my 1 year old lab is soo afraid of water what should i do?

Question

if i pick up a hose she runs away as fast as she can, i cant give her a bath because of this, she wont go swimming in the pool, but she doesnt seem to mind the rain. PLEASE I NEED HELP

i need a way to get her used to water any ideas?

Answer 1

i had a chocolate lab the hated the hose and pool also. but get her near a lake, river or pond, and it was a different story all together!!!! to give her a bath, try running just a little water in the bath tub. get her in there, (with the door closed of course) and gently start pouring water with a cup on her legs. after she gets comfortable with this, go a little higher, then higher till you have her wet all over. then when you are finished, let the water out of the tub BEFORE you let her out. that gives her time to drip a little, and you can also start drying her off in the tub so you don't get the floor too wet.
if you are uncomfortable putting her in your tub, consider taking her to a professional groomer. they are trained in giving difficult dogs a bath and are usually very gentle with them.just make sure and tell them she isn't fond of water. some places will even let you stay while they bath her. sometimes not having the owner around makes it easier to give them a bath. also most places will give you a tour and show you what they do and how they do it. good luck!

Answer 2

Try to make the idea of water a positive experience for her.

First, put your dog on a leash and walk her toward the hose. Give her treats just for standing near it, and praise her when she sniffs the ground by the hose.

When your dog enjoys being next to the hose (you could take several days just practicing that), put her back on a leash and have someone hold her a distance from the hose...close enough that she can see it, but far away enough that she won't feel significanty threatened. When they have her calm, walk over and turn the hose on so that the water is barely going. Again, give her treats and praise when she is calm. If she fights you and becomes scared from being so close to the water, back up and find a distance she feels "safe" and praise her from there.

Over the span of a few days, slowly inch closer and closer to the slightly running hose, always with praise and treats. When she gets used to that much water being near her, turn the hose up a little more and start the process over again. This will take a lot of work, but I'm sure it's worth it to finally give your dog a nice bath in the end. :)

Answer 3

I also have a lab who is almost 1 and he doesn't like the hose either. We live on a lake and he will go down to the water and just wade in it he won't swim though. We had a friend bring their older lab over who would swim across the whole lake if we let him...anyway our dog really wanted to swim with him he started going out farther then normal. We are going to continue to have to other dog come over and hopefully teach out dog how to swim. So if you live near a lake I suggest taking your dog for a swim.

Answer 4

Go into the water with her the first few times to reasure her.Dogs by rule don't like hoses because the spray gets in their eyes.My dog still hates baths but loves swimming -go figure.

Answer 5

Try to take something she loves, and make it so interesting, that she will have to go in the water to get it. It may be a ball. For my water-shy Lab, it was live ducks! I had tried and tried to get him into the water, and then one day while walking along the river, he heard ducks, and that was it, he was in and on a chase--don't worry, he didn't even get close, they just flew farther up river! But in that instance, he decided the water was kinda cool, and now he will go in after a stick he see floating or that I toss. Good Luck, and keep trying !

Answer 6

I should have your problem,,,, I go to hose down mine's dog run and I cant get a drop of water to hit the floor. I have to put her on the truck and then clean kennels.

I like to start dogs where the water is only one inch deep. After you can get the dog to run through the middle of a mud puddle without reservation for a retrieve, then you can start to look for bigger mud puddles.
Oh,, that's meg's mud puddle behind her in the avatar. (where she did "swim-by")

Answer 7

My yellow lab was the same way. So what we did was keep taking him to the pool and throw a ball in. We started out throwing the ball real close to the steps so all he had to do was step in to get it. Then we just gradually got farther and farther out with it each time we went to the pool. He finally got over it about the 4th or 5th time to the pool. Now we LOVES it and we can't hardly get him out. I hope this helps :)

Answer 8

You are going to have to leash her to something and just keep her in one place as you do it. She will probably never like it...but she will learn that it isn't that terrible. You are going to have to give her a bath at some point, especially if she gets flees, ticks or sprayed by a skunk. Better to do it now while shes younger than wait until you really have to and not be able to get the dog to relax while you try to wash her.

Answer 9

My dog did the same thing.... until I picked her and carried her into deep water and then dropped her. Ever since she has become a water dog and loves to swim whenever the chance comes.

Answer 10

Ummmm did she have a bad experience with water? Sorry, but this is one that I can't really help with. Tell her it's OK, but not too much. My dog has the same problem with fireworks, but she's a german shorthaired pointer and her breed is used too guns and stuff. She's what they call "gunshot". Maybe your dog is water-shot?