Lurchers and water?

[bird 9,872]

Where that  post  with that black lurcher jumping into the river  think getting a stick? Just wanted to know how he got to do that?  As lurchers I've had with lot sighthound on the mix. Never liked water  go up to there chest, but that's  it no deeper  lol  

[comanche 2,989]

Don't  think l ever had one that wouldn't. 

Edited September 24 by comanche

[bird 9,872]

Good pics  , how old were  they when you got them in the water.like say my last to and the old one go in up  to there chest,  but wouldn't swim, try them as pups etc, but just wouldn't have it. The closed I got , one day Buck my 1x gsd xgrey , knocked a fox out of cover. Fox ran the other side deep stream, going up the bank, he jumped  in swam lit bit, then gotbup the bank after fox, it got away, so thought  we'll he swim then, but he still  don't like water never changed  in 12 years,  maybe it me doing something  wrong to start them ?

 

[comanche 2,989]

I just take them out as  as puppies. Carry them about when they are little so they just take different sights, sounds and terrain as normal . 

  Walk them on the lead in the shallows and through puddles. Once they are retrieving l toss a dummy on the far side of a shallow stream and work up to them wading and eventually swimming for retrieves in deeper water .

Having said that. I've had dogs that would gleefully  hurl themselves into deep water just for fun and  flounder through bogs in pursuit of something   , but on a casual walk would  step round little puddles as if they were infested by pirahnas 

 

Edited September 24 by comanche

[jeemes 4,483]

9 hours ago, bird said:

Where that  post  with that black lurcher jumping into the river  think getting a stick? Just wanted to know how he got to do that?  As lurchers I've had with lot sighthound on the mix. Never liked water  go up to there chest, but that's  it no deeper  lol  

As said if you start from puppyhood, not too bad but Ive never had a Greyhound cross that naturally liked water. Maybe in countries where its warmer it might be easier.

[bird 9,872]

8 hours ago, comanche said:

I just take them out as  as puppies. Carry them about when they are little so they just take different sights, sounds and terrain as normal . 

  Walk them on the lead in the shallows and through puddles. Once they are retrieving l toss a dummy on the far side of a shallow stream and work up to them wading and eventually swimming for retrieves in deeper water .

Having said that. I've had dogs that would gleefully  hurl themselves into deep water just for fun and  flounder through bogs in pursuit of something   , but on a casual walk would  step round little puddles as if they were infested by pirahnas 

 

Thanks mate good info, if I ever get another pup, I might do that.

[bird 9,872]

25 minutes ago, jeemes said:

As said if you start from puppyhood, not too bad but Ive never had a Greyhound cross that naturally liked water. Maybe in countries where its warmer it might be easier.

Now that's very interesting  point, yeh Spain, etc warmer countries true.but being honest might lurcher work back then been lamping, and what Buck caught apart from few rabbits, ir foxes, bigger things  he be in the water  with them lol

[comanche 2,989]

5 hours ago, bird said:

Now that's very interesting  point, yeh Spain, etc warmer countries true.but being honest might lurcher work back then been lamping, and what Buck caught apart from few rabbits, ir foxes, bigger things  he be in the water  with them lol

Bird , l must apologise.  I said l never had a dog that didn't  swim but l have just remembered that l did have one. Only briefly though.

I had a classic looking 70s pied deerhound lurcher "sapling" dumped on me after l stupidly said l would find a home for her. She went on a deer  on the far bank of a small river.

Unfortunately the river was choked  bank to bank with duckweed and looked like solid ground. 

Being swallowed up and plunged into deep water mid flight had quite a traumatic effect on her.  

After that she wouldn't look at a deer ,which was a blessing as l was living in tied accommodation on a big Estate . I don't  know if she ever got over her ensuing fear of water because l managed to rehome her.

I think the point about  it being easier to get a dog keen on swimming in warmer countries  could be valid as the owner is more likely to go in the water themselves.

