Quack quack, woof woof.

July 17, 2009 9:09 AM

Does swimming dog + smartass ducks = lost dog?

I'd like to let my labs swim more often but am afraid that they'll swim off after a duck and get lost. How can I let them swim without losing them? Have any of you ever lost a dog from taking him or her swimming? And finally, why do ducks seem to enjoy screwing with my dogs?

Tale of two dogs: one black lab male, one chocolate lab female. The male has a solid recall when he's not in the water. The female has, shall we say, selective hearing.

Some time ago, we took the male to Town Lake in Austin and started tossing a tennis ball in for him to chase. When some ducks swam by, he abandoned the ball and started swimming after them.

We called him back to no avail. Soon he was swimming around the middle of the Colorado River, following the ducks around. He did this for about 20 minutes. I couldn't see how he would find his way back to where we were, and worse, he could decide to swim all the way across and exit onto an area with a busy road. We kept calling him and soon nearby joggers and walkers took pity on us and started calling to him, too. It was quite comical. He eventually made his way back, but I've been too scared to take him swimming since then.

A similar thing happened yesterday with the female. I found a cove-like area with no people around, and decided to let her fetch/swim a bit. She did fine until a duck appeared - then she abandoned the ball and swam after the duck. Fortunately she turned around after about 50 yards.

In both cases, the ducks swam in a very leisurely manner, just barelyyyyy out of reach of the dogs, instead of just flying away. Why? I did not see any nests around, but maybe they were leading the dogs away from a nesting area? It looked like the ducks were enjoying themselves in a "la la la la la, you can't catch me" way. Anthropomorphizing, I know.

I don't know of a fenced in area with a pond that we could use. We don't have a swimming pool. I think training a bird dog to ignore ducks is probably an exercise in futility, but I'm open to suggestions. Any ideas? Or should I just give up on taking them swimming?

posted by txvtchick to pets & animals (12 answers total)

I had the same thing happen to my dog out at Town Lake (Redbud Isle, to be specific).

Try going to Bull Creek. It's a smaller area, but still has plenty of water for the dogs to swim.
posted by kaseijin at 9:14 AM on July 17, 2009

You can definitely train a bird dog to ignore birds on command. You have to if you want them to be a decent hunting dog.

OTOH your dog may have now learned that swimming after ducks is a waste of time and energy and be less inclined to try it again. Most dogs figure that out pretty quickly.
posted by fshgrl at 9:42 AM on July 17, 2009

A friend of mine had a similar experience, but with a flock of ducks - the dog would chase them, and they would "taunt" the dog by swimming just out of reach, while the others would circle him nearby. If he switched targets, the new one would quickly go to taunting mode, and the others again circle nearby. The poor dog was exhausted when he finally came back to shore (and like your story, his owners could not recall him when they tried).

It may be a survival technique for the ducks, or a flock / nest protection measure (Keep the predator away from a nest / the rest of the flock), but it sounds like it's not uncommon.
posted by GJSchaller at 9:45 AM on July 17, 2009

There are hunting dog training collars that are used to not only train dogs to move in certain directions but to NOT chase deer. It would be a simple task with one of these collars to train a dog not to chase ducks.
posted by RichardS at 9:59 AM on July 17, 2009

As helpful as the passerbys may seem you should politely ask them to stop calling your dog. He needs to be trained to your voice.
posted by Gungho at 10:01 AM on July 17, 2009

We have a hunting lab and sadly, some of my SO's fellow hunters' dogs have drowned over the years due to being lured out by ducks (geese are even worse). All of those dogs were trained w/ electronic collars and swam outside their collar range, one of the many reasons I've refused to use a zapper on our dog.

To keep your pooches safe in the water, work on their recall on dry land until their recall is rock-solid. Train them with a police whistle, which will carry further/sound more consistent than your shouts. You can indeed train your labs to ignore birds (use 'leave it,' which they probably already know from other situations at home).

You can also get them floaties.
posted by jamaro at 10:16 AM on July 17, 2009

My pup falls in love with any birds he sees and more than once I've had to swim after him--the first/worst time he was chasing a duck with ducklings who would not of course fly away. Dogsitters have also recovered him by canoe before. Moral of the story is obviously work on recall/leave it more. (His sister has a tennis ball fixation and will abandon us at the dog park if she encounters someone with a thrower...sigh). I'm going to try to build up to having him swim free again, but right now the lakes here are so gross there's no way he's going in!
posted by Mngo at 11:25 AM on July 17, 2009

Electric collars don't always work in water, in the first place, and in the second place it's easy for the dog to get out of range, and in the third place a dog with a prey drive doesn't always respond to them no matter how painful.

