Do  Our Dogs need Life Jackets?

My friend Robin recently took her two Siberian Huskies to the lake. She has had this breed for at least twenty years, and has always taken her dogs on vacation, including the beach and the lake, but this was the first real swimming adventure for her lovely retired champion, "Garak" (see photo of Garak and Allie with Robin at Myrtle Beach, SC).

Robin's dogs are taught to swim the way most dogs are, by her husband Jon basically carrying them out into the lake where the water is over the dog's head, then turning them loose to swim back towards Robin.  Garak is eight years old, and originally from the Chicago area--he has seen a lot of snow in his life, but he was too busy with dog shows to go on swimming vacations before he came to Robin & Jon!

Anyway, Garak did not dog paddle back to shore, instead he simply sank. I mean no paddling at all, he simply went under, he truly SANK. Of course Jon was right there with him and quickly got him back to shore, but it was a frightening experience for all of them.

Photographer and friend Chris L'Abbe often sends me photos of her dogs when they are at their lake cabin in Maine, out on the boat or in the water. I have noticed that they often have on their orange lifejackets (that's Chris' boy Murray in the orange life jacket). I told her about Garak, and also mentioned that our "water dog" Wyatt has a life jacket but we tend to only use it after he has played a bit, when we know he is tired but he is still wanting to swim. I asked Chris to indentify the dogs in the photos for me, and also asked her to share her opinion on life jackets for dogs.

"The Standard Poodle with the life Jacket is my boy Murray. The other big Poodle is Jones, a Crabapple Downs Poodle whom I worked with in NEADS in training for service dog work, but because of his prey drive he did not make the cut. My friend Joe Murphy adopted Jones so thankfully I get to see him all the time!

The small black dog is Sasha, our cockapoo rescue dog whom we have had for 2 years. She will be ten in September. The little Pom is Cinnamon. She is four years old and lives

with our friends the Chase's. Great fun to have all the dogs at the lake, these shots were at Pleasant Pond in Richmomd, Maine. Fun!

In reference to life jackets, I'm convinced not all dogs know how to swim .Just like children, they also don't always know when they are too tired and should stop and come out of the water. Whenever we go to the lake, even if we are just sitting by the water I always put life jackets on them. My dogs will swim to the dock after the kids and just keep swimming .I also make sure they wear them anytime we are in a boat. The lifejackets are easy to grab and lift the dog safely if you have to do a quick grab. I say safety first I always use the jackets."

Thanks so much Chris, for both sharing these special photos and for sharing about the life jackets. I think Wyatt is going to be donning his every time we go down to the water now!

Interesting in a life jacket for your dog? Take a look at some great life jackets we found to add to our Knowing Dogs Amazon store: Dog Life Jackets

Happy Swimming!   ps to Garak--Wyatt says you can borrow his life jacket if you want to go swimming next time you come to Smith Mountain Lake!

From Jones:

I give Chris a hard time about most everything when it comes to dogs but especially her fondness for the life jacket. Here is my take on life jackets for dogs. Most days I am more fond of my dog than my children so I use them as a barometer for my dog wearing a life jacket.

For a dog/child/Adult  that is already a good swimmer:

Wear the lifejacket

· In any area you are unfamiliar with or with a strong current

· On a fast moving boat,

· On any boat (even at the dock) or dock where you can’t retrieve the dog easily,

· On any boat in salt water,

· When in a personal watercraft (kayak, canoe, jet-ski) away from shore,

Leave the lifejacket off: (Leaving the life jacket on in the following situations can give the dog a false sense of his swimming skills)

· On the beach or shore playing fetch

· On a familiar floating dock/ swim platform

· Swimming with you or the kids

· Any time the dog only has to swim less than 100’ feet for easy access to shore

· Working on their swimming skills

Thanks,

Jones

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Comments (1)

• 2011-08-24 01:27:52 | | Melanie S

  Thanks so much for sending these photos Chris! Please be sure to let Cinnamon and Jones' owners know their dogs are also featured.

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