Best dog life jacket

Vet physio would advise you on best way to do this B. 20 mins in a controlled environment with expert supervision would be a huge ask. DIY in open water could be dangerous for both of you. My little Ruby loves swimming in a pond/lake - she choses when and where. She never ever swims for more than a couple of minutes at a time.
 
Also, because water resistance is greater than air resistance, the muscles have to work harder. It may surprise you to know that for a dog, 1 minutes' swimming is equivalent to about 4 minutes of running, according to Dr Arleigh Reynolds, a Veterinary Surgeon and Canine Physiologist.

Can Summer run non-stop for 80 minutes? I think not - Let alone with that jacket on which doesn’t look as if it is going to facilitate full ROM, front or back.

Don’t do it just because you THINK it may be a good idea. As suggested above, get a vet referral to a physio; they will advise yay or nay if you prefer to hear the message from professionals rather than a load of individuals on the internet who obviously know bugger all. 😡🤬

Don’t do it for Summer- it is NOT in her best interest and she has told you over the last 12 years that she is not keen. Or are you the CDJ of the canine world and going to force her and stress her to satisfy some whim of your own? 🥵
 
I'm going to have one last go to try and explain this to you op. For the sake of your sweet little dog.

Cooper does 3 races of 250ms averaging about 33mph, with a short break in between and has on occasion ran 2 back to back and finished ready to go again. I can't stress how fit he is. I clocked him the other day out of curiosity and he ran just under 2 miles, did the first 1/3 absolutely flat out just under 35mph, then slowed, but still averaged 25mph. He did it for fun, he wasn't hunting or chasing or racing. He just ran because he's bred to run and he feels good in his own skin. And then he did about another 3 miles off lead, almost all cantering and was fresh as a daisy. He is the equivalent of old fashioned 3 day event horse fit. Hes just gone 3yrs old, prime of his life with no issues or ailments.

We came home from swimming today at about 4.30 and hes eaten and then gone to bed and hasnt moved since and its now 10pm and its going to be like waking a teenager up getting him to go out for a wee. Hes tired. More tired than doing all of the above. And he had a shorter session than usual today as hes learning to swim at the same time as floyd without getting totally over stimulated and being a pain in the backside so less swimming and more work on standing nicely on the platform, not crowding me when floyd is with me etc and we were late so had a shorter session than normal. 20 minutes swimming tops.

it absolutely knackers them out. He usually has a rest day after swimming, aka a lead walk or something that exercises his brain not his body because he will be tired tomorrow, Floyd with his 10 laps of a 15m long pool will absolutely be tired tomorrow and will get a massage in case hes sore. They go to physio regularly, usually once a month to catch any potential issues brewing early on. The instructor and myself both commented that this is the first session where cooper hasnt had his posture corrected. He likes to pull himself along with his front end, so we have to make sure he pushes from behind. Hes more than strong enough to manage pulling himself along, but the wrong posture is so dangerous for soft tissue stuff so its immediately corrected. Id have no idea how to do this, but the instructor does and guides me. Cooper doesnt like her touching him so thats how we work it.

The other thing to note is if they don't like swimming they tend to thrash a lot with their feet and their heads up, backs inverted. I actually stopped swimming floyd as he didnt like it and we couldn't get him to relax so it was doing more harm than good. We just floated him with me holding him to get him used to it. I then stopped him as he wasnt improving. The risk of damage was huge. Its only a change of pool and instructor that got me to try again, and he does now seem to maybe not quite enjoy it, but he gets endless amounts of treats and he now views it as something hes not that keen on which is highly paid and therefore worth it and hes happy to do it, hes always delighted to go as food rules in floyds world. Hes also very confident now as this pool has a platform they can step on and off and its only a few inches deep so he can stand on there and slowly step in. Its taken 6 weeks of going every week to get to the stage where he does 10 laps of the small pool, so probs 200ms in total with lots of rests in between each lap.

With regards to the lifejacket, they must not be fitted like coats. They are fitted short and only cover the front section, from the wither to about half way along the back and they must not impede the shoulder or front legs either. Until your in the water with them you dont realise just how much movement the legs need, esp the hips as you want them pushing and powering from the back legs. I didnt know any of this, but luckily had the instructor on hand to advise and they have a range of life jackets to try on. Floyd has gone up a couple of sizes since we started, so we regularly check the fit of his. If they are too long they impede movement and then they start doing weird things with their posture and thats when backs and necks get damaged.

