| If you want your Lab to enjoy water, the sooner the better. Let him adjust at his own pace. I have had a few that didn't have much of a chance to swim until almost a year old, and they wanted nothing to do with the water. One thing you can do to encourage him is throw sticks in the water. Not too far out at first.
At 11 months my Lab/Golden, Sheba, hasn't had much chance to swim. I turned her loose to play with a friend's dog. She bolted 50' to their pond.
8 hours is a long time to be in the crate. Can you find a neighbor or a professional dog walker to give him a mid day break? Otherwise, he and the house are safer in the crate.
The "shut the puppy in a safe room" is a fallacy. Very few houses even have a
safe room. How many of us have a room with a hard surfaced floor and nothing
else? Most rooms have electrical cords to chew if nothing else. In addition
to destroying anything a bored puppy finds to chew, it may choke or have
intestinal blockage from the pieces. I had a friend that left her dog in a
"safe" room. It ate a hole in the floor covering. The safe rooms fail to
give the dog the comfort of the enclosed space their instinct requires. Nor
do they restrict activity extending the time the dog can go without relieving
itself. | 
good luck
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