[flyingduster]

My uncle, aunty and cousin always spend christmas & new year camping at a wee camp ground that's about a half hour drive away from their house, and close to 2 hours away from us. My other uncle was over from where he lives in Vanuatu and staying with them, as well as mum, and my three siblings were all going to go up there for the day too, so I bundled Paris into the car and headed up too!

As you do, camping involves a lot of sitting around in loungers and doing very little, Paris managed to settle and cope, but it was when we went down to the swimming hole that she was happiest!

Now, Paris likes wading in water, she always has, but as far as I know she has *never* been in water deep enough to actually swim in. Well, not until today anyway!! My little sister was in the water with our cousin and a friend, and so Paris went barrelling on into the water too until all of a sudden she went over the rock shelf and found herself having to swim!! She got a shock, and all her hair that she has weighed her down, but we were all right there and got her righted and back up onto the rocks where she promptly ran around barking at the kids cos she so desperately wanted to go and play too but was now wary of the depth! I don't think she *knew* water could even be that deep. lol!!!

Her first foray:

and then wanting to join in the fun the kids were having:

She'd happily wade about on the rocks there, but wasn't sure about going further, and it drops right off (you can see the edge) so it really was sink or swim if she went further!!!

 

[Harley_chik]

She looks like she lost weight! LOL.

 

[flyingduster]

and so she found this rock got her closer:

until she fell off that too:

She found she CAN swim, but not very well!! lol.

I ended up going back to the tent and changing to get into the water too, so I could help her. I lifted and held her in the water, and for a long time she just assumed I was holding her and she just 'stood' in the water (floating with minimal support from me) assuming I was holding her. lol! After a bit though she'd paddle about, but I had to keep my hand under her butt cos she hasn't worked out how to kick her back legs hard enough to keep her bum level (you can see in the above pic, her butt is sinking) and when her bum goes down she worries and struggles, ended up splashing everywhere and sinking more! Don't worry, I had her with me the whole time and wouldn't let her go under or totally freak out about it!!

We swam to the other side, she ran around barking cos no one was playing with her on the shore, but because that shore is a normal slope I was able to work with her a bit on swimming lessons. I had to convince her to come into the water, and let her paddle around and paddle back to the shore. She was never scared, but she wasn't confident that this whole swimming thing was a good idea either!!! lol. She swam back to the other side (with me following to hold up her butt) and we called it a day.

If we were spending a lot of time there, I think she'd probably get used to the whole idea of swimming and come to enjoy it. For now though, we are back home and probably won't be back up to that particular swimming hole for another year. It was fun to give it a go though, and to see a poodle having fun, even if she wasn't convinced it was a good idea really, she still enjoyed playing about with us!!

I now have a very sleepy curly poodle behind me on the floor. hehe.

 

[amerique2]

I bet Paris is sleepy after all that swimming. All it takes is a little water and sun to wear you out. Love the documentation of her bounding into the water to start with and then taking it more slowly when she realized it was over her head!

 

[Keithsomething]

I love the photo where her body is wet but her topknot doesn't look like a DROP of water even touched it
it looks like a very diva-ish pose!! hahaha xD

 

[Alicia]

Again, I say to you FD.....you need
to write childrens books! My husband
and I feel like we know Paris from your
posts and pictures. Keep them coming!

 

[bigpoodleperson]

LOL! She swims like Riley does! He cant keep his butt up well and gets in too deep sometimes! He ran out to chase some geese one time and actually tried to swim, but turned around when his butt started sinking. He is a flailing front swimmer too. I think we will stick to waiding. Thanks for the pics! Looks like she had a fun time.

 

[Cdnjennga]

LOL! She swims like Riley does! He cant keep his butt up well and gets in too deep sometimes! He ran out to chase some geese one time and actually tried to swim, but turned around when his butt started sinking. He is a flailing front swimmer too. I think we will stick to waiding. Thanks for the pics! Looks like she had a fun time.

I don't know if it's the same for Poodles, but some PWD's are actually not built for swimming. I must ask my mom for more details but one of our friends had a PWD whose back end would sink every time she tried to swim. They eventually had to stop her trying! I think those most dogs eventually CAN swim though it just takes them a while to get the knack. It's rare for them to be built in the wrong way....

Thanks for sharing the photos FD! Fun as always!

 

[bigpoodleperson]

Riley had "swimming lessons" for a couple weeks (therapy for his back), and he got alot better during that time at keeping his butt up and front feet in the water. He just doesnt really like to actually swim, so never gets the chance to try.

 

[bucksmom]

She is beautiful...wet and all! I sure hope Bucky likes to swim when summer gets here!

 

[Locket]

Sounds and looks like a great time!! I love watching dogs swim. I find it a bit sad that spoos, water retrievers, can't even swim! Those silly dogs!

 

[Spencer]

How fun! Even though she was a little unsure, she looks like she had a pretty fun time. Our only dog that can swim is our poodle, however, Perry hates it and clings to you the entire time!

 

[spoospirit]

That was a fun story! I love the picture of her on the rock looking down at the swimmer. I just assumed all spoos could swim since they were bred for water retrieving. Guess not, hey? LOL I don't know if Billy can swim because he was nervous the couple of times I took him out. But, I know that Taffy can swim very well and she loves the water!! Can't wait to go again in the summer.

As I am writing this, it is 16 degrees with snow falling and blowing fiercely everywhere. What summer?! LOL

 

[flyingduster]

lol, I think it's also the fact that Paris is nearing 4 years old and never been in water deep enough to even TRY swimming, so she had no idea what on earth deep water was!!!

Paris is also shorter in length than she is in height, which means she naturally paces rather than trots, and I think swimming would stuff that up too (she has such a short body that if she trots, she has to shorten her stride so her legs don't collide!) so she was really just totally unco-ordinated about the whole thing.

Couple all of that with having several inches of coat which, when wet, is really rather heavy!!

She basically needs to kick more with her back legs (she does, just not ENOUGH) but she's too busy trying to work out how to get OUT of the deep water that her front end is what is doing all the work cos that's what will pull her back onto land.


At any rate, we had lots of fun, and perhaps I'll take her down the road (literally, 2 mins drive away) to try out the indoor doggy swimming pool sometime and teach her to swim better. lol

 

[Olie]

Good luck with the lessons. She looks like she enjoyed herself. I am waiting for the big day Suri jumps in at the DP.

 

[jester's mom]

Great story, great pics!! And Paris is such a lovely girl! I love the area you were swimming in, beautiful place. Wish we could go swimming with our dogs now...lol... but I think we would all turn into ice cubes...LOL.

BTW, I had a Dobie once that could not get the hang of swimming, her butt would sink and she would splash the water with her front feet instead of keeping them under water. I got her one of those doggie life vests and took her out swimming with me and she realized that she was able to swim so did not panic anymore. After a month of that, one day she did not have the preserver on and went in to swim and swam perfectly. All she needed was confidence and learning to balance properly. She swam all the time after that and LOVED it!

 

[Mercury's Mom]

I though all spoos were just natural swimmers. I havent seen Jupiter or Mercury swim yet because it's to cold here but my old spoo swam like a wild man his first try. He even used to chase the swans and ducks. He was so sure he was gonna catch one someday.

I have a feeling that hair must have made it a bit harder for your girl but she sure is a beauty. She obviously had fun and thats certainly the most important thing.