[ciscorox]

So my smaller beagle/dachshund mix absolutely LOVES to go swimming. We take him with us to the river and turn him loose while we ride the horses. He goes about and swims like the little champ he is and happily rolls in the sand after. He is getting older now and seems to get tired a lot quicker. We plan on going to the river some more once summer comes around again. I'm worried about him getting tired in the middle of the river and going under. I've been looking at those little life jackets for boat dogs but I feel like those are more for dogs who might accidentally fall in. What about for dogs who swim? Would that still help? Thanks for any advice! <3

 

[annageckos]

I have a life jacket for my basset hound, more so when he was younger. He can just barely swim and starts to sink because he'll shake his head while swimming. So we we'd go to the river I'd put his life jacket one him, he was fine running around and playing with it on and going chest deep into the water barking at my GSD while she swam. He did swim a little, but not much. I'd get one and try it out, it can't hurt and will keep your dog safer.

 

[squidwanda]

I have a life jacket for both my dogs that I put on them if we go canoeing or kayaking. I think it is necessary for safety of you are going boating. It could save your dog's life one day and they aren't too expensive. You never know what will happen, and I tend to think that is better to be safe than sorry (at least where your dog is concerned- I can't follow that rule for myself).

I was kayaking with Bear one day (actually the day that my profile picture was taken) and he reached out of the boat to grab a stick that was floating in the water. Well, he flipped head over heels into the water- potentially up to 40 ft deep where we were. I think that the life jacket helped him right himself, as he went in head first. He could have gotten water in his lungs if not for the jacket. He knows how to swim, but we were too far away from land for him to safely swim all the way back. Hallelujah that I picked a life jacket with handles so I could pull him back into the boat without tipping us. Thanks to Bear's life jacket, an incident that could have been fatal actually ended up being hilarious.

Funnily enough, I don't wear a life jacket myself! Ever!!

 

[timber]

I have a life jacket for Tynan for that exact reason. He swims and swims and swims and doesn't stop, even when it's obvious he's tired. With the lifejacket he will sometimes just let himself float in the water until he regains his strength then continues swimming after a short bursts of rest.

 

[ciscorox]

Thanks for the cute stories! I'm going to see if I can order one (since our only petsmart carries large sizes ugh) and try it on him. I want one with handles too so in case I need to pull him out of a situation I can.

 

[Shandula]

My sister's mini Dachshunds both have life jackets! Aside from being very useful they look SO freakin' cute with them on.

 

[seashoreduck]

I have a 45lbs mutt. I use a life jacket on her when kyaking on lakes but not when we're just swimming. It tires her out quite a bit more so I'm cautious when using it as she usually will end up in the kayak at some point. When I am camping near a body of water I usually put it on her anyway simply because its a bright color and she's brown and it has lots of places to tie things to as well as pockets.

A side note, it does not have a great leash tie imo...it's plastic and I just don't trust plastic at all.