Learning to swim...

"Labrador Retrievers are born water dogs. Their webbed feet and water resistant coat makes them naturals at a pool party. But wait! There's one detail you might not be aware of: puppies, even Labs, are not born knowing how to swim. You have to teach your dog how." (extract from Your Labrador Retriever Puppy)

So wait, definitely no-one told us this fact. And whilst Rowan so far has loved wading in water he's been very resistant to going out his depth. So after a very tentative couple of strokes in the Dee a week or so ago, Mummy (remember her? the reticent, not sure about dogs one - now the most protective and besotted of the lot of us one) decided to book Rowan into a doggy swimming pool.

I didn't know such things existed. Let alone that dogs needed to be taught swimming. This was entering into the bonkers zone in my book; where dogs become more pampered than anyone else in the house. I mean, I'm used to being bottom of the heap at home and I was really quite happy getting Rowan for company in the gutter. But his elevated status to pampered pooch was going against the grain. Yet off we trotted 35 minutes drive across Glasgow to the doggy swimming pool. Why the local loch wouldn't have sufficed I don't know. But there you go - that's a pampered pooch for you, flotation aid and all.

The result? Well see for yourself. After quite a lot of cajoling and persuasion, I'm still not sure he loves swimming still but at least we know he won't drown. He even managed to leave a large protest outside the pool as a reminder of his views on the matter.

Videoclip: Learning to swim...

Or you can watch the video here