Having said that ; l had a Zimbabwean lady as a lodger for a couple of years. She was a pet hypnotherapist( edited thanks to stupid predictive text) That should read " pet HYDROTHERAPIST !!!!!                and her patients included cats!   

When l asked what were the hardest dogs to get to swim she said ridgebacks and basenjis. Maybe being African breeds they had a genetic fear of ending up as crocodile food

 

 

 

 

       

Edited September 25 by comanche

[Samrog 425]

Can’t keep mine out of water, like been said before starts from a puppy and I went out of my way to encourage him in, ankle deep at 12-16 weeks. Great for cooling him down and fitness thru summer pain in the feck when he jumps in a stinking muddy hole tho

[Chunky11 150]

We have a 3 acre lake on our smallholding and you can't keep our Gsd out of the water but my Lurcher has no interest at all. I wonder if a gundog x would be more interested. 

[Aussie Whip 4,097]

I had a 3/4 whippet 1/4 pit who hated swimming but he caught quite a few rabbits when ferreting that tried to escape, swimming across dams. He wouldn't enter water usually.

[OldPhil 5,718]

On 24/09/2024 at 23:24, comanche said:

I just take them out as  as puppies. Carry them about when they are little so they just take different sights, sounds and terrain as normal . 

  Walk them on the lead in the shallows and through puddles. Once they are retrieving l toss a dummy on the far side of a shallow stream and work up to them wading and eventually swimming for retrieves in deeper water .

Having said that. I've had dogs that would gleefully  hurl themselves into deep water just for fun and  flounder through bogs in pursuit of something   , but on a casual walk would  step round little puddles as if they were infested by pirahnas 

 

You are going to miss the old Jukel when he goes Brother....

We always work on the same principle with our own rabbit dawgs,....Swimming and Retrieving are both useful disciplines , and when combined, they open up a myriad of opportunities to exercise a lurcher , both physically and mentally.... I'm not much of a swimmer myself so I always walk out backwards into the deep water, with a puppy on a short lead...some have a bit of a panic,...but, if you keep calm and collected yourself, they soon relax and start to swim...

.Once they are confident , the sky is the limit and more so in the warm weather when the ground is bone dry and hard as gun metal,..

I prefer to give a dog 10 good long swims, pushing out to fetch the dummy...

.You cannot beat this for building up their muscles in a safe way...

 

Edited Friday at 20:52 by OldPhil

[big feet 324]

My dog loved the water, could swim for miles. Mind you he didn't swim very far when I tied him down with weights, RIP.

[bird 9,872]

6 hours ago, comanche said:

Bird , l must apologise.  I said l never had a dog that didn't  swim but l have just remembered that l did have one. Only briefly though.

I had a classic looking 70s pied deerhound lurcher "sapling" dumped on me after l stupidly said l would find a home for her. She went on a deer  on the far bank of a small river.

Unfortunately the river was choked  bank to bank with duckweed and looked like solid ground. 

Being swallowed up and plunged into deep water mid flight had quite a traumatic effect on her.  

After that she wouldn't look at a deer ,which was a blessing as l was living in tied accommodation on a big Estate . I don't  know if she ever got over her ensuing fear of water because l managed to rehome her.

I think the point about  it being easier to get a dog keen on swimming in warmer countries  could be valid as the owner is more likely to go in the water themselves.

Having said that ; l had a Zimbabwean lady as a lodger for a couple of years. She was a pet hypnotherapist( edited thanks to stupid predictive text) That should read " pet HYDROTHERAPIST !!!!!                and her patients included cats!   

When l asked what were the hardest dogs to get to swim she said ridgebacks and basenjis. Maybe being African breeds they had a genetic fear of ending up as crocodile food

 

 

 

 

       

Haha like the crocodile  bit, a fookin pit x grey just jump in , and who said ridgeback  thick. Lol

[lurchers 2,768]

y old bitch was mad for feather on water,even out lamping she would be in trying to catch the ducks or geese in it.Ive got some pics here of her in it,but my black bitch would only go up past her ankles then think feck that