Episode #114 Swimming, Kayaking & Paddle Boarding with Your Dog - Courtney Goblirsch

Do have an interest in teaching your dog to swim, kayak or paddle board with you? Today's episode is all about water sports and how to help your dog like them. 

Transcript

Amy: 0:00

This is the puppy training, Podcast, episode 114, swimming, kayaking and paddleboarding. This podcast designed to help you on your journey of becoming best friends through love and learning as you train your own dog from home, and I'm here to help you every step of the way. This is the puppy training podcast. And I'm your host, Amy Jensen. Hey, everybody, welcome to the puppy training Podcast. I'm so glad you're here. I appreciate you listening week to week. And today I have Courtney here with me. So I'm happy that she's here to talk about swimming, and also how to introduce your dogs to kayaks, paddle boards, and some of those fun water activities that we all enjoy every summer. So thanks, Courtney, for joining us.

Courtney: 0:48

Thanks, Amy. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Amy: 0:51

It's kind of towards the end of the summer, but every time the weather warms up, people tend to want to teach their dogs about water and how to swim, how would you recommend they get started?

Courtney: 1:02

Definitely trying to find all the safety aspects first. So if you're going to be in a pool, we're definitely going to want to just get your dog comfortable around the pool area before even ever going into the pool into that water. If you're in a lake scenario, you're not not just having them go straight in again, warming them up, get their feet in that water, build those positive around it, make it fun and rewarding. And then also if your puppy is very young, so say you get an eight week old puppy, you can definitely start this but make sure you are there to help. So if you're going to get them in that water, be in there with them, hold them, guide them, let them kick around just like you would a baby. Help them find those exits so that it is fun for them and not a scary experience.

Amy: 1:49

At what age is it okay to start teaching a puppy to swim.

Courtney: 1:53

I would say at eight weeks, as long as you are there and helping so you're in that pool, you're in that lake with them. Because we want to desensitize this doesn't mean at eight weeks, they need to go full force into that pool or lake. But you maybe you use your bathtub and you put some water in there and you get your dog exposed to splashing around and you know, an inch or two of water, building a positive with using high value rewards, getting them almost just desensitized to that water or to that movement, maybe splashing their face with it a little bit, right kind of dumping some water on their head to feel that experience of what happens if you are in a lake with a little bit bit of a ripple and it hits them in the face. So at eight weeks, definitely it's starting that desensitizing process and being there to supervise and help with that safety aspect there.

Amy: 2:43

I love the approach of let's help them like the water and let them go at their own pace with the water. So I love the idea of just starting with an inch of water and seeing you know how they interact with it and how they respond to it. What if you have a puppy that's fearful? What if they act a little bit afraid? What do you suggest then?

Courtney: 3:01

We definitely don't want to force that if a puppy is feeling fearful, that's only going to make them more scared, you know, of that water or that area that they're in. So again, it's just making it kind of step by step, you know, sitting in that area, not even necessarily in the water, let's say on the outside of the pool, and just sitting there and rewarding your puppy with a high value treat or a game of play, you know, that's obviously safe or at the lake sitting in a lawn chair and just rewarding them for watching that water come in and out. Again, maybe they take one step in, reward it and let them run away. If needed, it's going to build that confidence. And that's how it's gonna get them to want to go in versus just going in because we want them to So again, all on their own, do not want to be forcing that interaction with the water.

Amy: 3:48

Great advice. So as you mentioned, lakes and pools, what are the differences between swimming in a pool and swimming in a lake? Would there be any different advice that you have there?

