i have a female black lab who will be 4 on halloween. she’s an average to mediocre hunter but we enjoy each others company, the problem is she refuses to jump into the water, she has to have a shoreline, i just got a boat so i’m afraid that she will do the same and not get in or out of the boat, any tips on solving this little dilema would be greatly appreciated
Welcome to In-Depth Outdoors chopper6322!!! 
Does she like to retrieve? If so find a buddy who has a dog that loves to do water retrieves from a boat. Take both dogs out in your boat and let your buddy’s dogs do a water retrieve in front of your dog with your dogs retrieving dummy. Hold on to your dog tight as she is going to want to get at her dummy in the worst way as that is her dummy and not your buddies dogs dummy. This will let her see how it is done, now do a second retrieve but this time let your dog do the retrieving, she should be ready to go. When I fist got my dog she was leery about going in the water but when she saw my friends dog go after her dummy in the water she about tore my arm off trying to get at it. After that I never had a problem with her going into water in fact now she loves the water.
I hear more about the problem of the dog jumping out of the boat when they are not supposed to. Here is what I would do on the first trip. With the boat tied up, walk your dog down the dock and step right into the boat. There be be a little hesitation the first time but let her do it on her own. Coax her but don’t force her in. Once she enters let her check things out for awhile. Then take her back out and walk her back down the dock and do it again. Do this 3 or 4 times or until she is confident getting in the boat. When you pull away from the dock, take it slow for awhile until she gets used to the movement. Slowly increase the speed. More than likely, in a short time she will be in front getting the wind in her face. I keep the dog on a leash for the first few rides. The leash should be long enough so she can move around the boat but keep it where you can control her with it.
Follow Steve’s advice for getting her to jump out into the water. Do not push or throw her in.
well she loves the water, and she’s been on pontoon boats before but just won’t jump into the water, i’ll have to ask around for someone else with a trained dog as i’ve just moved to corpus christi texas, but that sounds like a great idea, she definatly hates another dog retrieving anything let alone her dummy and she’s been a pretty quick study so she should pick it up quick…anyway to get them back into the boat without one of those expensive dog ladders?
IMO I would invest in the ladder, it would not be worth injuring your dog trying to hoist him back into the boat without one.
any ladders you recommend? that are inexpensive, or plans for a do it yourself one?
Go to http://www.labsunlimitedkennels.com and click on products. See if that type of ladder/ramp would fit your needs.
A little bit about getting the dog used to jumping out of a boat. The best way is to start with a boat that is just sitting on the ground. Sit in the boat with the dog and have her do retrieves jumping out of the boat. I know its not always possible to have a boat sitting on the ground. Here is another method. have your boat sitting on shore and have the dog jump in and out on the shore. Next toss a bumper a short distance in the water while the dog is in the boat. If she jumps on shore and then retrieve, thats ok. Move the boat a short distance away from shore and toss another bumper. This time she will have to step into the water. as she succeeds, keep moving the boat into deeper water. Hope this helps.
i think i’m going to go with the cheaper one from cabelas, but wow watching the video from the labsunlimited, i never realized that much water would be brought into the boat with each retrieve…and i definatly will try the boat on land training that way also it can be much more controlled and in her own backyard where she’s already comftrable….we’ll get started tonight, wish me luck 
Good luck and keep us posted on how the training goes. 
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