This is Abby. She likes water but cannot swim. Apparently some dogs never figure out what their legs are supposed to do in water. She also does not fetch and is disgusted by sticks and tennis balls.
I shame my breed | Dog Shaming
This is Abby. She likes water but cannot swim. Apparently some dogs never figure out what their legs are supposed to do in water. She also does not fetch and is disgusted by sticks and tennis balls.
Melissa
My black lab refuses to fetch anything as well! He will run alongside of other dogs at the dog park playing fetch with their owners but wants nothing to do with that business. He sure does love to swim in the water though. <3 Labs!!
Gerri
Abby’s not defective, she’s one of a kind!
Lynn
I couldn’t have said it better my self. Love Abby!
Marc W.
Or has the humans trained! Who gets the ball if you throw it? You. 🙂
Goliath
One of a kind…Absolutely 🙂
Tif
What a sweetie pie!
Bonbon
I love Abby, she has a mind of her own!
Damien
lol.. my girl Cooper can’t stand water either.. she prefers to just run alongside other dogs playing fetch. she also hates car rides..
Libby Linker
Defective? Or smarter than every other silly, stick-fetching retriever out there? Maybe Abby is just dignified.
Teri S.
I had a lab/great dane mix that couldn’t swim. He was bottom heavy, so when he got in over his head, he looked like he was trying to swim straight up. I had to rescue his behind a few times when he forgot he couldn’t swim and chased the lab that could swim.
auntmardi
My Catahoula hound was like that. She would go in up to her nose and stand on the bottom with her hind feet, and dog paddle in the air with her front paws
Vanessa
Smart girl. Let others do the work 😛 My lab was afraid of his own shadow, literally. But he was the best.
Girl6725
I have a golden retriever who refuses to swim, fetch, and to add insult to injury is afraid of cats
angela beagle
Lol…..
Sarah
My lab was defective too! Refused to fetch, hated water, and didn’t know how to swim. I called him a meth lab instead of a lab retriever because he certainly couldn’t retrieve.
Lisa
meth lab? hahahahahaha i know it’ very very early (or late) and i’m over tired but that me howl! 😉 thanks for the laugh.
Tami
My Golden is known as a “Golden Not A Retriever”. She also dislikes water and will walk like a tightrope walker to avoid a wet sidewalk.
Nali
What a cutie! Labs are such sweethearts. <3
mikey
Maybe Abbs’ just wants to dance?
Keri
My family’s black lab Lola also refuses to swim. She’s capable, she just won’t do it. She loves to splash in water and bite at it but the second she can no longer touch the bottom she is done. She will fetch a ball once (then it gets icky from slobber and she won’t have anything else to do with it), sticks not at all. Maybe she and Abby are related?
Shauna
Awww bless xxxx
Lisa
my beloved lab loved to swim but was so bad at it that he looked like a dolphin preparing to drive, sitting so high in the water i was never sure how he moved. LOL
Abby is very cute!
sandra arnold
Have her go in with another dog. My black lab taught my Golden Retreiver how to swim.
Monica
Going in with another dog could backfire – my big boy convinced my Lab/Springer cross that dogs can’t swim, now they both only go as far as they can wade into the water…
Lyndsey
My Chocolate Lab is scared of water, cars, kongs, etc… When we rescued her she was scared of everything to include the front door of the house and TV… I tell everyone she thinks she is a black pug like her sisters! LOL.
spectrumom
She was born to do other things. She looks like a real sweetie. Perhaps she was born to give and get lovins.
Karen Stier
My yellow lab hates water. I feel your pain. Haha
roz
No one is perfect!
Cindy Morgan
But I bet she loves, and loves, and love
Edward C Munz
At least she likes to get in the water.
Melodie
Neither of my dogs could swim until one day we join a friend of mine with her dogs near a pond. HER dogs taught my dogs how to swim. It was cool to watch. And now my dogs can swim!
Carrie Souter
We had a lab who didn’t like to swim. She just wanted to stand belly-deep in the water and cool herself off. We were pretty sure someone used the hose to discipline her when she was a baby (we got her when she was 2). Whoever did that should be aSHAMED! We got her used to the water by taking her to a local lake that had a handicapped ramp for people in wheel chairs to get into the water. It was the perfect entrance for our frightened lady. She could ease in at her own pace.
deb
My lab loves to swim, even in a pool with an icy covering. As far as fetching, her theory is, if you didn’t want that toy over there, you shouldn’t have thrown it and since you threw it, you can go get it…. just let her know when there is some belly rubbing coming then she will then she will gladly participate.
Tammy
Its nice to see my Bella a black lab isn’t the only non retriever, she will go fetch what you throw but you have to try and get it away from her, so you have to chase her. as far as swiming goes she will go in the water with her male lab friends as they retrieve the ball but she only goes so far then comes back and waits for them to try and get the ball from them.
Cathleen
I though my Max was the only lab that didn’t swim or fetch. I love this!
paquettera
I hava lab that is terrified of water….Must be Abby’s brother!
Miss Ellie
I love the expression on her face…”Can we go home now…pleeeze?”
roboprof
Love this! And really enjoyed earlier catahoula poster~~my 2 yr old catahouls loves water but won’t swim~~only wades. Its like he doesn’t know it is possible! Even if he sees other dogs like spaniels jumping in the lake. He just waits in the wading depth till the other dog swims in with the stick…and steals it from him! Ok so maybe catahoulas are just very clever!
Andrea
Catahoulas are very clever dogs!!
Andrea
What a cutey-patootie!!! My Lab mix won’t go anywhere near water. She’s not a pure-bred Lab, so I forgive her! It’s good though, because she’s white and stays perfectly clean all the time!!!
