The hot summer is coming, and some dog owners may take their dogs to swim to cool down. Many people think that dogs can swim. If they just meet some dogs that can swim, they will think that all dogs can swim. Since dogs can swim, wouldn’t it be a metaphysical mistake to take them swimming?

Just like one person likes to eat rice, and ten people around him like to eat rice, it seems that everyone likes to eat rice? Maybe some people like to eat steamed buns or noodles?

Can our Chinese Garden Dogs swim? In fact, this is only part of it. Like Pug, Pekingese, Chow Chow, etc., they can basically only splash in the water a few times. And they are just one type of Chinese pastoral dogs. Whether they can swim or not really involves many factors.

Labrador retrievers actually do not come from the Labrador region, but from Newfoundland. You may know Newfoundland because its fishery and seafood farming industry is world-famous. Labrador was originally called It is a small Newfoundland dog, St. John's water retriever, black water retriever, etc., because it was not used as a guide dog or search and rescue dog at the beginning, but was used by local fishermen to retrieve cod and assist in retrieving cod after landing. He set the hook and helped drag the wet and heavy fishing net back to the shore. He often went into the water to help his master fish.

The Labrador's body structure is very adapted to life in the water. It is small in size, but very strong. It is a very strong swimmer. The overall shape is streamlined, and it has a double layer of short hair with dense hair inside. The down layer can prevent them from freezing in the cold sea water, and their work efficiency is much higher than that of long-haired Newfoundland dogs!

What other dog breeds have short legs or short nasal cavities?

Pug dogs, French Bulldogs, English Bulldogs, Corgis, these dogs are all very unsuited to swimming. Why?

First of all, the limbs of these dog breeds are short but strong, suitable for sprinting and bursting over short distances. This is related to the nature of their work of cattle herding and bullfighting. Along with such work, these dogs often have nasal passages that are close to the face and facilitate blood drainage. They have wrinkles on their faces. This design is particularly useful when working, but it kills them when swimming!

On the one hand, short-legged dogs are not as easy to push in the water as long-legged dogs because the contact surface is small. In addition, the narrow nasal passages themselves require high breathing requirements, and they are also prone to choking on water. Therefore, we found that short-legged dogs flopped in the water. It is very powerful, but if you are not careful, it only takes two minutes for the dog to choke on the water and die!

In addition, many people have to spend a lot of money to hire a coach to learn how to swim. Why do you think dogs can do it naturally, but they are not fishes?!

​Just like people living near water in the south often learn to swim, but there are still some who are born unable to swim.

In places like the north where it is almost impossible to swim in the water, there will be a few people who can learn to swim, but most of them can't swim either.

Just throw the dog into the water and let it swim? This is murder!

So how do we determine whether a dog can swim?

First of all: Let’s look at the breed of the dog first Generally speaking, if the dog’s previous job is not related to water, then it basically has no swimming ability (it will not be able to swim a few times in the water). It’s called swimming, that’s called playing with water, no excuses, thank you!), like sled dogs, they can float in the water for a while, but they are very eager to get ashore.

What are the dogs whose specialty is swimming? The first is the water spaniel: Portuguese water spaniel, Spanish water spaniel, Irish water spaniel and Dutch Rude spaniel, American water spaniel, long-haired lop-eared spaniel...

In addition to water retrievers, some retrievers often have the ability to swim because they need to catch and retrieve prey in the water, such as golden retrievers, Labrador retrievers, curly-coated retrievers, and smooth-coated retrievers. Retrievers, Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, and Nova Scotia Duck Hunting Retrievers. If the dog at home is one of these types of dogs, then there is basically a 95% chance that it is not afraid of water and can quickly learn to swim. , of course, there is a chance that some of these retrievers may also be landlubbers.

Second: Determine whether a dog can swim from its behavior.

If the dog is not afraid of water, and even likes to wallow in puddles or mire, then we can treat it as a pet that can come into contact with water first. If it is unable to avoid a puddle when it sees it, then such a pet is 100% safe. I like water and am not very good at swimming.

Or you can take the initiative to take your pet to the swimming pool to see if it wants to go in. This is the first step in teaching your pet to swim so that it will not resist.

Next: The dog owner needs to determine whether he really wants to teach his dog to swim.

There are many benefits of swimming for dogs. It can strengthen muscles and at the same time will not put too much pressure on joints. Therefore, some pets who have undergone joint surgery will use swimming when they are recovering from exercise, such as patients with arthritis. Dogs with hip joint disease are not suitable for strenuous exercise, but swimming puts less burden on their joints and can exercise their muscles.

At the same time, swimming can correctThe dog's splayed shape will not appear splayed due to the tiles because the force exerts even force in the water.

In addition, swimming consumes more energy for dogs, which can quickly consume their energy after exercising.

If you decide to teach your dog how to swim, you can actually use your dog’s life jacket at the beginning! Yes, dogs actually have life jackets too. In addition, the most important thing is: never push the dog into the water when the dog is desperately trying to get ashore! Most dogs that can swim will not behave in this state. If it is very scared and dives into the water, It's very fierce, so be careful to let the dog go ashore first. Otherwise, the dog will sink into the water after being exhausted!