Corgi Forums

MadisonKobalt · 03-23-2007, 04:26 AM

Koko loves the water, but mostly the shallows where she can run back and forth biting at the waves. She will swim to investigate a smell - object or chase another corgi, but generally does not take long swims or like big pools. It really sounds as if their preference for swimming is as unique as their personality.

Bayoucorgi · 03-23-2007, 06:44 AM

Liam was at the beach in Galveston a week ago on Spring Break. The first time we went last summer when we got him he waded around under our Golden and then the kids took him out on the boogie board. He leapt off and swam to shore. He wasn't sure he liked it. But after he relaxed and just laid on the board, he was quite a surfer.

This time he acted like he was an old pro. He was going to show his JRT friend that he was definitely a beach bum. He was confident and playful in the waves. He just loved that everyone who saw him was saying, "oh he's SO cute!!!"

beach4me · 03-25-2007, 07:27 AM

This is funny.

One of my babies won't go near the water.

My other, will barely swim to whoever is on the float in the backyard pool. She climbs on board and lays there. And then she expects to be carried back to the edge when she is finished.

Now, the ocean? They both simply want to be left at home

Michael Romanos · 05:01 AM

It might be quite fascinating to find out what breeds of dogs are not generally the swimming kind. Corgis are but there might well be a whole host of breeds other than toy breeds, who would not choose to swim.

Clogs · 03-26-2007, 02:47 PM

I think it is possibly much the same for dogs as it is for humans - some love the water and some don't. We had a bitzer once that appeared to have a fair to middling amount of lab in him and he hated water. We adopted him as a stray, so don't know his history - he may have had a bad experience or it may have been a natural aversion.

Michael Romanos · 03-26-2007, 11:16 PM

Mind you, a mxed breed dog is neither one thing nor another ( nor another, nor another iif they apply) - so the Lab in him might say: swim, but the others say: stick to dry land.

Clogs · 03-26-2007, 11:51 PM

True.
I do have the feeling that with him it was more related to his experience earlier in life. He was a somewhat abused dog.

Jespah · 03-28-2007, 06:10 PM

I have a friend with two dogs that are half Lab half Border Collie - they have the webbed feet of a Lab, yet they will have nothing to do with the water!!! They have a swimming pool, a house on a river and they even go down to Belize in the winter to the ocean - still won't go in the water!!

Michael Romanos · 03-28-2007, 07:14 PM

Never met a Lab yet that doesn't want to swim. There is always going to be the exception. But I usually say that a cross breed is not either individually of what the dog is made up of. So a Collie-Lab cross is just that.

Dillydoodle · 06:54 PM

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MagnoliaFly · 03-29-2007, 07:57 AM

I've tried Bernie in a little baby pool on my patio, she didn't like it. She doesn't like baths either. She'll play in little puddles and get muddy but thats about it.

I haven't tried her at the beach yet. We might try later.

Michael Romanos · 03-30-2007, 06:51 AM

Of the seven Corgis (six mine and Taffy) I have had at home between two weeks and 16 years, five loved swimming in the sea and in rivers. And of the Corgis in the Wellington Welsh Corgi Walking Club, almost all of them love swimming at least in rivers. So from those stats, one can safely assume that Corgis are generally fans for swimming - but there are exceptions. However, Corgis are never going to compete with gun dogs, retrieving dogs and hounds for endurance and speed in the water.

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Can Corgis swim?