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I have a 2 month old puppy and I was really hesitant to put her in our huge pool - but my dad decided to throw her in anyways! I freaked out but suprisingly enough she just paddled her way back to the steps. I coulden't believe it. My question is - Do dogs have the natural ability to swim? Even at 2 months old and 1 1/2 lbs? It was crazy.
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yeah for most dogs its instinctual. but some dogs cant swim , like i had a friend who had a dachsund(weiner dog) and it couldnt swim, they had to jump in and save it. dogs like labs can swim at like 8 weeks old
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yea its like a natural insitinct on how to swim. before we tamed dogs, they lived in teh wild and were required to swim for survival. its just imbeded in there genes now.
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I believe they do... my dog has hated water since we first got her in the pool (shes 2 now) but shes always managed to swim. I would be careful though because my dog actually jumped in on her own when she was about 3-4 monthes old but she couldn't swim because even though she was 5 pounds her collar was so heavy on her neck that it made her swim. Its actually better to get her in the pool now because at that age dogs are basically fearless... I wish i would have gotten her in more because the only times she was in before she was a year old was when she accidentally fell/jumped in and now my dad picks her up and carries her in but she kicks and squirms (sp?) and swims right to the steps and runs away from the pool. (and shes a 50 pound load now)
just make sure you care for her skin more... her skin is going to dry out just as much as yours does in the pool if not more. make sure you bathe her more often and get her a doggy moisturizer. Until she reaches about 1/4 of her adult weight (I am not sure what that is you didn't say what kind of dog she was) I wouldn't bring her in more than once a week or so because she can get sick from the chemicals in the pool
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Have you ever heard of the swimming move called "doggy paddle" it's based on the way dogs can move in water. Once my blind dog accidently fell in my pool and it was able to get out so they probably do have the natural ability to swim.
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Hey.
I asked my vet this one time.
& yes, dogs are pretty much born knowing how to swim. Even being so small and young.
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