Boat Water Entry

[warren]

I'm looking for training tips to encourage my 8 month old to enter water from the boat. She is very confident when swimming to retrieve from shore.
This weekend I tried her in the boat for the first time. She was totally calm in the boat. The first retrieve she entered the water very well considering its her first time and retrieved the dummy. Getting her back into the boat went smooth too.
I tried her with 2 more retrieves and she really was'nt so confident at entering the water.
Overall things went far better than I could have hoped. I know its "Very" early days but would appreciate any ideas regarding how I can make the whole water entry more fun for her in the future.
Its too cold to go swimming with bacon strips at the moment :idea:

thanks, warren

[nimkii]

I started retrieving from a boat in my backyard. Built up the confidence in the yard, then moved the boat to the shoreline (still on land) and threw marks into the water. Then I went to having the boat half in and half out and threw marks and finally moved to retrieving marks from the boat with the boat in water (fully). This gradually built up the confidence of the dog as well as her comfort level in the boat.

Also, only a few retrieves at a time, keeps the dog up.

[warren]

Nimkii,
that sounds like the ideal way to do it. I did actually start her in the boat in the yard but then went straight to the boat in the water.
I appreciated there are no short cuts but I only get so many opportunities to get out to the lake. I will make an extra effort to try boat on the lake shore as you described over the next couple of weeks.
How long did it take before your dog was totally confident at leaving the boat?

[Labber]

Warren,
From the way you have described things, my geuss would be that your dog became concerned after it's first retrieve because perhaps the water was too cold. If it was too cold for you then it probably is too cold to be introducing new ideas in. I think the unpleasantness of cold water and jumping from the boat, gets put together by a young dog, and then you have an issue.
What is the water temperature?

[warren]

Hi Labber,
Although the temp could be factor she has been swimming in the lake happily over the last few weeks. She loves the water. I did'nt mean to make it sound like the dog was traumatised, for her first time from the boat I think she did OK.
I think its more the boat rocking and the boat reentry thats now making her hesitate before jumping in.
I just want to help her gain confidence incase the hesitation becomes a refusal.
But yeah I'm probably trying to much too soon.

[nimkii]

Nimkii,
How long did it take before your dog was totally confident at leaving the boat?


It took a couple of weekends to get her comfortable in the boat and a couple more to get her going over the side and coming back.

[Labber]

Well if temperature is not the issue, try making the retrieve more exciting so she forgets about her concerns. ie have someone else throw a bumper that lands just 15 yds out from her and the boat. Use a loud gun and pump the dog up. Only do 1 or 2 /day to keep it exciting.