Day to Day with C+J: Swimming Lessons

Once the weather started to warm up here in Colorado Springs, Craig decided that he wanted to take Laney swimming. I always thought that dogs naturally knew how to swim and once we put Laney in the water she would know exactly what to do. That is not the case. Teaching Laney how to swim was a step-by-step process and from talking to other dog owners we learned that it was not uncommon.

We started out by taking her to Bear Creek Dog Park where they have a small creek that dogs can run around in, but it's not deep enough to swim in. During the first visit she was very apprehensive and would just paw at the water. The next visit she was a little braver and would walk around the shallow-end. The splashing from her own paws would scare her. The next few visits she became brave enough to run around and stick her whole face in the water. She looked like a little Pac-Man chomping on the water!

The next step was to take her to deeper water. We discovered Fox Run Regional Park which has two ponds that dogs are allowed to swim in. Laney loved playing in the shallow-end, but she had no desire to go into deeper water. Every visit she ventured out a further and further and would sometimes let her back legs float, but no swimming. After 4-5 visits the concept finally clicked on the sixth visit and she was good to go! We are so proud of her!

Getting ready to jump in the water