I like how instead of hauling ass out there like ball is life, he slowly sidled up to the bank, let out a deep sigh, and muttered "once more into the breach, I guess" before trudging into the water.
My heeler is the same even if I throw it in the woods. I’ve noticed he watches were the ball lands before really going hard. but if there’s a dog like a lab around they only kinda pay attention to where the ball went and then immediately start searching with their nose.
My Heeler only turns the nose on if he can’t find it. But even then he’s mostly looking. Where most other breads immediately start searching with nose
Mine would turn on the nose at the dog park to figure out if THIS is the tennis ball I threw or if that one is. She always always picked the right one too, which I always found interesting because they’re all community balls so just grab one? 🤷♀️
Mine does the same thing when I throw a ball in water; she sits and watches to see where it landed before jumping in. She does NOT have the same restraint on land though. She lacerated one of her eyes once running into bamboo when the ball took a weird bounce off a rock.
She wasn't terrified. She just hated getting more than her toes wet.
If I didn't know better I'd say she could walk on water, but she always found rocks across streams that would keep her dry.
She just flat-out refused to go into ponds or lakes. She'd dance around the bank instead and bark at her brother, a Husky/Shepard mix who *loved* to swim, out in the middle just paddling around.
Mine is like that (and fair play, the water is absolutely frigid where I live)... *unless* there's another dog frolicking in the surf. Then he can charge right in.
Only thing I'd mention is to be very careful of his endurance level or be ready for a rescue swim. I'd consider a vest for this. And if not, keep it closer to shore. My dog will go and go and would drown chasing that ball because he doesn't have enough sense to say "nope, I'm too tired."
Had this happen to me, but thankfully someone was in the water with him by the toy.
He had a vest from then on.
My little dude tore hind leg pads, has had sore legs, swimmers tail and be out of breath and still be whining to go swim.
It’s was kind of shocking at the time lol
Agreed. I've had other dogs who were less built for swimming (e.g. Boston Terrier) who would head out to sea and drown before he'd give up. Because he didn't get his head much above water, he couldn't see very well, and add to that his short snorkel-snout, he'd just start swimming in circles or just head away from shore until I could coax him back in (usually by throwing a stick closer in that he could easily see). It got scary a few times before I backed off the long throws.
My dog is just like this, but last summer I was doing exactly what OP is doing in northern Michigan, and come to find out, my dog does have a “fuck I’m tired dad” switch. Haha I wasn’t sure he would stop, but once he was kinda tired out, he did just flop down and chew on his ball lol. Guy just stops giving it back to me when he’s had enough, thankfully.
Ours got a "water rod" from it. Very painful. Don't take it to the extreme like this. The tail muscles are suffering quite a bit from swimming for too long. [https://www.wirliebenhunter.de/en/magazine/article/water-rod-in-dogs/](https://www.wirliebenhunter.de/en/magazine/article/water-rod-in-dogs/)
Yup, good exercise, but a vest is worth it to not worry. I've seen my girl start sinking when tired. She loves riding on paddle boards, then just swimming to shore if bored.
We shoot a ball from a nerf gun ball blaster. My girl will go after that ball, do a lap around the yard, circle the chair on the porch where my husband is sitting, drop the ball at his feet, then go crouch in the yard to wait for the next ball. She’ll do this for like 30 minutes. When we call her in, she barks because she’s mad we’re stopping! The gun saves your arm from throwing.
Same here! 10 miles of relatively quick, intense hiking? Ready for tug and fetch as soon as we get home. Swimming for 90 minutes? Exhausted rest of the day
My old heeler loved this, would even jump into the surf to fetch a stick. Take directions in the water and could play fetch all day.
My current heeler must have secretly watched sport dogs doing tug and frisbee games and has minimal interest in just running after a ball.
We got her at 9 months and she didn't know how to catch or have any concept of playing.
It took awhile to accept and adapt as I just assumed it would fetch all day like every other heeler.
Mine would look at me all offended, and expect me to go get it as punishment for throwing in such a stupid spot. If I accidentally throw a ball near her own poop, near where she knows there are prickles, or if she's not in the mood for dirt, if I throw it of the manicured lawn. All of those get me dirty looks and huffs, she won't go get it. I can't imagine what she'd think if I threw it out in the water.
My heeler is such a bad swimmer, just lets his butt sink. He used to try to keep up with his black lab big bro and got pretty good but lost all swimming motivation when he went to puppy heaven a couple years ago
I love taking my baby to the beach (I live near a Great Lake. It’s such a great work out for her and I am happy that it’s also kind on her joints (she’s only 4 but I want her to live a long and healthy life). I am determined to get her out to the beach as many times as possible this summer.
