We enjoy taking Hercules (our 3 year old Basset) with us everywhere. On nice weather days we are considering taking him for a ride in the boat at the lake. However, we are not sure if Basset Hounds are able to swim. He has never been in the water. We have a neighbor that has a pool, but we do not want to bring him into the water without first knowing if it's even possible.
Can Basset Hounds Swim?
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Virtually all dogs can swim, but because of their short legs bassets generally are not very good at it. Just get him a doggie life jacket for the boat rides.
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There are a relatively few that sink rather than swim because of their bone mass. There are some but as a whole the majority of basset do not like to swim life vest or not.
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Stickers panics and can not find the steps to get out of the pool. Rusty wants to be in but sinks like a bag of rocks! For an entire summer, we put his vest on to keep him afloat and practiced teaching him to swim to the "target" (orange traffic cone) we placed on the steps. His reward was praise and a small soft liver treat. Even with doing this daily for an entire summer, he was disoriented he could never swim to the steps unless we propelled him in that direction. He would swim into the walls repeatedly. Without the vest he would sink . SO we live with the safety fence up around the pool.
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Hazel swims great in the pond with those big old webbed feet!!! started her in the pool when she was a few months old
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A few years ago someone posted about their basset walking into a lake, and continuing to walk until the water was over his head and he was literally walking along the bottom of the lake like a hippopotamus. I never got that image out of my head.
I can picture that!
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Bogie will walk out into a lake and go about shoulder deep. He seems to know that he's not a Michael Phelps, and that swimming isn't a good idea. Our vet told us that their body mass and weight is mostly frontward and that makes is more difficult for them to swim. I'm sure they are like people, some being more athletic and the difference in body structure makes it easier to swim. To be safe a dogiie life vest woud be the safest in a boat, just like humans!!!!
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Many of mine love to swim - but only for short periods. If boating I would use a life vest.
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That is hilarious! Now that image is stuck in my head, too!
In response to the discussion topic, all of our bassets enjoy splashing around in the pond, and we also have a little kiddie pool they will wade around in during the summer. But sadly, as joyous as they are for about three seconds while they manage to stay afloat, all four of them begin sinking while trying to swim. I would say that you can take your hound to water events, but be sure to bring a life vest!
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i learned on sunday after toby fell into my friends pool that he is not a good swimmer. im gonna get him a life jacket on saturday. although for the rest of the time we were there he wouldnt go near the pool.
Someone I talk to on another forum (non-dog) also has a basset puppy, and said the other day it dove into their backyard pond and sank like a rock. They pulled it out thinking it would not go back. But it seems it like the water and when right back in. He said he pulled the dog out again and had to get a kiddie pool and fill it with 4 inches of water for the dog to play in he wouldn't try to play in the pond.
Moe did that years ago, when I took him to the beach. There was an inlet to a small marsh that is just a shallow trickle at low tide but is over six feet deep at high tide. It was high tide. I had him on his leash and was curious what he would do. He walked in, very confident and not afraid at all. He kept walking until he was completely submerged and I had to pull him out by his leash.
He didn't try to swim, and he didn't float... he stayed on bottom. It freaked me out. I have not found anything that Moe is afraid of except Bumblebees (he was stung on the nose once) and Tally (our Alpha Dachshund).
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When I was younger, our basset "Dragette" was very adept at swimming. She was always trying to keep up with two very active golden retrievers and goaded them constantly into wandering off and exploring everywhere. There is a tidal cut between the mainland and a small island called Pochet on Cape Cod in East Orleans. The cut at high tide is a good 1/4 mile AGAINST current which she managed to negotiate pretty well, although she reached the opposite bank well behind the goldens. She had no fear.
Lollypop on the other hand is afraid of many things particularly loud noises, although (go figure) doesn't seem to be too bothered by thunder storms. She will go to a lake or pond edge to drink or explore, but is too scared to go in. I'll try and take her swimming this summer if I'm going in myself and see what happens!
Lollypop on the other hand is afraid of many things particularly loud noises, although (go figure) doesn't seem to be too bothered by thunder storms. She will go to a lake or pond edge to drink or explore, but is too scared to go in. I'll try and take her swimming this summer if I'm going in myself and see what happens!
My 12 year old basset, Lucy, walked into the deep end of a swimming pool. She sunk to the bottom through all of our screams of horror. Then to our delight, she popped up,her ears splayed out on top of the water, and she dog paddled to the steps! It was a beautiful sight!
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