Time swimming

[weimdogman]

In 80ﾟ water how long can I expect my Weims to swim?

[Sharon]

I would think it depends on its conditioning. I had an 11 year old setter that would swim a mile across a lake , check out the shore , and then swim back. Of course, all that time my heart was in my throat wondering if she'd make it.

[weimdogman]

So I got a chance to talk to Lab trainer about length of time swimming and I was surprised by his answers.
He said now with water temps near 80 and air temps pushing 90°, he wouldn't swim a dog 30 minutes.
I know labs have a heavier coat but others say a minute swimming is equal to 4 or 5 minutes running,but I wouldn't run my dogs for a hour in this heat.

[crackerd]

So I got a chance to talk to Lab trainer about length of time swimming and I was surprised by his answers.
He said now with water temps near 80 and air temps pushing 90°, he wouldn't swim a dog 30 minutes.
I know labs have a heavier coat but others say a minute swimming is equal to 4 or 5 minutes running,but I wouldn't run my dogs for a hour in this heat.

Coat has nothing to do with it in warm water. Maybe you misunderstood the Lab trainer or maybe s/he isn't a pro trainer, because "swimming a dog 30 minutes" is irrelevant unless you were told why the dog is swimming - as in picking up water marks or running water blinds at the kinds of distances we see in field trials. In both cases, the dog will have something in its mouth on the return/recall at such distance, and you can analogize that to putting a cork back in a wine bottle: the dog's breathing is going to be very labored and it may overheat from a combination of factors including warm water "cooking" it from the outside. But in the retriever world 80 degrees ain't terribly hot; it's when the water catches up to the ambient temp that apprehension sets in. Because many retriever ponds -technical ponds - are custom-dug at shallow depth, and you better believe in a pond 5-feet deep the thermocline can almost boil an egg, much less a dog. This recent development - https://www.airflowbumpers.com/ - which came about from a retriever field trialer's bequeathing millions in her will to Auburn University for improving performance and health of canine athletes, might give you an idea of why you need to know why the dog is swimming before you can put a time or temperature limit on it.

MG

[weimdogman]

MG thanks for the reply. The labored breathing due to a restricted airway is so obvious I overlooked it.
Yes the lab guy I talked to was referring to time spent doing water retrieves.

I will err on the side of caution and not swim over 10 minutes at a time while it is warm out.

[fishvik]

The normal body temperature of a dog is 101 to 102.5 degrees F. So until pond water temp exeeds 100+ F it is actually cooling the dog. I agree that the restricted breathing will compromise the ability of the dog to lose body heat but I would think that swimming in 80 degree water would more than make up for that compromise in cooling by breathing. In addition if you are training in areas with over 80 degree air temps, less than 50% humidities with winds of 10 mph or greater, like where we train in Idaho, the evaporative cooling effect also brings down a dogs body temperature. I swim my dogs , GSP and a Lab/GWP, all summer for at least a 1/2 hour a day and there doesn't seem to be any increase in panting with them.

[weimdogman]

Problem here is humidity has been too high.
I read something about humidity being high so evaporation- cooling - is minimized.

[Sharon]

Good point. It has been unbearable here in Ontario for more than a month.... temp around 30+ most days(86 degrees celsius ) .

[averageguy]

It will vary considerably by the dog.

[polmaise]

Definitive calculation
Temp + age - depth x flow to the power of ten ,divided by distance = 'Time' ,
mind you when you include Pie or even (Pi) tt ,it gets complicated

[fishvik]

Definitive calculation
Temp + age - depth x flow to the power of ten ,divided by distance = 'Time' ,
mind you when you include Pie or even (Pi) tt ,it gets complicated

Does it ever get to 80 F (26.7 C) in Scotland?

[Trekmoor]

Very occasionally ! :roll: I was working a dog on the island of Skye about 35 years ago when the temperature went up to 93 F. ! I was supposed to be doing a grouse count prior to the shooting season with my dogs but I wouldn't work a pointing dog in that heat …..and to be honest I could not have worked in it. I had to go back to my hotel and have a cool shower before I collapsed !

Really warm days do not suit me at all ! For a while, many years back I was a swimming instructor. I discovered that just prior to swimming racing competitions, the water temperature in most pools was lowered from about it's normal of 78 F. down to 72 F......Apparently humans can swim faster for longer if the water is not very warm ? Maybe the same thing applies to dogs ???

Bill T.