Jenelle Anderson
I love this little doggie….I’ll adopt him/her if his/her parents find him/her inept. He/She is a DORABLE!.
Lin Kn
What a beautiful pet! I think she disdains swimming etc. because she is ultra-feminine!
Sandi
My female black lab “Nikki” will not retrieve. She loves the water but only if her feet can touch bottom. So she will wade in shallow creeks and get in the hot tub but not the pool.
max
great!
Kathie
Scoobie was in a shelter for 4 years, he doesn’t know how to swim or fetch, but we love him all the same. He’s the best.
Terra
My yellow lab Barney hates water and refuses to play fetch as well lol
Terizan
Jennelle that is such a great offer! Looks like we have a nice little group of non swimmers My black lab does not swim or fetch. She will chase what i throw and pick it up happily and drop it. Mission accomplished.
Curt
I also have a labs named Abbie. She refuses to fetch ducks. She will just run up to within about 2 feet and just barks at them until one of the other dogs picks them up.
billcam2000
i never could understand the attraction of tennis balls. This dog is sensible!!
Cypres Patterson
Both of my labs love the water, and they love to play fetch. But one of them doesn’t swim…..he snorkels! He’ll get on his belly in shallow water so he’s submerged, then he sticks his nose up and commando-crawls down the length of the beach. He also turned himself upside-down once when swimming in a pond and nearly drowned.
rescuealab1
She’s so adorable who cares!!
Beabarb
My Staffie walks along the bottom, he doesn’t swim, he doesn’t see the need for breathing under there either, someone always has to pull him out!
Jocelyn
I had a lab who hated water and looked at me like I was crazy when I tried to get her to fetch!
Pam V.
My lab loves the water and he retrieves but his hippocracy only goes so far. He will swim for 2 minutes and he will fetch only 2 to 3 times, after that you’re on your own.
mm parker
Smart Lab in Florida, you don’t know whats in the water, alligators, florida crocodiles, 17′ boa’s, and now we have the great nile crocodile.
Jack
To Mm Parker, Thats ONE SMART!!!!!!! Lab!!!! In my BOOK!!!!,Thanks, Happy New Year, Jack!
Letitia
my lab mix won’t even go in the water!
Jenny
No shame in that at all, sweet thing. My lab HATES water – she won’t even get in up to her ankles… and fetch? She wouldn’t demean herself. You must bring things to her, not the other way around…
Lisa Amira
We have a lab/beagle who wont swim or fetch….but will run like the wind to escape the house but when taken to the dog park wont leave my side….
lorrie
that’s the beagle part. pure beagle. they are a strong minded breed and the lab part never had a chance! lol!
Lisa
What you may have not figured out yet is that Abby CAN do your taxes.
Christina
omg, that made me laugh. 🙂
Billie Jo Walsh
We have two golden retrievers, one is a complete pool and tennis ball freak, the other one acts like water is only to drink and tennis balls belong on a tennis court. You never know!
Dee
My lab won’t swim either… she’ll fetch, but won’t bring it back to us. We call her a labrador retainer
Courtney
I believe you have a rare variety of the “spectator species”. Known for there managerial skills. They make good referees for other retrievers.
Maureen Gerken
Poodles are supposed to be water dogs, but you’d never know it with my two divas.
Napole
Our poodle mutt shakes like it’s the end of the world when it’s bath time!
Evelyn
He does look a little dim standing there like that 🙂
I bet he’s still a love though!
Christine Parks
It’s ok Abby you clearly have other great attributes!!! Cuteness!!!
Jil
No shame in that! We have a Pit that loves water but sinks like a rock! We have to take the ladder off when we go in the pool!
Gail Hayes-Bean
I have and Irish Terrier who retrieves everything and even helps me weed the garden. If only I could train her what is weed and what flowering shrub.
Peggy
“I’m a defective Lab!” LOL!! What a cutie. At least the option is there to wear a life jacket so she can still enjoy the water. Good for her and you! 🙂
natashableu
I laugh so hard right now 🙂 Abby you are so amazing. Very stylish on that life jacket <3
Maria Shank
Callie (my Lab/coonhound) enjoys tennis balls, but believes water belongs in her bowl (or on the ground in the form of snow) and nowhere else. She LOVES snow, but rain, puddles and sprinklers are evil things to be avoided when possible. I haven’t even tried taking her swimming.
Suz Kitsteiner
Ginny, this probably isn’t the site for you then
Paula Clautice Perry Wagner
Leader’s don’t play fetch. That’s what the dog trainer told me. So you have a natural born leader and a cute one.
Cindy Preis (@ebuzz55)
But you’re CUTE. Cute trumps everything else.
Stewart
My dog would give me this look…”i’m not putting that in my mouth, you go get it if you want it back”!
Nicola Tyldesley
our weimeraner fell in 2 days after we brought him home from the rescue centre.. and couldn’t swim,, our black lab went in and pulled him out, as he was going under for the 3rd time. My daughter had just got her coat and shoes off to go in and rescue him, when Ben jumped in and shouldered him to the side
Tqammy and Freddy
I just love Miss Abby! I see this post from time to time and chuckle. 🙂
Susan
My chocolate lab loves to swim in the pool more than anything. Her idea of fetch is to catch it but it’s up to YOU to fetch it. I had a beagle lab that would not get in the water at all and my golden/dalmation would only go in the lake. She wanted no part of the pool
samshepcap
Honey BUnny Butterfly Rosebud (Honey) is a black rescue lab cross, she refuses to demean herself to the lowly level of playing fetch and rolling around in mud, going out in the rain, or pooing and weeing in the garden, she is a lady!