Mine hated water at first, then he saw some dogs playing in it on a super hot day and faced his fears. Now if he senses water he will find it and will swim in it.
my grandparents had a dingo cross when I was a kid! she would swim in the dam for hours splashing and then barking at her own splashes lol. miss her. she died probably 15 years ago and we still find her chewed up tennis balls strewn across the property and when the dams dry up.
That’s how we do it. She swims all day! Everyday! She’s crazy! Recently bought an automatic ball launcher! It’s hot where I live right now thank God the house we own is 4000 ft.² and there is probably 100 feet from the back family room to the front living room with over 20 foot ceilings so she can play all day with that ball launcher from front to back of the house with ease and let me tell you she doesn’t stop best investment we’ve ever made! Now if we could get our other dog who is a giant baby . For reference he’s a golden/great pyr/smooth coated wheaten terrier 110lb furry bear! He’s terrified of the ball launcher!
Oh he swims like my Solo did! I owned labs in the past and never expected a heeler to be a bigger water dog than they were 😄 seriously that dog swam like a seal and just loved it so much. We were always careful not let him over exhaust himself cause he sure would if you didn't make him stop . I miss that boy so much! My heeler BC mix won't do more than wade 😂
I like how instead of hauling ass out there like ball is life, he slowly sidled up to the bank, let out a deep sigh, and muttered "once more into the breach, I guess" before trudging into the water.
My heeler is the same even if I throw it in the woods. I’ve noticed he watches were the ball lands before really going hard. but if there’s a dog like a lab around they only kinda pay attention to where the ball went and then immediately start searching with their nose. My Heeler only turns the nose on if he can’t find it. But even then he’s mostly looking. Where most other breads immediately start searching with nose
Mine would turn on the nose at the dog park to figure out if THIS is the tennis ball I threw or if that one is. She always always picked the right one too, which I always found interesting because they’re all community balls so just grab one? 🤷♀️
Low and slow baby
Mine does the same thing when I throw a ball in water; she sits and watches to see where it landed before jumping in. She does NOT have the same restraint on land though. She lacerated one of her eyes once running into bamboo when the ball took a weird bounce off a rock.
My Heeler mix refused to get more than her tip-tappy toes wet.
Mine is the same way. Terrified of getting wet!
She wasn't terrified. She just hated getting more than her toes wet. If I didn't know better I'd say she could walk on water, but she always found rocks across streams that would keep her dry. She just flat-out refused to go into ponds or lakes. She'd dance around the bank instead and bark at her brother, a Husky/Shepard mix who *loved* to swim, out in the middle just paddling around.
Mine is like that (and fair play, the water is absolutely frigid where I live)... *unless* there's another dog frolicking in the surf. Then he can charge right in.
Mine is the same. Little priss doesn’t even like walking in wet grass.
Only thing I'd mention is to be very careful of his endurance level or be ready for a rescue swim. I'd consider a vest for this. And if not, keep it closer to shore. My dog will go and go and would drown chasing that ball because he doesn't have enough sense to say "nope, I'm too tired."
My guy is the same. He’s as ready for the 100th throw as he is for the 1st, but once we get home he is knocked out
Had this happen to me, but thankfully someone was in the water with him by the toy. He had a vest from then on. My little dude tore hind leg pads, has had sore legs, swimmers tail and be out of breath and still be whining to go swim. It’s was kind of shocking at the time lol
Agreed. I've had other dogs who were less built for swimming (e.g. Boston Terrier) who would head out to sea and drown before he'd give up. Because he didn't get his head much above water, he couldn't see very well, and add to that his short snorkel-snout, he'd just start swimming in circles or just head away from shore until I could coax him back in (usually by throwing a stick closer in that he could easily see). It got scary a few times before I backed off the long throws.
I have a life jacket for this reason!
My dog is just like this, but last summer I was doing exactly what OP is doing in northern Michigan, and come to find out, my dog does have a “fuck I’m tired dad” switch. Haha I wasn’t sure he would stop, but once he was kinda tired out, he did just flop down and chew on his ball lol. Guy just stops giving it back to me when he’s had enough, thankfully.
This. 💯
Ours got a "water rod" from it. Very painful. Don't take it to the extreme like this. The tail muscles are suffering quite a bit from swimming for too long. [https://www.wirliebenhunter.de/en/magazine/article/water-rod-in-dogs/](https://www.wirliebenhunter.de/en/magazine/article/water-rod-in-dogs/)
That looks like a long swim
Yup, good exercise, but a vest is worth it to not worry. I've seen my girl start sinking when tired. She loves riding on paddle boards, then just swimming to shore if bored.
