[EscaCsamas]

I knew she was never affraid of the water, as she always loved diving her head into the buckets full of water just for the fun of it. But the first time I decided to introduce Nika to swimming was when she was about 6 months old. Wasn't the best experience for her as she saw Nakita go right away, she ran after her (except she didn't realize that you have to paddle and keep your head above water and not continue on walking on the bottom of the lake until you are completely covered by water).

Two weeks ago I was by the lake again, alone with Nika and again she showed a lot of interest in water, went in but only far enough where she could still touch the ground, she was there for good 20 minutes, got bored of just standing around in the water and not doing anything, so she sat down and watched the ducks.
After viewing some of the lake and swimming pool threads that you guys have posted, especially Teal's I decided to take her to the lake again and give it another try. This time I put a harness on her, got the longest leash, put some shorts on and flip flops.

At first she was doing the same thing just standing, pawing the water and crying out of boredom. I decided to go into the water with her. I went deep enough where she could not touch the ground, tried to call her, but other than whining didn't get any other response. So I came back for her and holding her by the harness pulled her into the water just a little bit, so her paws would be off the ground. That's when she started paddling as soon as I felt that she was floating, I let go. And off she went. The first few minutes it was just her practicing her paddling, she would paddle with her front paws but as soon as her back paws would leave the ground she would turn around and go back to her safe spot. She got bored pretty quickly, she started looking for sticks on the bottom of the lake and getting them all out. So I decided to throw one, just two feet away from me, she went in and got it. Few minutes later, I took the leash off, so she could swim further.
We were at the lake for a good hour if not longer. She completely loved it!!! And of course getting her out was a bigger dilemma than getting her in. And I'm just super happy that I have another swimmer on my hands.


BUT shortly after getting home, she started whining and biting on her tail. After inspecting it carefully I didn't find any cuts, bruises, bumps that would indicate a broken or damaged tail. I'm pretty sure it's a Cold Water Tail, I never really had to deal with that, but due to the fact that she was whining and uncomfortable with it I gave her some aspirin. Right now she is passed out, snoring like a lawnmower. But I'm sure it'll be several days before her tail is back to normal.

There, just wanted to share, as I'm super, super excited. And now can't wait to go camping and bring Nika along with me.

[VXHLrsO1]

That's great!
But what's Cold Water Tail? I have been taking my Lucy to the beach and trying to get her to swim ... but hadn't heard of that.

[EscaCsamas]

"an acutely flaccid tail that hangs down from the tail base or is held horizontally for 3-4 inches and then drops down. The tail remains in this position even when the dog moves about." (http://www.geocities.com/ccrhearts/Tail.html)

I never encountered it with Nakita or any other dog for that matter. That's the first time I saw it. It suppose to resolve itself in a few days to a few weeks.