I pay £25 a session, I get in the water with them, and initally the instructor got in as well and we both worked with just the one dog at a time. So its not expensive to do, but you do need to be careful to find an experienced and recommended person who knows what they are doing. There is qualifications they can do, but for a compromised dog you want experience as well. Most wont take you without vet agreement if theres any history of injury etc. Thats a job for a physio. There are absolutely definitely physios with pools and/or water treadmills who are probably better placed to help you in your area. My dogs physio has a water treadmill but we discussed it and decided against it for Floyd. He was only allowed to start swimming once he had the all clear from everyone from his back injury and it was discussed at length with the physio on dos and donts and what to look out for etc.

Summer isnt going to drown with you there and a life jacket on. She might drown you though. An unhappy or scared dog wont think twice about climbing on you. Copper did it once to me being an idiot and it was scary, I couldt get up to get him off me, and had to put my feet down and tip him off sideways. If that happened in deep water I'm not sure what you would do.

But the main risk is she could very easily end up hurting her back/neck or tendons and ligaments throughout her body. It took a year for floyd to recover from being attacked and damaging his back and 18 months before he started swimming. It was horribly stressful and horribly expensive and just awful to see him hurting. You don't want to be in that situation.

I love swimming with my boys. Its the highlight of my week, so I do understand the desire to do it. Its incredibly fun and so rewarding and next year I'm hoping to go away somewhere we can swim in the sea or a lake all together. Neither is ready for that yet. And I've had it drummed into me over and over and over, the potential for damage to your dog is high if the dog isnt fit, is older, overweight, compromised, or isnt a natural swimmer, or is wearing a life jacket that doesnt fit etc, etc and the damage that happens is going to be expensive and difficult to put right if it even can be. But mainly it just doesnt need to happen. Theres nice and safe ways to take an older dog swimming and you can build up to wild swimming together that way.

Please get advice from a canine physio or similar to verfiy what everyone is saying is correct. Ypu dont have to beleive me, just take enough on board that you see further and no doubt better advice.
 
One of my dogs was a very enthusiastic and powerful swimmer. We used to joke that he was part seal. I had to keep him on a line so he didn't go out to sea and his favourite thing in the world was going to the horse hydro pool. He was very fit and muscled and was in top level competition at the time. But I wouldn't have allowed him to swim 20 minutes at a time. At the pool he would go round a certain amount of times one direction, he would come out, walk around for a bit then go around the same number of times in the other direction, come out and walk around a bit again.

If you intend to go in for 20 minutes and she is paddling about/hanging around the edge/has someone to keep an eye on her, that's one thing, but please don't force her, she's an elderly dog and doesn't really need it.
 
Thanks everyone for sharing your experience of swimming dogs for your input, it’s been very illuminating. I’ve never put a life jacket on a dog and wouldn’t have known how to fit one, either.

I suspect that this thread will disappear shortly as the OP is clearly not welcoming the advice.
Thanks anyway.
 
Tiddlypom said:
Thanks everyone for sharing your experience of swimming dogs for your input, it’s been very illuminating.

I suspect that this thread will disappear shortly as the OP does not welcome the advice.

Thanks anyway.
Click to expand...
You are right, I tried and got accused of being a troll and told to mind my own business so I give up.
 
Tiddlypom said:
Thanks everyone for sharing your experience of swimming dogs for your input, it’s been very illuminating. I’ve never put a life jacket on a dog and wouldn’t have known how to fit one, either.

I suspect that this thread will disappear shortly as the OP is clearly not welcoming the advice.
Thanks anyway.
Click to expand...

It is an informative thread and I hope it isn't pulled.
 

​

'What are the Benefits of Hydrotherapy and an Underwater Treadmill?

The properties of the water, the skills of the Veterinary Physiotherapist and the underwater treadmill itself facilitate a multitude of benefits for patients.

The use of varying water levels enables the treadmill to be adjusted to suit the needs of the patient allowing the comfortable range of motion of any affected joint(s) to be increased; enabling the patient to achieve better movement.

The resistance provided by the water, increases the strength of the muscles surrounding any affected joint(s) or injured area(s) due to the degree of weight going through the limbs.

Dogs often feel more relaxed when they can touch the floor in an underwater treadmill and so are less likely to panic.'

www.willows.uk.net

Veterinary Physiotherapy | Willows UK | West Midlands

Pets are an integral part of the family, and when their quality of life or ability to move around becomes compromised we know how important it is to get them back on their feet again.
www.willows.uk.net www.willows.uk.net
 
Last edited:
I also find this thread useful with the information. It was only when I started taking Moti this year to hydro that I realised he shouldn't be swimming at all as he inverts his back and swims rather vertically rather than horizontally as someone else explained upthread. This is why he has the underwater treadmill. I had been letting him swim if he chose throwing things to retrieve etc. I didn't know I could be making things worse. Im a caring owner but sometimes we don't know what we don't know.
B please don't swim her without advice.
 