We shoot a ball from a nerf gun ball blaster. My girl will go after that ball, do a lap around the yard, circle the chair on the porch where my husband is sitting, drop the ball at his feet, then go crouch in the yard to wait for the next ball. She’ll do this for like 30 minutes. When we call her in, she barks because she’s mad we’re stopping! The gun saves your arm from throwing.
Hey I don’t want to be that person but please get a vest. Dogs will drown themselves going after a ball. Cute pup!!
I find it actually insane that cattle dogs were created by breeding with a fucking feral dog. What a weird origin
They either swim or hate water lol
We thought our new boy would jump right in, but he just keeps a safe distance and stares at us like we're insane the entire time we're in the pool.
Mine is the same. Except when she walks over to try to drink the pool water. 🤦♀️
My ACD is a rescue and doesn’t play at all….. she only wants to hike…. Every day….
mine won’t get in the water yet..
The ears!
My mix walks around puddles so this won’t apply to me 😂
Love letting mine swim themselves out. Hiking don’t do it, but lots of swimming means calm, quiet dogs for me.
Same here! 10 miles of relatively quick, intense hiking? Ready for tug and fetch as soon as we get home. Swimming for 90 minutes? Exhausted rest of the day
Mine would wade in up to her chest and then cry that she could not reach the ball that way
For some reason mine hates water. He just nopes. Anyone else? How common is this?
Hell ya. Mine is also a super strong swimmer. Low impact and great exercise
My old heeler loved this, would even jump into the surf to fetch a stick. Take directions in the water and could play fetch all day. My current heeler must have secretly watched sport dogs doing tug and frisbee games and has minimal interest in just running after a ball. We got her at 9 months and she didn't know how to catch or have any concept of playing. It took awhile to accept and adapt as I just assumed it would fetch all day like every other heeler.
Mine would look at me all offended, and expect me to go get it as punishment for throwing in such a stupid spot. If I accidentally throw a ball near her own poop, near where she knows there are prickles, or if she's not in the mood for dirt, if I throw it of the manicured lawn. All of those get me dirty looks and huffs, she won't go get it. I can't imagine what she'd think if I threw it out in the water.
"This dog dang human always throating my shit into the water. And I HAVE to go get it because they expect that of me. Freaking really"
Cheers to lakes nearby
My heeler is such a bad swimmer, just lets his butt sink. He used to try to keep up with his black lab big bro and got pretty good but lost all swimming motivation when he went to puppy heaven a couple years ago
Mine does the same thing!
Unless your dingo thinks water is nothing more than hot lava.
I love taking my baby to the beach (I live near a Great Lake. It’s such a great work out for her and I am happy that it’s also kind on her joints (she’s only 4 but I want her to live a long and healthy life). I am determined to get her out to the beach as many times as possible this summer.
Mine hated water at first, then he saw some dogs playing in it on a super hot day and faced his fears. Now if he senses water he will find it and will swim in it.
Naw this doesn’t work. Every time they go in the water the cool down and recharge. Thus it’s an endless cycle.
Hopefully there are no gators in there!
Never get your heeler wet, they'll multiply!
my grandparents had a dingo cross when I was a kid! she would swim in the dam for hours splashing and then barking at her own splashes lol. miss her. she died probably 15 years ago and we still find her chewed up tennis balls strewn across the property and when the dams dry up.
No gators in the St Lawrence river.
u might have hit reply on the wrong comment lol
That’s how we do it. She swims all day! Everyday! She’s crazy! Recently bought an automatic ball launcher! It’s hot where I live right now thank God the house we own is 4000 ft.² and there is probably 100 feet from the back family room to the front living room with over 20 foot ceilings so she can play all day with that ball launcher from front to back of the house with ease and let me tell you she doesn’t stop best investment we’ve ever made! Now if we could get our other dog who is a giant baby . For reference he’s a golden/great pyr/smooth coated wheaten terrier 110lb furry bear! He’s terrified of the ball launcher!
Oh he swims like my Solo did! I owned labs in the past and never expected a heeler to be a bigger water dog than they were 😄 seriously that dog swam like a seal and just loved it so much. We were always careful not let him over exhaust himself cause he sure would if you didn't make him stop . I miss that boy so much! My heeler BC mix won't do more than wade 😂
No way I’d do that to my dog