Can Corgis swim with those little legs? (Real experience of Corgi swimming )

corgi swimming in pool

I didn’t believe my Corgi Teeny could swim, just look at those cute stumpy little legs, how can they possibly move that long body through water? My partner Ling disagreed, I’ve seen it before! she said, I’ve seen videos! I was still sceptical but there’s only one way to find out if a Corgi can swim and that’s to take our precious Teeny to some water and see with our own eyes whether its true.

We got to the lake and much to my surprise, Ling pulled out a yellow dog size life jacket for Teeny to wear. A doggy life jacket for a soon to be swimming Corgi? This day beside a lake in Wuxi, China, was full of unexpected surprises and a very wet and dirty dog! but in the end I learnt a lot about whether a Corgi can swim and most importantly, whether they actually like it?

Not only did we have this one experience taking Teeny to the lake but she’s been to a doggy swimming pool and the sea, so I’ll let you know how she got on there too, I think you’ll be surprised by some of her experiences in water and you’ll know exactly what to do when your Corgi wants to go swimming!

This article is based on our real experiences with our Corgi and we hope to answer the question about whether a Corgi can swim or not, share our thoughts about why we think this is the case and tell you some stories about our Corgi Teeny swimming.

Can Corgis swim?

Yes, Corgis can swim, but this doesn’t always mean they can swim well. Corgis have very short legs and long bodies which makes them look like they might struggle to swim well. In our experience our Corgi Teeny has been swimming several times and managed to swim just fine each time. Teeny has a lot of energy and also very strong legs which help her to be able to swim for a long time.

She wasn’t as quick as some other breeds we saw swimming though, Sandy the Labrador at her doggy pool part was much faster in water and really loved it! Teeny could stay afloat and navigate her way to the end of the pool, where she very quickly tried to get out!. We tried to make swimming fun using toys and treats. It didn’t work, Teeny had set her mind fully on staying as far away from water as possible! Even to this day she is very cautious around water.

Corgi swimming in the sea

We have only taken our Corgi to swim in the sea once and you can see her splashing in the sea in our Teenydoggy YouTube video linked below. Where we live is far away from the sea, which is a shame because I love the ocean! On this trip we strapped Teeny in using our doggy seat belt and drove from a city in China called Wuxi all the way to a ferry port south of Shanghai. Teeny is used to riding in cars and slept most of the journey. We drove for nearly 4 hours and managed to miss the ferry.

The next ferry wasn’t until much later that night so we decided to drive for an extra 3 hours to another ferry crossing to get to an island called Zhoushan island on the east coast of China.

The beach on this island was secluded so we could let our Corgi off her lead to run around and jump into the water. She loved running along the beach, I think it’s the most excited we had ever seen her. She would run to the sea water and jump around like crazy.

It looked like she was jumping the waves with her tiny Corgi legs it was really cute! She got very wet but didn’t swim properly, just padding and jumping in the water, getting her paws and belly wet and covered in sand.

Taking our Corgi swimming in a lake

When Teeny was around 6 months old we bought her a Ruffwear dog life jacket and took her to the lake to let her try to swim for the first time. We attached the life jacket to a lead so we could make sure she didn’t float away and so we could quickly take her out of the water if we needed to.

At first Teeny used her strong but small Corgi legs to swim away from us. This wasn’t going so well, we hadn’t thought that she might not know how to turn in the water and come back. We tried to encourage her to swim more. She swam unintentionally in circles, round and round and then found her way back to the lakeside where she moved her front paws quickly trying to find a way out of the water.

It was clear that she could swim naturally and for a moment when she swam away from the lakeside we thought she was enjoying herself. But we soon realised she wasn’t really sure where she was going and didn’t enjoy the experience of swimming very much because she wanted to get out of the water.

Our Corgi swimming in dog swimming pool

For our Corgi Teeny’s 2nd birthday we had a doggy pool party. We arrived at the doggy pool and let Teeny catch the Frisbee and bring it back to us to receive a treat to make sure she was comfortable in this new place.

When it came to putting on her dog life jacket she tried to run away, which is her favourite game every time we try to put on her lead. Once she came back we put her yellow life jacket on and tried to encourage her to get into the dog swimming pool herself by putting toys and treats close to the edge.

