How did your dog learn to enjoy water?

I had a cocker who never liked the water. Maybe instead of trying to get them to like water, you can look at the problem as how to keep them cool. Any air-conditioned dog friendly cafes you can sit at? I was just in “Europe” (for a little longer anyway) and there were lots of indoor dog friendly places. I would imagine having lots of drinking water available to them would help but I’m sure you do that.

My dog got thirsty and just started drinking.

Seriously, though—had two golden lab / setter mixes—we thought they would enjoy water because of the breed they are and their webbed feet and tendency to enjoy sloshing around after heavy springtime rains.

We got them a kiddie pool and they loved it in the summer. as cooling their feet I think helped them remain cool (like me, they loved snow and cold more than the hot summer when they were more languid). Henceforth, we took them anywhere that there weren’t ducks for them to go after, which would have been problematic.

Yeah. A kiddie pool is best. Then, they can control the situation better. Those pools can be found for really cheap.

If you just want to douse them, to cool them down. Go with water from a bucket, gently poured on. Avoid the eyes, and nose.

A kiddie pool is a great idea.

I have 2 Black Labs. The male totally refuses to get wet & you can’t get the female wet often enough. The female lives in my kiddie pool & IF I pick up the hose & even look toward my male, he pulls a Houdini & disappears. When it rains, the male heads straight for his dog house & the female stands out in the middle of the yard looking toward the sky smiling!!! I simply RESPECT his dislike of water & let him be. The kiddie pool stays full for whenever either of them needs to cool off & I leave it up to them to use it. The female rolls in it daily…the male thinks it’s for when he’s thirsty!!!

Back in the 70’s, I had a Golden Retriever who loved to go to the lake. I took him out every weekend to go swimming. All I had to do was open the front door & say “Who wants to go swimming?” & he’d beat me to the car!!!

1. When he learned to battle the water, by putting his mouth over active water sprinklers in the ground.

2. When he learned to float above the water in an inflatable raft (puncturing it with his claws).

There was a valve in the yard that would be opened for irrigation. I dug a large hole, kept the water on just enough to keep the hole filled with water and he would dive in there every time he got hot or just felt like it.

I think it’s innate. Some dogs adore the water, and other dogs won’t go near it.

Sadie has never been willing to get into water. We’ve tried urging and persuading, but she ignores us. We’ve gently led her into quiet, shallow water, but she gets out immediately. We’ve tossed-in treats and encouraged her to fetch them, yet she won’t do so. My little girl simply isn’t a water-dog.

Its kind of a state of mind for dogs. Some things dogs think are really strange or unacceptable but sometimes after having a little fun with it, they come to love it.

I’ve had dogs that are so terrified of storms and rain that they will not even get near a window if there is a pleasant shower outside. That’s usually learned behavior. I’ve had a dog that barked and acted uneasy whenever I would wear a hat.

One pair of dogs I had were born outdoors and lived outdoors for months in their early life, afraid of coming in the house. Sometime at midlife, the more adventurous of the pair would come inside and run around excitedly, and past midlife, both would come in the house some. A second pair was kind of the opposite—they were afraid to stay outside, but would go outside to relieve themselves or they would go outside with us.

Dogs just have to try things out, and for whatever reason, some will discover some things are weird to them, but kind of exciting—or they come to love it.

I kept a kiddy pool filled with cool water but the dogs wouldn’t have any thing to do with it. But they’d swim at the lake or in a pond.
I had a little dog once that was 9 years old before she discovered that she LOVES water. Our street had flooded and the kids were playing in it. They RAN across the street and without even thinking about it Snuffy bonzied after them! She got to the other side and spun around in shock at what she’d just done! She stared at the water…then ran across again! And again! And again! She was beside herself with that discovery.
She was a cool dog.