Mine love swimming, they have a warm up stretch on the lead (Mitch more than Goose), then go to the river. Last time we went (pic on photo thread), they jumped in, then chose to get out and wander along the bank. They did 3 retrieves going with the current, which isn’t very strong. They then had a wander across the field, back on the lead for the last stretch. They are 4, have always done a little bit of swimming since they were very small, have been kept very fit, especially since the op. We took the vet’s advice on everything re exercise. When they got home, they were tired, more from running across the field as the swimming was very brief.

I’m not sure an older dog will benefit and might find going into water stressful. Unless it’s structured hydro with a qualified physio for a particular reason, I don’t think I’d suddenly start her swimming.
 
Amymay Again said:
I've found it really interesting. Thanks everyone.
Click to expand...

I have too. I have owned many dogs of various breeds and only ever had dogs that swam and dogs that didn't. Never my choice always theirs, even surprising breeds like collies were very keen sea swimmers which was great fun, little legged terrier types not so much, happy to paddle in the puddles and watch while the rest of us had a swim.

This thread has been a real eyeopener for me, I had no idea there is even such a thing as taking dogs wild swimming, but certainly common sense would tell me that an older dog who has never shown any interest in swimming would want to join me! I had no idea of the finer details needed for a correctly fitting dog life jacket either, so thanks for that new info too, always eager to learn.
 
My whippets wouldn't dream of getting their paws wet usually. They do go in the sea occasionally if they're playing with another dog that enjoys the water, but they'd never voluntarily get out of their depth. I can't imagine a situation where I would actually make them go into water out of their depth.
This has been a really useful read. It's interesting to hear the experiences of those of you who swim their dogs regularly. Thank you for sharing your experiences.
 
gryff said:
My whippets wouldn't dream of getting their paws wet usually. They do go in the sea occasionally if they're playing with another dog that enjoys the water, but they'd never voluntarily get out of their depth. I can't imagine a situation where I would actually make them go into water out of their depth.
This has been a really useful read. It's interesting to hear the experiences of those of you who swim their dogs regularly. Thank you for sharing your experiences.
Click to expand...
Daisy will paddle in still water, never in the sea. And she will occasionally swim in a rock pool (momentarily). I too would never make her go in water, it has to be of her own accord.

Many breeds have a real aversion to getting wet. Beagles being a prime example.
 
I'm actually rather worried, Summer looks such a sweet and loyal sort but she's no spring chicken by any stretch of the imagination is she? 😕 Please don't subject her to this Birker you owe her more respect and kindness than this in her old age.

Forget your pride and accept that we have all learned quite a bit more on this thread about dogs, in particular older ones who really aren't keen, and introducing them to swimming at such a late and vulnerable time in their life.

I'm sure Birker has me blocked but if those of you who say you are her friend please direct her to this well intentioned advice if you genuinely wish the best for her and her lovely old dog.:oops:
 
I suspect I'm blocked too but I would echo Mrs J. This is not bullying or trolling it's genuine concern. As I said before it could be dangerous for both of you.

I love watching my dogs playing in the water. One will swim in all weather's if shes in the mood, the other only when he feels like it in fine weather.

Now I've understood it's not good for him to swim, so we don't throw balls or encourage him. Instead in hot weather we go to a shallow fast running stream which he loves. He can retrieve a ball, splash and walk/sort of run. He loves it! His sister spashes about like the lunatic she is.
They don't have to swim to enjoy water.
 
Would someone be open to receiving a video to see if my dog is swimming correctly? He loves it, and we have been advised by our gundog trainer that he is fine and doing well, but these comments have made me think twice!
 
Splash2310 said:
Would someone be open to receiving a video to see if my dog is swimming correctly? He loves it, and we have been advised by our gundog trainer that he is fine and doing well, but these comments have made me think twice!
Click to expand...
If no one here can help you could book a one off session at a hydrotherapy pool with a vet physio. They can advise. It needn't be expensive. Hopefully one of the really knowledgeable people on here will be along.
 
We are all concerned because Summer is an elderly arthritic dog and a non swimmer by choice.

Forcing this dog, who doesn't choose to swim, to go out of her depth in a lake is not kind.

It would be far better for someone who had the dog's best interest at heart, to ask for vet referral to a physio who could assess the dog and advise whether hydrotherapy would be appropriate. The physio could also instruct the caregiver on exercises that would be beneficial for the dog that could be carried out at home.
 
I'm sure that the op has realised that, whilst her intentions were sound, for this particular dog and this stage of her life the idea is not a good one.

Very few people would expect a fit dog, let alone an aged dog, to swim for any more than a couple of minutes. Let alone a dog with an adversion to water 😉

They'll also have understood by now that the life jacket doesn't fit.

Hopefully (regardless of what's posted elsewhere), that's the end of it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top