Courtney: 3:59

Something that I've seen, the difference is, a lake usually has a very easy way to walk in, right, you're either maybe on a sandy beach, and they just can walk right into that water. So again, it kind of goes in where it touches the tip of their toes up to their knees and it keeps going up versus a pool. Sometimes depending on what you have. If you have an in ground pool, you may have that nice, you know where they can walk in, but I feel that like that's a little less common. So you're usually going to have a slip to the pool, right? If they're a puppy pool where they're going to be having to jump over a lip or a regular inground pool that you know they're going to have to step over a ledge. Those things can be very scary because they're kind of plunging right into that water. So that is where it's very important with a pool to teach them how to get in. If you have steps teach them where the steps are, how to get down the steps. When they're in you need to teach them how to get out because it's kind of like they're in a box. So if they're stuck on one side, and they can't get out because they don't know where Are those steps are that's going to cause a lot of panic versus again a lake they can kind of go anywhere and usually get out of that situation so those are the things I see with it is almost just entering and exiting is a huge part with a pool you know safety concerns and making sure they know how to get in and how to get out every single time they're in.

Amy: 5:22

That's a good point as you know, we they get into the pool and do they know how to get out and the lake like you said is so gradual that that does a nice job of letting the puppy go in easily versus a pool. They really are just plunging into water which can be scared.

Courtney: 5:37

Yes, definitely. Especially if they can't back out of it. Like we were talking about the foreseen the pool, sometimes it just right then and there it happens, and they can't back out as quickly as they could with the lake scenario.

Amy: 5:48

Let's go into maybe some more of the watersports that we find ourselves doing. I know around here, we have a lot of lakes and a lot of rivers and people adore kayaking. They like paddleboarding. Is it possible to do these activities with a dog?

Courtney: 6:02

Most definitely. And a lot of dogs love water. This is where it can be very important because if you're using a kayak if you're using a paddleboard, we don't really want them jumping off of it all the time into the water, right? We want them to know the difference between Hey, yeah, this is your time to go play in the water versus Hey, we're just going to hang out on this object that's floating on the water, which can be you know, a little hard for a puppy to understand if not trained.

Amy: 6:28

Do you mind explaining the process? Let's say you have a dog and they've never been on a kayak or they've never been on a paddleboard. And I want to do that with my dog. How do I get started?

Courtney: 6:39

Actually, when you're starting that I would suggest taking water out of the equation right away. So actually getting in that kayak getting that paddle board out in your lawn or in the normal area on ground and starting there. And why that is is because again, if you're starting this new experience of being in a kayak being on a paddleboard, it's unstable. Plus, if you're on the water that's going to movement, right so that could scare the dog. So let's take it back. Let's start on ground and let's just teach our puppy how to get in a kayak right that has a lip so we need to teach them how to get in how to get out. Teach them where to sit in the kayak, same for the paddleboard teach them to get on the paddleboard get off the paddleboard where to lay down on the paddleboard, that's your first step kind of identifying that place like the place queue, we want to identify where we want that puppy to be. So training that training them how to get on it, how to stay on it, that's going to be that first step to build that then you can take it out to the water right, and they stay on it versus jumping off right away. So working on that that might take a few training sessions, it might not happen on the first try and then building up a state. So once you have that they can get on they can get off by themselves. They can identify their spot on the kayak or the paddleboard, then we're going to work on that steak you so how long can they stay in that spot? Can you sit down in the kayak stand on the paddleboard without them moving, that's what we're going to want to do. So again, practicing this all on land first, to where you can stand on that paddle board your puppies on that place spot, sit in that kayak with a rower if you have or a paddle, pretending to paddle as your dog is sitting there. And then once you have all of that successfully going good for you, then we can take it to the water and do the same steps. We're not going to go to that last step where we put them on the water on the paddleboard and we just go for it. We're going to go in that lower level water and we're going to ask them or kind of ask them to get on it, bring them to that lower level water, see if they stay on, you know, reward them for that scenario, then get ourselves in that Kayak or get ourselves on that paddleboard and do all the same steps that you did back on the ground.

Amy: 9:00

Do you have a favorite life vest for your dogs when you go out? And Kayak or paddleboard?

