Cairns and Water?

[Brianne_Kathrine]

My mom and I each have a Cairn. My mom's Cairn, Ricki, is a female and two years old. My Cairn, Benny, is a male and 10 months old.

Ricki hates the water and avoids it when we take them down to the lake. Benny loves the water and dives straight in when we go to the lake. Benny will

swim in the lake for hours.

My mom and I are trying to figure out whose behavior is more "Cairn Like." We think that more Cairns are like Ricki and they would prefer to stay away from the water.

I'm interested to hear about other people's Cairns.

[Scully'sMom]

Scully HATES baths but absolutely LOVES to swim. Several people here have inground pools and you should see their Cairns dive in and swim. Scully would stay in the water for hours. This is my first Cairn that I've had near water so I can't really say if it's the norm or not.

[Jessica H]

Mine love the water, although they get a little leary about going in over their heads. I keep a kiddie pool in the yard during the summer and they lay in it all the time. When its empty they stand in it and wait for the water. When Scooter comes hiking with me I say he is like a turtle, he pulls me to the water, even if its just a small puddle. He slipped of a rock in the river once and did a dive head first, he was a little upset when he came back up but he went right back in.

I think the key is to get them used to it when they are young.

[Greg P]

Kona's like a fish. If we're together, he would never come in from a lake if I didn't limit him. He'll stay out to the point I worry about his body temp. dropping.

[Scruffys Mom]

Mine love the water. I have a baby pool at the dog park that they spend most of the visit in. They both have jumped in the tub with me and do not mind baths, which are frequent.

[Saidi'sDad]

We boat in the summer so Saidi has been around water since she was a pup. She prefers to be where she can touch bottom but it's not really a fear. Occasionally we've had to keep her from jumping off the boat to go after ducks. When swimming she will head straight for the boat if we take her out with us but if on shore she'll wade in up to her neck. The end of summer I bought a scamper ramp to help her be able to climb up on our swim platform on the back of the boat. The first and only try with it was not a success so I'll have to do some modifications and try again next year.

[Brianne_Kathrine]

This is interesting. Ricki has never been interested in water although my mom and I took her to the lake when she was a puppy. Benny on the other hand jumped in the lake the first time he saw it and has been excited about water ever since.

[MaxPower]

When we start running water in the bathtub Marley jumps on on his own. Of course once he is in, he wants back out.

I took Marley and his best friend Hunter geocaching. There was a wooden pedestrian bridge. Hunter walked over it no problem but Marley was too scared to cross. I had to carry him. When we came to a creek (about 20 feet wide and 1 ft deep at the crossing) Marley ran right in and crossed. I had to carry Hunter. Go figure. I think they are all different.

[Puddlesmama]

Puddles cant get enough of the water. I have pond behind my house that it her haven. She will play all day if I let her. She loves to shower or bathe. But the pond is her favorite.

[Toby23]

Toby loves jumping into the bath tub, loves the water at the beach, does not go into the swimming pool voluntarily. He llves the water as long as he feet can touch. Hey, MaxPower, I geocache too.....

[Nikki]

Scotty loves the water and jumps head first in any kind of water in fact he almost drowned once b/c he jumped in a pool with a tarp on

Angel likes streams, rivers, and lakes basically water that she can see the bottom and run in and out of. But she hates baths, turning the water on .. I guess there kinda like people some like to swim and some don't

[montdoug]

During this summers heat Guster and and I would walk to the creek almost everyday. I'd wade in the water up to my knees or a bit deeper and Gus of course would be swimming. He was a bit stand-offish in the very beginning but by the end of summer we'd get to the creek and he'd jump out as far as he could, swims like a fish!

My wife took to calling him "slough", cause every time he sees one hes in it up to his pointy little ears and rapidly wagging carrot tail. Gus is indeed a water dog now, .

[sheila and Misty]

really I think part of the "water thing" is more for some breeds than others but on the other hand Its also individual preferences or fears.

My last cairn was ok in the bath but would NOT go in his 3inch of water swimming pool-Misty on the other hand bothers me till I give her a bath when she feels dirty, and also runs to her pool and flops down in it,,, go figure! If the one sees the other having soo much fun it may be an influence, Yet if the fear is there forget it.

[kjwarnold]

Our first Cairn, Willie, hated water and didn't want anything to do with it. Now Packy is another story altogether. He loves water and would swim all day if we let him. We've been gone for 2 weeks and when we got home today, the first thing he did was run down to the lake and wade in! I think he has gills...

[turtlepeace8]

My little Cairn boy loves to swim. We have a bayou (yes I'm in Louisiana) that borders our backyard and Archie loved to swim in it. Until my husband found an aligator in our backyard. We put up a fence and now Archie is restricted from swimming in his beloved bayou. We do have a baby pool for him when it's summertime.

[onesojourner]

our guy loves the water. I think it really comes down to wether or not they were introduced to water early on. most of the dogs I have met that did not swim when they were young seem to hate water.