Better would be to work on the recall on land using a long lead until it's absolutely rock solid. I've seen several dogs drown in similar cases after suddenly reaching exhaustion in the water.
posted by SpecialK at 12:03 PM on July 17, 2009

Those "electronic" collars are electroshock collars. This is a very old-fashioned training method which really,really should be avoided, ESPECIALLY in non-professional dog trainer hands. And I don't think a Labrador Retriever is the kind of dog that needs to be electroshocked into submission. (And I am not the coddling pooches type, but dog-breaking is just not right and yeah just maybe some dogs profit from electroshock collars.)

That said, as everybody else said either you train on solid recall with a training leash, or you keep your laissez-faire attitude to discipline and get the flotation device that jamaro mentions -> no dog drowning. (And I am all for training, but our Labrador isn't that solid on recall either, but profits from acute laziness.)

If you let your dogs enter water you should be prepared to enter it yourself. I don't think that you will be able to catch your dog, but it will be so novel that ducks are just boring in comparison :-)

Judging from the vibes I get from the style of your post, I would get the flotation devices. They look like fun.

I don't think that those mean ducks will kill your dogs, but only you know your animals.

I really think, that those ducks just like to play and have fun :-) (And evolutionary speaking, taking flight takes energy.)
posted by mmkhd at 12:31 PM on July 17, 2009 [2 favorites]

Note: the doggie floaties I linked above should be considered an assist to buoyancy, not a substitute for training: dog can still drown wearing one especially in rough water and wearing a vest isn't going to prevent a dog from exiting the water onto the wrong bank.

Please train, train, train.
posted by jamaro at 3:36 PM on July 17, 2009 [1 favorite]

My animal shelter dog is an avid swimmer. I found this out when I took him to the beach for the first time and he swam so far out in the channel that he was in the middle of the shipping lane. It was a bit of a panic moment. I spent a significant amount of training him to follow my will when swimming.

1. For several weeks, I would walk him down to the water. When he would start to tug on his leash and freak out trying to get into the water, I would firmly tell him no and either make him sit or lay him down on his back.

2. When I finally let him in the water, I walked him down on the leash and, everytime he started to tug on the leash, I made him sit for a bit. When I let him in the water, it was on a leash. When it was time to go, I didn't just tug him out but called him while I used the leash with a distinctive whistle that I use when I want his attention.

3. When I finally let him off the leash, it was in a body of water that I was prepared to go into. If he didn't respond to my whistle, I went in after him, put him on the leash, and we went home.

While he doesn't always behave himself, he does well enough that I can take him swimming several times a week without it giving me a heart attack.
posted by Foam Pants at 5:09 PM on July 17, 2009

Thank you for the suggestions, everyone. I'll definitely get a floatie. And maybe print on both sides in big bold letters, "IF YOU FIND ME I HAVE BEEN LED ASTRAY BY DUCKS. I DON'T KNOW WHO THE PEOPLE YELLING AT YOU FROM ACROSS THE RIVER ARE. PLEASE CALL 555..."

Jamaro, sound advice - especially "leave it", which they are strong on.

I had the same thing happen to my dog out at Town Lake (Redbud Isle, to be specific). Try going to Bull Creek. It's a smaller area, but still has plenty of water for the dogs to swim.

I was going to try Redbud, thinking that they might stick close to all the dogs there. Thanks for the heads up.

That said, as everybody else said either you train on solid recall with a training leash, or you keep your laissez-faire attitude to discipline and get the flotation device that jamaro mentions -> no dog drowning. (And I am all for training, but our Labrador isn't that solid on recall either, but profits from acute laziness.)

I don't think our chocolate will ever be totally solid on recall either. I think my best bet is keep trying but focus on mitigating the risk. It's frustrating because we have lovingly raised and trained her from puppyhood - she's 10 now - and she is still a brat has a mind of her own. She can do stuff like this, but the two boys that we adopted as adults, one of whom was raised using the renowned "tie to a tree 24x7" technique, are much better mannered. And I'm pretty sure nobody ever framed their Puppy Kindergarten graduation certificates. It's very humbling.
posted by txvtchick at 7:53 PM on July 18, 2009