Basset Hounds Forum banner

Can Basset Hounds Swim?

47K views 44 replies 28 participants last post by  Wworm  
#1 ·
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.
 
#4 ·
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.
 
#9 ·
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!!!!
 
#10 ·
Many of mine love to swim - but only for short periods. If boating I would use a life vest.
 
#16 ·
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.
 
#18 ·
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!
 
#21 ·
There is a store call Peaceful Valley General Store and they sell dog lifevests for a very reasonable price at most shows in the Fond du Lac and Oshkosh area. I think you can look them up online. They sell theirs for about $10 each I think. They have a lot of Foster's and Smith close out stuff and such so they get them at a great price and pass it on to you. That's where we got our dog life vests from. They take a Large for most of the dogs and Roxie with her large chest takes a XL.
 
#22 ·
We found out over the Memorial day weekend, that Snickers was ok at the swimming thing. She walked right into the water, and my Aunt jumped in after her, but the little bugger knew enough to swim to the steps! At first I think she was in shock, but she kept trying to sneak back in! I would definitely consider the life vest thing...if they can swim, I don't think they can swim very long!
 
#25 ·
my kurk is one years old. i tried to take him swimming when he was younger and hated it. The other day i was at some local swimming hole when kurk started to walk in on his own and he swam a while without sinking. he had trouble climbing out of the water. we even had our towels near like a five foot ledge that went into the water and when kurk saw me jump off he jumped off after me into the water. i wont let him do that again but it was a pretty cool sight to see a flying basset hound
 
#26 ·
We know Doppler can swim. We were at a picnic with his work and dogs were welcome. We took him out on his leash and he ended up just paddling all around! He loved it. We were only in water that was up to our chests so we could get him back if he needed us to. But after that we got him a life vest we found on clearance at Petsmart in case we should ever take him in a boat. And we have no idea if Virga can swim. I think she'd enjoy a lot! But we still need to get her a life vest.
 
#27 ·
Lulu and Austin had life jackets. We too had to get the XL for them to fit chests.
Problem... the arm (leg) holes were so big, proportionate to the xl size, that their stubby little legs got stuck on the INSIDE of them. Bad. I've never been in the water, but my humans say that the warm weather is coming and my grandmother human (she's nice. she always smells like food and she kisses my on my nose) has a swimming pool she's gonna let me play in. But S-A-F-E-T-Y FIRST! Any suggestions on the big arm hole thing would be appreciated.