My dog absolutely hates water and swimming. I don't even know if he can swim. He fell off of a dock into a lake once, but I pulled him out really quickly- other than that, he's never really been in water deep enough for him to swim because he hates water so much.

When I was growing up, my German Shepherd Jessie absolutely loved water. My dad and I would take her to the nearby park where there was an enormous lake. As soon as she saw it, she'd catapult into the depths. Jessie also loved getting spritzed off with the hose on those hot summer days. Man, I used to spend HOURS running through the sprinkler with that dog. And then, even though I was wrinkled like a raisin, my mom would throw me into the shower because I smelled terrible.

Our dogs love the water so I guess they would love to go swimming if given the chance. They love it when they're taking a bath and being in the tub. Sometimes, it takes a long time to get them out of it. Perhaps one of these days, we'll take them out for a swim.

An good example of a dog that loves and is actually adapted for swimming is the spaniel. It even has a shiny coat and water does not wet it. I live in the tropics where it can be hot especially during the current corn harvesting season. So it is a good time for dogs to have a refreshing swim which they cherish. I take them to a clean stream downhill right next to our garden. The dogs also love swimming to shake off irritants like fleas and mites and to reconnect with their playful nature. You should see their smiling faces as they emerge from the water.

Mine loves to swim but cannot swim. We have to supervise him when we take him to swim and keep in shallow waters. We are currently teaching him how to swim as ridiculous as it sounds. He wears a cute floatation device whenever we take him out to swim, hopefully he will get the hang of it.

It all comes to the breed, some dogs were literally bred to swim, they even have webbed feet like Newfoundlands so they make amazing swimmers, so much so that they are even used as lifeguards! I guess that with the actual physical traits that these breeds exhibit you are also going to have psychological ones as well like not being particularly afraid of water or actually enjoying swimming. When your Golden retriever dives into a pool to fetch something they are basically doing the thing for which they were bred for.

When I was young I had a dog, I'm not even sure what breed but he was the sweetest and we called him Rusty. He loved the water and swimming. We had a stream that ran behind our house a little ways and I would bring him there for a swim in the summer. It came to a point where he would wait by the back door for me every afternoon because he knew I would bring him for a swim. I miss that dog.

I have observed that my dogs don't particularly love to swim. They do it out of necessity. For example, they have to swim when crossing a river, when they want to shake off nagging parasites and when its searing hot. Part of this proclivity can be explained by their coats which are thick and not shiny. They tend to retain water which makes them vulnerable to cold.

My dog is part water spaniel and he doesn't like to swim in our pool! He also barks at our water hose in the summer time. I guess his old owner would use water as a punishment because he doesn't like the hose at all. We did take him to a lake near our house an he loved splashing in that and diving for his ball. I guess we will need to take him on more lake adventures this summer.

Our dog is crazy about swimming! Since we live in a countryside it's easy for her to just jump into the lake whenever she likes. The only downside is that our house smells awful most of the time because she likes to go out and swim - and you all know how a wet dog smells like! We had to put her on a leash for a while because she just wouldn't stop going to take little trips to the lake. Somehow she did calmed down a bit, so she's free once again!

My dog seems to enjoy wading into water, including streams, puddles, tidal pools and ocean waves, up to about his chest. He will swim if coaxed or by necessity but it's clearly not something that he enjoys. I personally would prefer that he didn't swim because getting wet makes his fur curly unless I hand-blow-dry him and brush it straight. That's labor intensive so he's only allowed off leash near water when his fur is short or he's due to go to the groomer the next day.

My dogs forget that they don't like to swim, so they have a tendency to jump into the pool once per year, "just to refresh their memories" ;). Each time, after I have a good laugh, I lovingly give them a bath and a big hug. Until their next jump, they'll steer clear of the pool.

I don't really know why some dogs hate the water and some love it. It's much easier when a dog likes a bath. I've never seen my dogs swim, but they obviously hate the bath. It makes them scared for some reason. Any idea why?

My dog absolutely loves water! It loves to jump into the water or swim towards a tennis ball to play water-fetch as I call it. He especially loves it when I'm in there with him, and he loves to splash about!