogs all at different levels that could do with some training on water.

To begin with, I have a nine-month-old golden retriever puppy. She is working beautifully on the ground with her basics relatively solid. She is steady, walks to heel on and off lead and will do a nice mark and memory retrieve with a good delivery. This will be the first time I have taken her to water and so I am genuinely starting from the very beginning.

Building confidence 

Some dogs will naturally take to water easily and confidently. Others need a few visits to build them up. How your dog reacts on their first visit will totally dictate how each session plays out. One of the bitches I train took three separate visits to the water  before she was swimming confidently. Her water work was always really good but she just took a little longer to grow in confidence. She started by flying into the water, thinking she could run across it, before quickly disappearing under and splashing her way out. It’s a classic scenario for so many dogs.