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Greyhounds can’t swim?!
Today was GORGEOUS! It was 72°F even at 6:30pm.. The sun shone, it was warm and perfect for a play date. I invited my friend over with her greyhounds and we had a fantastic time. A fantastic time that is until her foster Candy decided to take a flying leap into the pond from a dead sprint. Now if she was a lab no one would bat an eye, but she’s not. She’s a right off the track racing greyhound. They have next to no fat on their bodies and are solid muscle. Having said that, muscle weighs more than fat and fat floats, muscle does not. Labs swim… greyhounds do not! She made it way out into the pond with her flying leap, puttered and sputtered a few strokes and started to drown. My friend panics and starts screaming Candy, Candy! So I spring into action with out thinking and dive in to save the dog. HOLY HELL that water was COLD! It was nice today, but it hasn’t been for ohhh six months and that pond is freezing. Great to swim in if you are a lab or a saint with the proper “attire” but as a human with NO fur.. OMG it is COLD! I wasn’t just wet, I was SOAKED. My wellies had several inches of water in them! Thank goodness I have an extra pair so I could take a quick hot shower and go back out to continue playing.
Lucky Candy – she’s just lucky I put my Canon camera on the chair before I dove in!
I thought all dogs could swim naturally. So now I know better. But no wonder she jumped in, what fun they were all having.
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Candy sounds like the boy child here. He sinks in the water also
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Jan, I think part of the reason they can’t really swim is because they almost immediately sink. Body fat makes a dog buoyant and when they are right off the track they have almost no fat at all. It is the darnedest thing to watch too!
Holy Smokes!!! Thank goodness you were there to save Candy!!!
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We have 3 greyhouns. Madi for 11 months a new one just yesterday my mom adopted Blue and =Tommy, for 3 weeks now. tommy was always sniffing at pool and he started to his 2 front feet in the pool the past 2 weeks. well this morning i’m outside and im giving a treats out near the pool and i don’t know what happened, it happened soo fast he went/fell in. ( ? ) his 2 feet got up on the edge and he was 2/3 inches from step and brought him over to the steps. i think i was more freaked out then him. =}
Oh my Jenny… that is really, really scary!!
Congrats on the new adoptions and I hope you bond with them quickly. I adore greyhounds. Be especially mindful with the new ones until they put on a little fat. They are so lean when straight off the track. They need that fat to be able to float. I have never seen a grey that can actually swim, but several that like to splash around in the shallow end of a pond.
Best of luck and thanks for stopping by and commenting!
Having a frightining experience yesterday with my Greyhound(JAZZ), He dove in after some ducks and ducklings having not caught (thankfully) he suddenly realised he was in much deeper water than he’s ever been in before he got his head above water and swam back to the edge. he is a 6 stone ex racer so is it a miff that Greyhounds can’t swim or is Jazz just fortunate he new what to do
Just to add to my other comment Jazz is very lean and very fit Greyhound with no fat, My other greyhound just stood on the bank side barking at him as tho she was telling him he was stupid!!!!!!!
I have a 5 year old greyhound called Fallow who loves to swim in rivers lakes and the ocean. On our regular weekend walks he will run ahead to each point that allows access to the river collecting a suitable stick on the way. He wiil leap into the river off the bank, maybe two feet high and swims with much enthusiasm and splashing. The return swim with the recovered stick is a bit more elegant. Labrador owners stop to admire him. He will retrieve a ball from the sea even going out through 2 -3 foot surf, jumping the waves on the way out and body surfing on the way in. At this time of year most dogs will use water to cool themselves even if it is only dipping their chests into shallow water.
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