Meliora Drents

The fields that the Drent historically hunted in the Netherlands were often criss-crossed with irrigation canals. The Drent had to be able to swim across those canals to retrieve a downed bird.

Unfortunately, we didn’t prioritize swimming with Iris when she was young. Her breeder introduced her to water to set her up for success, but our only water access here in the desert of San Diego are dog beaches – and when she was young, I was more worried about her having a bad experience with another dog than making sure she would swim. So, somehow, her first two years went by and Iris would not voluntarily swim.

She has always loved the water – she will happily run and splash through the shallows – and when she accidentally got herself in deep enough water, she physically could swim. She just struggled with the transition, that moment of “liftoff” between her paws touching the ground and starting to paddle. So this summer I made it a goal to get her swimming. I called it, Operation Swimming Bean.

Swim Lessons

The first thing we did was work with Cutting Edge K9 for two “swim lessons” at a pool. Iris wore a life vest for these lessons, both to help her build confidence, and for liability reasons.

The first lesson, the trainer went into the pool with Iris while I stayed at the pool’s edge. There was a platform in the pool that could be lowered so Iris was just able to put her feet down while still being mostly in the water, which is where she started. Then, across the pool, I called to and encouraged Iris. The first few tries, the trainer held the side of the life vest and applied gentle pressure until Iris took the step off the platform to swim. She would hang on to Iris as she paddled towards me, then turn her around in the water and bring her back to the platform. We repeated this a few times, and after only a few tries, the trainer no longer had to put any pressure on Iris get her to make the step off the platform. A few more times and Iris’s paddling became calmer. A few times after that I was able to throw a toy for her to retrieve in the water, while still walking the edge of the pool and verbally encouraging her around.

The following lesson, the trainer stayed out of the pool and we relied entirely on Iris’s favorite ball. Very quickly I was able to start throwing the ball away from me for Iris to swim out to and retrieve. It was clear that her confidence in the water was growing, but she was still required to wear a life vest in the pool, and I knew the transition to swimming without it was our next challenge.

We tried a couple times at Fiesta Island, our best local dog beach, throwing Iris’s ball just far enough out for her to have to take that step off the ground to retrieve it. We had a few successful momentary paddles – but she still tended to hesitate at the transition point, and wouldn’t go for a ball if I had thrown it too far out.

Spaniel Club – Success!

We finally turned a corner at the August SoCal Sporting Spaniel Club training day. After the formal training, a few of us took the dogs to the ponds to cool off and play before heading home. Our friends’ dogs all love to swim, so I hoped they would rub off on Iris.

Sure enough, they did. But I believe the big key was a bumper that I had ziptied a dried bird wing to. Iris wanted nothing more than that toy – usually her favorite ball is her highest value reward item, but she was on another level for the bird wing bumper. So I threw it out a few yards into the “deep end” of the pond, and she LAUNCHED herself in after it.

I threw that toy another 2 dozen times and Iris swam after it and retrieved it to shore each time. I slowly pushed the throws further and further, but she never hesitated to swim out for it.

I’m sure we have some more generalization and confidence building to do – I’d love to see her swimming after a ball with no hesitation. But for the purposes of proving this Drent could fulfill her breed’s historical purpose and swim after a bird, I’d call Operation Swimming Bean a success!