Excess water intake when fetching in lake

[mjcamero]

I've always enjoyed my trips with my labs to the dog beach in Lake Michigan in Chicago. Toby is my third lab, and he's 11 months old. He loves fetching and swimming in the water, but he is having an issue I've never seen. He swallows tons of water, and need to pee repeatedly, every 20 minutes or so, for several hours when he gets home. Today his intake was so intense that twice he suffered from projectile vomiting. I looked closely at his swimming technique, and compared to my older lab Rio, his head is lower in the water. Rio's chin is a couple inches above the water line, and Toby's is about even with it. Any advice? He gets tons of exercise, so he's very lean. I'm guessing the minimal body fat means that he's likely to float lower in the water. I'm wondering if I should consider an inflatable collar to keep his head up. any ideas?

[Maxx&Emma]

I would put a doggy life vest on him. Taking in that amount of lake water is not good for him.

[greagre]

My dog always wears a doggy life vest while swimming. However she also drinks tons of water. I also think her head is not high enough from the water. I also need same advice how to deal with this.

[outrag]

When I used to take my late lab Tanner to Physical Therapy for swimming, they equipped him not only with a vest but also an inflatable collar that you mentioned. This was to minimize any water consumption.

Bob

[POPTOP]

Hello and Welcome from NE IL.

Echo getting a life vest. There are many places that sells then, including on line. If you have a Bass Pro close, they have them.

Looking forward to pictures.

[Jeff]

A note as well, we have had this happen at Dog Scout Camp, dog can take in so much water it is life threatening. It is called Water toxicity. I never heard of it before until it happened. A vet tech was there and knew what to do, basically we were able to get Gatorade into the dog to hold it until it got to the emergency vet to get and IV of electrolytes.

It is a thing, be aware of the sign and symptoms it can happen in as little as a half hour of swimming.
Beware of Water Intoxication in Dogs | Symptoms, Treatment & Prevention

[greagre]

So is there any way to prevent it while letting dogs enjoy swimming?

[Maxx&Emma]

So is there any way to prevent it while letting dogs enjoy swimming?

It is best to supervise. If you see your dog swallowing excess water, remove them promptly.

[TuMicks]

Yes, always supervise and keep an eye on your dog's swimming technique. We see it a good bit with the hard-chargers that are simultaneously putting 150% into their swimming and breathing hard with the exertion. However, in our experience, we give them some time to puke it up after their retrieve before we put them up.

More commonly they seem to swallow air, not water, so instead of puking they just belch. But I see both.

I see it with the younger dogs more than with the experienced retrievers. The more they get a chance to swim, the better they are at it.

[stella3]

Hi! My dog had/has this problem, too. I know what you mean about the head being lower in the water. I've found that a toy he can really get his mouth around and closed is the solution. Or it was for us anyways. I'd say try one of those Chuck It Flying Squirrel toys. It worked for us as he can really close his mouth around it versus a ball or a bumper. Good luck!