It was very warm yesterday, and it was a good day to see what kind of water dog Miley is.
She isn’t much of one– yet.
Now, as I’ve mentioned before, Miley is not a working retriever. She does point, but she doesn’t retrieve.
She would go in until she reached the point where she could no longer touch bottom.
The conditions were far from ideal for teaching a dog to like swimming. The water hasn’t yet warmed up, and the red-spotted newts are in the midst of their early spring orgy. Miley is a little bit nervous, and having all of these mating newts swimming around was probably a bit off-putting.
One newt stayed about ten feet off shore. Although I know these things aren’t that bright, I’m pretty sure it was sitting there laughing at her.
She looks particularly good here, but the water is only about a foot deep.
And once she was done, she decided to strike a pose.
She sure looks the part.
If only she’d act it.
But she is very easy to train dog. She’s friendly (the world’s worst watch dog), and she loves kids and other dogs.
Now that she’s two, she’s starting to mature.
I thought she would start doing retriever things. I’ve always known that goldens are late bloomers.
But she’s never developed anything like a retrieving instinct. She’ll carry things in her mouth, but she’s not interested in bringing them to you. I happen to believe that this is an instinct.
It can be trained, but it’s unlikely that she will be retrieving as one would expect from a golden retriever.
I guess she’s the retriever who wouldn’t be.
But I appreciate her for being who she is–
Whether she retrieves or not.
Thanks for Sharing. She looks like she’s fun to watch as she’s experiencing the world.
Have you tried heading out to a pond with Miley and a water retrieving fool of a dog? Imitation can be a wonderful thing…although it did take months for my ES to follow the retrievers into the river at the dog park, but he was a puppy at the time.
It is.
And we’ve done it with other dogs.
This one really doesn’t have it in terms of retriever behavior.
I have worked sled dogs and hunting dogs that were “slow-to-start”, but I was just patient and gave them numerous opportunities to learn. Sometimes it took 3 years or more! But then ONE DAY, it would be like something just “clicked”(not a clicker, though…) and it was always so amazing to see them take off from there, with enthusiasm and skill! One of my greatest enjoyments and rewards training any dog for “work”…….
she’s a beautiful dog.
our pup (beagle mix) seemed hesitant about water until he saw our shiba inu go in.
however, none of them swim. the only dog I know in our ‘dog friends circle’ to swim is a cairn terrier. She’ll chase anything into the water, retrieve it and swim it back in.
do most dogs not like to swim?
Miley is a very pretty Golden.
I wonder how she would do if she went out with my Summer. Summer has 3 speeds: Fast, Turbo, and hyper overdrive. She is a natural retriever. I have a funny video of her learning to swim. You can see in the beginning of the video that she is swimming with her head way up in the air. Cracks me up!
http://www.angeldesignstudio.com/SummerAngel/
Cute dog!
Time to jump in there yourself and show her how it’s done. That’s what convinced Zelda that the ocean wasn’t going to eat her.
When the water is warmer– maybe.
Miley is beautiful. I love her striking a pose.
Miley is beautiful. I suspect that if you will keep at it you won’t have a problem. Goldens do have the rep of developing slower but I think it’s worth trying.
Awwwwwww what a sweetheart. You can just tell she’s a chill dog.
All of mine are adamant about being able to touch the ground…. often turning right around when they fall off the shelf. But yes, a good water dog and a ball is enough to get them out there with less trepidation.
put an ecollar on her, dude.
And then she’d never go near the pond again.
If mating newts freak her out, just imagine what an e-collar would do?
lol
my “courageous” pit bull got shocked by an electric fence in a doggy friend’s back yard, and for years didn’t even want to walk by that house on the same side of the street.
Yeah. Um. No e-collar in the water. Precious few exceptions to that rule. Every retriever trainer with an e-collar knows that.
(Even the extension of force fetch called “water force,” should someone choose to do that, abides by that rule.)
Just providing information for those who might read this. Not looking for a fight, not going to argue about it.
gramps says I am smarter and prettier
How long will she hold a point for? Is that a really unusual that the would point vs. flush?
She will hold it for about minute.
Goldens, unlike those pointing labs, have not been selected for it.
It is hit or miss what you get.
I have heard the same thing about pointing labs, that it’s more of a trick, but they dont really hold a point in a way at all similatr to an index dog.
It would really be too good to be true, a staunch point and the personality and natural retrieve of a lab. Most other dogs would be out of a job in a generation.