# Saltwater



## jeff gamber (Feb 15, 2010)

Looking for people with prolonged exposure of their dogs doing retrieves and/swimming/conditioning in saltwater and thier experiences in respect to any health complications or adverse effects.

I just started taking Carlos and Carlo to the beach for bonding, retrieves, and conditioning. Other than the basic "be careful of saltwater ingestion, red tide, heat exhaustion,etc.", anyone have positive or negative experiences about dogs exposed to working in saltwater.

Thanks...


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## Christopher Smith (Jun 20, 2008)

I use to live near the ocean and let my dog swim on most days. I never had a problem nor did anyone else that I know.

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## jeff gamber (Feb 15, 2010)

@ Chris

Let me guess Judah in Malibu? Nice pic bro. That's got to be pretty soothing to have that as a playground...

I guess I tried to research some do's and dont's. Rinse them off after, etc., but I wanted to make sure it didn't cause any ear problems, vision, etc...

Thanks for the post!


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## susan tuck (Mar 28, 2006)

For months on end I sometimes take Arkane to the beach 2 or 3 times a week, some months I might not go at all. Anyway, I have never seen any adverse affects in any of my dogs from swimming in the ocean.


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## maggie fraser (May 30, 2008)

Dunno how open sea is over your way, I do know I've had problems with dogs swimming in the sea, they can pick up all nasty linds of stuff dependant on pollutant levels. You want to keep them very well hydrated both prior and post, particularly in hot weather but you prolly know that already. Keep them well hydrated and always rinse out the salt from their coats.


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## Christopher Smith (Jun 20, 2008)

jeff gamber said:


> @ Chris
> 
> Let me guess Judah in Malibu? Nice pic bro. That's got to be pretty soothing to have that as a playground...
> 
> ...


I don't worry about rinsing them off. As a kid I was at the beach everyday in the summer and that was the only water I that touched the outside of my body for months at a time. So if I can do it I figure the dog can do it. Judah will sometimes get a slight ear infection when I swim him in freshwater, but never saltwater. this is the stuff I use for that. http://www.1800petmeds.com/Zymox+Otic+Enzymatic+Solution+Hydrocortisone+Free-prod338153.html

If you are worried about pollution and bacteria, there is a state and local entities in your area that test for that. I'm sure you can find something online. Here is the one for LA County. http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/phcommon/public/eh/water_quality/beach_grades.cfm 

Glad you like the pic.


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## Sara Waters (Oct 23, 2010)

I lived for 25 years near the beach and my dogs swam everyday. The ocean where I lived was clean and beautiful. I never rinsed them off and they never had a problem. At that time all my dogs had prick ears and there was never a problem with their ears. They surfed, they dive bombed off reefs and swam after their floating frisbees. The only thing I had a problem with was balls - because their mouths were open on the retrieve they would swallow lots of sea water and it would squirt out their rear ends.

I solved this by throwing floating dumbells where their mouths wernt open on the swim back.

We also had poison sea slugs at certain times of the year and I lost one dog to this.


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## susan tuck (Mar 28, 2006)

I've only ever rinsed a dog after swimming in the ocean in a valiant but futile attempt to get rid of some of the sand before he hopped into his crate in the back if my freshly cleaned SUV, I find that once they dry they shake out most of the sand anyway.


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## Melissa Thom (Jun 21, 2011)

I live on an island in Puget Sound. My dogs are in salt water often.

Usually salt water drinking leads to runny poop. I try to rinse them off so their hair doesn't get brittle, sticky, lighten, and they don't itch or smell. Otherwise I don't notice too much of a difference between salt and fresh water.


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## James Downey (Oct 27, 2008)

I work in the water alot. as far as bacteria is concerned. after it rains a good one, the run off is where high levels pollutants come from. They are the highest 72 hours after the rain. 

But I agree with everyone else, I have seen my dogs vomit the water back up and get the squirts. But the saltwater seems to make thier coat soft.


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## Ricky Mav (Jul 28, 2011)

jeff gamber said:


> Looking for people with prolonged exposure of their dogs doing retrieves and/swimming/conditioning in saltwater and thier experiences in respect to any health complications or adverse effects.
> 
> I just started taking Carlos and Carlo to the beach for bonding, retrieves, and conditioning. Other than the basic "be careful of saltwater ingestion, red tide, heat exhaustion,etc.", anyone have positive or negative experiences about dogs exposed to working in saltwater.
> 
> Thanks...


I never had a problem with my Malinois swimming in salt water. They would chase seagulls (never catch them) and swim in the water quite often, with no adverse affects.


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