Every time we did this she would try her best to reach the toys and treats without getting into the water, but wouldn’t go close enough to risk falling in. We lifted her above the water and her little corgi legs began to doggy paddle in the air really fast in anticipation for touching the water. It does look pretty funny I’m not going to lie, it’s quite an experience seeing those little Corgi legs moving at full speed in anticipation of hitting the water below. If possible it’s much better to ease your dog into the water by walking in rather than putting them in, it’s more gradual and less scary!

Once in the water we attached a stick to her life jacket so we could quickly bring her back to the side and mummy got in with her to make her feel more comfortable. At first she would swim round in circles and it took Teeny a little while to work out which way to paddle her paws to turn and find her way to where I was stood at the side of the pool.

Each time we put her into the water she swam quickly to where I was stood and tried to get out. She wasn’t enjoying the experience very much compared to being beside the river water or paddling in the sea where the water was shallow and she could touch the ground if she wanted to.

Ever since taking our Corgi to swim in the doggy swimming pool, if we walk anywhere near water she will keep a distance from us and often stretch her legs out to look into the water without getting too close.

It seems she had developed a fear of swimming, although if we aren’t nearby she will look into the water and she still loves to paddle in the river. Every time we walk over a bridge she looks over the side, stretching her legs up onto the wall and looks over to see the water with her cute ears sticking up.

We think Teeny likes water but doesn’t like deep water, or being placed into water without having walked into it herself and being able to choose what happens. If we ever take her swimming in the future we will take her into the sea, where we will swim alongside her in very shallow water where her paws can easily touch the ground again. If there is any sign she isn’t comfortable we will stop and let her run in the shallow water and splash around.

Importance of teaching a corgi puppy to swim

It’s as much a teaching experience as a swimming instructor might call throwing a toddler into water to desensitise them, teaching, or a priest baptising a fully grown adult putting them under the water. What I’m trying to say is that not much teaching is needed It’s more of a making sure they don’t float away and that you can get them out of the water fast if they don’t like it.

When your Corgi is a puppy this is the most important time to socialise them and help them get used to different surroundings, experiences and other dogs. If you can also help your corgis to get familiar with water and swimming from a young age, they will be much more likely to enjoy swimming when they get older.

We took our Corgi swimming when she was a puppy, but only a few times and we mostly just let her paddle and splash in shallow water. The first time we ever put her in water in her life jacket, in a lake, she swam away from the shore and struggled to figure out how to turn and find her way back.

Floating and paddling comes naturally to a dog, but becoming familiar with the doggy paddle and getting comfortable in water takes more time. We would love to have been able to take our corgi swimming more often as a puppy because she doesn’t like swimming now she is an adult.

If we had a doggy paddling pool or somewhere for her to swim safely nearby we would have taken her more often but it’s not always easy to find clean water that is also safe for your dog to swim in.

5 ways to keep your Corgi safe while swimming.

Keeping your Corgi safe in water is really important and when we first thought of the idea of taking Teeny swimming, we didn’t take as much time as we should have, thinking about safety. Only through experience have we realised some very important things you should consider before letting your Corgi swim.

1- First you need to choose the right location. A paddling pool in your backyard is perfect for letting those little corgi legs get wet, splash around a bit and get used to water. It’s for me difficult to spend the time using the garden hose to fill up a paddling pool and not get my own feet wet too, so go ahead, jump on in, your dog will love it even more, with a big human target to splash!

FAQ

Do Corgis hate water?

Corgi’s don’t hate water, our Corgis Teeny loves water however she isn’t very keen to swim in water. At every opportunity our Corgi Teeny will get close to the river near where we live. She doesn’t want to swim but she does love to get her body into the shallow water and get wet, especially if there is a lot of mud involved!

We think, if we had spent more time helping her become more familiar with water when she was a puppy that she would enjoy being in water more now she is a fully grown dog.

Do Corgis love to swim?

Some Corgis love to swim and can swim well, but our Corgi Teeny doesn’t like swimming. However she does love to paddle in shallow water, get herself wet and be close to water.

We tried hard to help and encourage Teeny to swim as a puppy but she wasn’t very keen and we didn’t get chance to take her swimming often enough to see whether that would have helped her enjoy the experience more.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *