I have had my 5.5 month old lab for 2 weeks now. When can I introduce him to water? We went for a hike today and he jumped in the creek but was hesitant to go in. how do I teach him to swim? Also, he is in his crate for approx 8 hours a day when we are at work. Is that too long? We don't have any other choice right now as we cannot not leave him roaming the house when we are not around. We are hoping to leave him in the kitchen when we can trust him. Let me know what you think. Ty

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.

Unfortunately right we don't have any other option besides the crate. Is this going to harm him any way? Developing his bone structure or any physchological problems later on? I would like to keep him in the kitchen but it is far to early.

Your dogs in a crate for 8 hours! Have you thought about a link wire run for your dog in the back yard? Or the basement? Do you work far from your home? Maybe you can run home at lunch and let him/her out? Have you thought of a pet daycare. I know petcetra has one. Maybe once or twice a week. I odn;t know where you stand finanically so I'll leave it to that. Hope my two cents counted. :) good luck

Thanks for the info... we are going to put him in doggy day care probably once a week and I am close to work so I am able to "most of the time get home to let him out and play with him for a bit... we are in British columbia and it is againts the law to leave him tied up unattended... go figure.. crate for 8 hours is OK but leave him in the yard tied up is not... we hopefully will be able to leave him in the kitchen soon so it shouldn't last too long with the crate all day... in 2 weeks that we have had him, he has been really good with what is acceoptable and what is not... we'll see how he is alone when we do some practice runs this weekend for an hour or two... we are going to use a baby gate and see if he will stay put... I know he can jump it if he really wanted too... funny story but my brothers lab never went near the gate; when he was really young the thing fell right in front of him and scared the poop out of him, he never went close to it ever since... if I were so lucky...