We recently moved to Florida and have a swimming pool for the first time. Our 2 year old Papillon is not a fan of water and gets terribly excited(??) agitated(?) upset (?) when anyone is in the pool. He races around the perimeter, barking frantically or -- if he is inside -- he jumps and scratches furiously at the window glass. To minimize him getting any additional "practice" at this undesirable behavior, we now crate him out of sight of the pool when anyone plans to go swimming. We would, however, like to better understand why he does this: is he upset about the person being in the pool without him or is he frustrated that he isn’t brave enough to go in the water himself?? Any suggestions to better understand this would be greatly appreciated.

From: Judy in Delray Beach, Florida

Judy I am really glad you asked this and feel terrible that I didn't include it in THE DOG BIBLE because this is not an uncommon reaction to people swimming and can be an unpleasant situation for swimmers and dog alike! First of all, my sincere compliments to you for the solution that you came up with because you have managed this situation in the most complete, efficient and simple way possible: don’t put your little one in the position of having to witness this disturbing event!
It doesn’t sound as though you want to invest the considerable time and effort to trying to "cure" your little pooch of her feelings about swimming (if there are any folks out there who have a dog who reacts similarly around swimming and they DO want to solve the problem because they would like their dog outside with them, calmly, please write in and I'll answer that as a separate issue). As far the little Papillon goes, honestly I would personally share your attitude to just remove her from the situation because in that hot Florida weather you really don’t need a delicate little dog with a heavy coat running around outside in the heat anyway -- much less getting herself into a tizzy over those humans immersed in a that large water bowl!

I’m only kidding about that, of course, because we can never know for certain how a dog perceives things and making assumptions from the human perspective can be way off the mark. For example, thinking that a dog wishes “she were more brave” is not relevant to a dog’s way of thinking since that is not within a canine realm of possibility, in terms of how their intelligence is wired or directed. Dogs don’t have a self-perception with ideas like "If only I had scored higher on that agility course I might have gotten a real steak for dinner," or "I'd love to cool off in there but my coat is so thick it might drag me down." But where swimming in concerned, your dog probably is worried to see humans with only their heads showing, anxious about your safety in what looks dangerous or confusing to her. The barking and racing is to alert you or others to danger, to call for help or try to rescue you. Just be glad she doesn’t like the water because many dogs who have the same reaction as her will jump in to "rescue" the person and wind up giving them some nasty scratches in the process!

Let your little girl rest in her crate while you splash around -- you came up with a really good way to manage the situation with no emotion, fuss, or complicated training ideas. Simplicity is a great goal and attitude to have in addressing any behavior issues. Hope this helps!

Tracie Hotchner