[fishvik]

Very occasionally ! :roll: I was working a dog on the island of Skye about 35 years ago when the temperature went up to 93 F. ! I was supposed to be doing a grouse count prior to the shooting season with my dogs but I wouldn't work a pointing dog in that heat …..and to be honest I could not have worked in it. I had to go back to my hotel and have a cool shower before I collapsed !

Really warm days do not suit me at all ! For a while, many years back I was a swimming instructor. I discovered that just prior to swimming racing competitions, the water temperature in most pools was lowered from about it's normal of 78 F. down to 72 F......Apparently humans can swim faster for longer if the water is not very warm ? Maybe the same thing applies to dogs ???

Bill T.

Bill, that depresses me. I thought Scotland would be a great place to live. I hate hot weather. I think part of it is that I spent 35 years of my life on wildland fire call here in the western US. Well take care and stay healthy and cool.

[Trekmoor]

Fishvik ….Scotland is a great place to live for, in general, the summers don't get too hot and the winters don't get too cold. Very high (over 75 F.) temperatures are pretty rare here , over 80 and everyone starts talking about it being too hot . Over 90 ??? I think that time in Skye was the only time in my entire lifetime that it ever reached that heat here .

The temperatures have rarely gone over 70F. here for most of this summer ! That suits me fine, I don't like heat.

A few years back we had a "bad " winter . The snow in my garden was 2 -3 feet deep. I told my sister about this and she laughed.
She lives oot in the wilds of Canada(Calgary ) and has to dig 5 feet of snow away just to get to her car to dig that out ! I like snow but not that much !

Bill T.

[polmaise]

You could fit Scotland in a tiny Corner of Most States .
It's only 400 miles to deepest St Albans in Englandshire where they have regular 30 degrees in Summer (well as I remember on a Wimbledon week) , but Some in Scotland travel with their dog(s) or Travel to train them ,or others .
But ,the OP doesn't want to hear this irrelevance of where I live or work in heat or water temp,or even time in my water from -10 to + 30 of recorded ambient temperature .
A big Coat holds heat , A thin coat holds less water ...Seals have fur and blubber, but yon Weimeys are at a disadvantage or an advantage depending on where and when and who and what . Water is not their best quality hot or cold.

[bonasa]

So I got a chance to talk to Lab trainer about length of time swimming and I was surprised by his answers.
He said now with water temps near 80 and air temps pushing 90°, he wouldn't swim a dog 30 minutes.
I know labs have a heavier coat but others say a minute swimming is equal to 4 or 5 minutes running,but I wouldn't run my dogs for a hour in this heat.

Coat has nothing to do with it in warm water. Maybe you misunderstood the Lab trainer or maybe s/he isn't a pro trainer, because "swimming a dog 30 minutes" is irrelevant unless you were told why the dog is swimming - as in picking up water marks or running water blinds at the kinds of distances we see in field trials. In both cases, the dog will have something in its mouth on the return/recall at such distance, and you can analogize that to putting a cork back in a wine bottle: the dog's breathing is going to be very labored and it may overheat from a combination of factors including warm water "cooking" it from the outside. But in the retriever world 80 degrees ain't terribly hot; it's when the water catches up to the ambient temp that apprehension sets in. Because many retriever ponds -technical ponds - are custom-dug at shallow depth, and you better believe in a pond 5-feet deep the thermocline can almost boil an egg, much less a dog. This recent development - https://www.airflowbumpers.com/ - which came about from a retriever field trialer's bequeathing millions in her will to Auburn University for improving performance and health of canine athletes, might give you an idea of why you need to know why the dog is swimming before you can put a time or temperature limit on it.

MG

Interesting, I never gave much thought to swimming and cut the dogs off at 30 min because I was bored with it and wanted to finish the roading segment.By swimming I mean throwing marks in moderate flowing rivers, rivers that the USGS temp gauge reads 77-87 F during the summer. I always programmed the swimming portion of the training as "active recovery" on their intense training days. Apparently I was just accruing volume in their training. Out of my element running pointers I suppose.

[crackerd]

If you were throwing marks for them pointers, you were enhancing your element - nice job.

Swimming for recovery or recreation ain't to be sniffed at, either. But if you've ever seen a retriever trial or advanced training on the water, you'll know that these dogs are trained to return with a retrieve at top speed and they may pick up three or four in succession at a cumulative mile's worth of swimming in 9-10 minutes and again half of that with their gobs corked by bird or bumper. But when the training's done, the fun begins again if you, the handler, have the time to let them enjoy themselves making a little splash with their friends. Because they always want to get to back in and you don't want to keep them out of it anyhow, because they've been trained that water is the best company they can keep.

MG