Courtney: 9:05

Good question. So I don't know if there's any brand that I specifically love. But I just I love the ones that have a lot of support. So something that is going to clip under the belly and around the chest. And that has padding on those areas. So nothing that's just going to have like a straight clip around the chest or under the belly. We want that extra padding because as they get in the water that pulls up on them. So we don't want that to be uncomfortable. But I have gotten a few brands off of Amazon in the past and I've loved all of them. As long as they fit in. They have that pattern so that it's not just putting pressure on one area.

Amy: 9:40

Will you explain a little bit of how to get a dog used to wearing a life vest if they've never worn one before.

Courtney: 9:46

Yes, definitely. And I actually think there is a video on this on Baxter & Bella a long time ago that I did with one of my dogs that I posted. But yes how you're going to start the life jacket is just like you would a harness technically so you're just is going to take a reward, you're going to kind of put the lifejacket over the head or get their head to poke towards it or through it, if you can that first loop, that's going to slip over their head, reward it, take it off, do it again, get those five successes, then start to put it on a clip that bottom portion on, reward that scenario five times success. And then most life jackets also have a handle. So if you plan on using the handle, I would also suggest getting the dog used to that type of pressure. So holding the handle pulling up on the handle, again, we are recording every single time we're doing this, to make sure that this is a positive experience, we are not putting that life jacket over the head while the dog is trying to squirm away, we are looking for a nice calm body language, we are looking for maybe the head even going towards the opening. But we want our dogs to be still we don't want to be trying to rush this over their head by any means. So take your time while you're building that positive association with that life jacket.

Amy: 11:03

That taking time piece I think is so crucial and important. And oftentimes we forget about it because we're in a hurry or we're excited and we want to get out on the lake or we want to get out into do our activity. But it is important with these puppies to take the time to like you said put the pedal about word or paddleboard or kayak on the grass and just sit in it and practice the downstairs rewarding each, you know the dog for sitting or laying down or staying. And you know, and paying them for that good behavior and then building up to the actual activity of getting on the lake. And the same thing. Like you mentioned with a lifejacket of warm them up to it, you know, at your house, not let's just go to the lake and we're going to introduce you to the life. So let's do that at home in a safe space where your dogs used to working and they're happy and relaxed, and it can be a positive experience. So thank you for those explanations.

Courtney: 11:50

Definitely.

Amy: 11:52

Is there anything else you'd like to address on this topic today?

Courtney: 11:56

I think the biggest thing is trying to make it fun, right? So we don't want our puppies to be scared or scared during this activity because it can be a wonderful bonding experience, right? If you do a lot of kayaking, a lot of paddleboarding, this could be a really fun experience for you and your puppy, but it is that time piece right? Don't just say, hey, I want to go paddleboarding with my puppy. Let's go right to it. You know, take those extra weeks on, you know, two weeks to a month to start this before you even try to get out on that water with them. really build up this this positive association because the more comfortable your dog is on it, the less harder it's going to be when you get on that water. Right. I find that when I'm on a paddleboard, it's hard enough to balance by myself, let alone a dog moving on it. So who wouldn't really want to get them used to it build that positive so that everyone can have a good experience with it.

Amy: 12:49

Courtney, thanks so much for joining us today. I love this topic. I think it's fun to find activities that we can get out and do with our dogs and go have those adventures with them. That's why we got a dog in the first place. Right? We want them to come with us and to do fun things with us. And so thanks for explaining paddleboarding, kayaking, and some more tips on swimming with us today. I appreciate it.

Courtney: 13:08

Yes, you're welcome.

Amy: 13:12

Everyone, thanks for coming today and listening to the puppy training podcast. I hope you learned something new. We have a lot of other topics. So feel free to browse through them and find one that interests you and let's all get a little better this week at helping our dogs be the best they can be. Happy training. Talk to you soon. If you have a question about anything you heard on this podcast or any other Puppy Training question, visit my site Baxter & bella.com to contact me