# Advice



## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

They love to swim. My GSD is American bred out of good German lines and he swims like a battle ship. Lily loves to retrieve balls in the pool and Javelin was pretty small last summer so I can't say much about his swimming abilities but I am guessing once he sees how much Lily and Peeves love it he will come along.

Swimming is the best exercise for them in the summer. I like that they can be very active but I don't have to worry about them having heat stroke. Also it works very different muscle groups.


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## FireStorm (Nov 9, 2013)

Hans likes to swim now and is very much a retriever. It took him a while to actually learn how to swim though. He's so lean that he can't really float. If he stops paddling he will sink, where goldens and labs I've known can swim really slow and just float.


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## Caddy (Nov 23, 2014)

Abbey was only 7 months last summer, learned to swim quickly and loved the water. She will fetch anything we throw in the lake, ball, stick or frisbee. I hope Dolly learns to love the water also, we'll see.


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

FireStorm said:


> Hans likes to swim now and is very much a retriever. It took him a while to actually learn how to swim though. He's so lean that he can't really float. If he stops paddling he will sink, where goldens and labs I've known can swim really slow and just float.



Labs are beautiful swimmers. My Lab could cover a large distance effortlessly and swiftly. There was no struggle, was incredibly streamlined and just cut through that water like it was nothing. They also have an "otter" tail that is like a rudder. It might appear to be slow because there's no noise at all...like a hot knife through butter. But I was swimming with her in a lake near our house and we were going to the other side of the lake. I couldn't come close to keeping up with her and I'm a good swimmer and was younger then too. lol. 

This is on the golf course in Idaho where I lived for a time.



Although Poodles are also wonderful swimmers (retrievers are built for it) I've never taken mine swimming. I must find a place this summer and try them out. This is as close as we got to swimming. 





My little Chihuahuas could swim. Of course, they don't have the webbed feet and they glared at me when they got back to shore when I stuck them in the lake at the end of a dock on a very hot day in Idaho. lol. They swam surprisingly well. 

Swimming is a wonderful exercise. I was always a swimmer myself. (competitive) It works all kinds of muscles and does so without all the wear and tear. Good luck!


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

zyppi said:


> ...I'm pretty sure that, from what I've read, that a poodle pup might be less of a handful than my German bred German Shepherds....


I don't know about that! Mine has been the epitome of a handful. But, I have never had a German GSD, so I have no basis for comparison  

My Maizie is a beautiful swimmer, but she doesn't like getting in and out of the pool. She prefers shallow water like in a kiddie pool or lake with a gradual entry. She also loves to play in the hose and sprinklers.


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

zooeysmom said:


> I don't know about that! Mine has been the epitome of a handful. But, I have never had a German GSD, so I have no basis for comparison
> 
> My Maizie is a beautiful swimmer, but she doesn't like getting in and out of the pool. She prefers shallow water like in a kiddie pool or lake with a gradual entry. She also loves to play in the hose and sprinklers.



I can attest from first hand experience that...both Doberman and GSD puppies make Poodle puppies look like sloth babies. lol. Well, maybe not quite but almost. :act-up:


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## Mfmst (Jun 18, 2014)

We have had no luck enticing our Standard into the pool and we have wide sunning step so he could easily walk out. Buck must think it's a toxic pond. He does love puddles, sprinklers, hoses and the rain. I love a dog that is happy to go outside in the rain. Year around opportunities for that!


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## seminolewind (Mar 11, 2016)

My spoo loves to splash all the water out of her water dish. Does that count? Other than that, I could take her to one of the thousands of ponds here, but we have alligators. : (

It will have to be the beach at some point.


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

seminolewind said:


> My spoo loves to splash all the water out of her water dish. Does that count? Other than that, I could take her to one of the thousands of ponds here, but we have alligators. : (
> 
> It will have to be the beach at some point.


:scared: Alligators! That would just freak me out! Be glad she doesn't love to swim. Actually, it can be a curse if your dog is off leash or if you live where the dog has more space to run around. My Lab, when given a chance, would head straight for any body of water and wade right in and swim. She LOVED it and would get into disgusting water, nice, clear water, ponds, ditches, rivers, lakes. You name it. We always lived in the country on acreage when I had her and there were often those kinds of opportunities. 

I would not love it if my Poodles, when off leash went head long into water every time they had the opportunity, like off leash when hiking or what have you. What a mess. My Lab, Bonnie would take forever to get dry. The water never reached her skin much but the outer fur...yikes! And she often needed a bath. So if I didn't plan on it, it could make for some serious extra hassle.

So it's fun to see water loving dogs having fun....when you_ plan _on it. But it's not _always_ a blessing.


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## seminolewind (Mar 11, 2016)

I would only take her to the beach.

I have a horse that I ride in a huge drainage ditch (canal) that runs for 6 miles. The worst it gets is maybe 3 feet high in spots. My horse loves it (to my calves). She splashes continuously with one leg then with the other leg. I have to keep her going because she will lay down in it. It's a lot of fun and we get soaked.

Oh yea, advice. This spoo puppy has been the highest energy dog we've had. She just doesn't stop jumping running and growling until I play some games with her outside. I guess I've never had a dog that was a necessity to de-energize. Other wise she keeps herself content with toys.


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## AngelAviary (Aug 12, 2014)

I guess I have one of the "odd balls". Stella does not swim, or like water of any kind outside of her baths! Maybe because I kept her out of it and clean when she was young and I was showing her (and trying to keep her coat clean!) She is a tomboy for sure and loves to be in the dirt and leaves and sticks and such but she will not go in the sprinkler or use the little dog pool we bought for the girls last summer. My Border Collie is a sprinkler hound! My yard is the mine field result of her love of sprinklers! She is in them until she is dripping wet! But NOT Stella! She runs in the opposite direction!


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## ericwd9 (Jun 13, 2014)

All the poodles I have known loved water. Grace will look over her shoulder at me and ask if she can go in and if I am too slow she will assume "YES" then she will head for the water at light speed and swim, swim ,swim. Hates baths and the garden hose. She caught a small shark (18 inches) the other day and brought it to me. (we ate it later) Now she gets serious looking for them. She spent about 3 weeks on a river at Bingara in NSW a year or so ago. During daylight hours she spent most of her time in the shallow water and caught a few catfish. GSDs are easier to train and less energy. Once in training mode a GSD will keep its focus for a long time. Try that with a spoodle.
Eric


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## SSCarr (Dec 11, 2013)

*Flaccid Tail or Swimmer's Tail*

My Gunnar loves the water and loves to swim. That said, I had him out at the lake boating on Labor Day weekend, and from the beach threw a stick several/many times into the water where he would jump in and fetch the stick and swim back to the shore. I can't say how many times we repeated this, but later that night he was in terrible pain in his rear end. His tail was drooping and he wouldn't wag or hold his tail up. I got online and found out it's a condition called Flacid Tail Syndrome, aka Swimmer's Tail, Limber Tail, or acute caudal myopathy, and is a disorder of the muscles in the tail, usually affecting working dogs. An injury occurring mostly in sporting or working dogs such as English Pointers, English Setters, Foxhounds, Beagles, and Labrador Retrievers. But...it happened to my precious 1-year-old Standard Poodle Gunnar Walks On Water. A trip to the veterinarian and a prescription of Rimadyl 50mg. did the trick though. He was fine in a couple of days. Didn't know if anyone else has ever had that happen with their poodle. I'm wondering if taking some of the pom-pom down a bit would be helpful. He has a very long tail.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Swimming is *very* vigorous exercise. At the beginning of swim season we always limit how much swimming is allowed even though Lily would retrieve from water until she sank from exhaustion. On occasions where they have overdone it Lily and Peeves have ended up groaning because they were so overworked. I rather doubt that Gunnar's grooming had anything to do with this injury. It was too much too soon. I am glad he is better, but suggest you limit the amount of retrieves you send him on. Build his endurance gradually.


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## Charmed (Aug 4, 2014)

I can only tell you about my personal experience. My GSD came from Belgium and I had him for his entire life of 16 years. Early on I trained him to lunge at the end of a long line (like a horse), so that it would take the edge off of him and he could focus. I took him to obedience classes once a year for thirteen years. He was never comfortable being in the house. Being in southern California, and having three children, much of our life was outdoors, too. So much for my fantasy of having a dog sleep on the bed with me. To sum it up, in my experience, the GSD had it's own agenda, and the Standard Poodle's agenda was to please me. I knew the poodle was a good fit for the family when I walked in the living room and my youngest daughter was watching cartoons, using the poodle as her pillow. I checked to make sure the dog was okay...she was sound asleep.


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