I have a 5 year old Golden who loves the water and will do anything to get wet when he is off lead. I take him to the beach regularly in summer and he would swim and play in the water for hours if I let him.

My issue is at home where we have an inground pool and if anyone is in he pool he starts barking and does not stop. He gets quite worked up and anxious and wags his tail a little below horizontal so more of a submissive tail wag.

We have put him in the pool previously but he swims to the side and gets out straight away. We bought a dog pool ramp so he could get in and out but he wouldn't go near it. We have tried floating treats on the water but he just won't come in and gets very anxious. I assume it may be related to him not being able to walk into the water as he does at the beach and he is scared of being stuck in there?

I have done some research and it appears it could either be because he wants to join us in the pool and can't, or it could be due to him thinking we are in trouble and need help.

Does anyone else have experience with his or have a suggestion on how we can stop the anxiety and barking? When we go to the beach I do not get into the water with him but we spend an hour or so of me kicking the water for him to jump up and try and catch (He is obsessed with this game!), so I was thinking I might try swimming with him at the beach to see if that helps.

Appreciate any suggestions!

Thanks

My Molson had different barks that informed me quite clearly what was on his mind. Listen to the types of barks your dog has and you'll soon realize what he's saying. When i would get in the boat and beg him to come he'd be giving me proper hell by barking in a monitone rythm and i could time it by counting between each "Whoof" small pause count 1...2...then a Whof. Not sure i'm being clear. Like this: Whof 1, 2, then whof 1, 2, whof1...2... Etc. this means, "Hey!!! Over here! Mom! this is NOT right Mom! I want in too! I'm not secure I can i can get in here, MOM, MOM CONVINCE ME! mom, show me again will you? mom, show me how to get up the nerve here! MOM STOP LOOK, i'm not in the water and I'm wasting time talking about it! mom i want you to convince me!". I think if you listen you'll hear that rythm bark. If he thought I was in trouble or danger his bark would be a normal pitch but then pitch would rise high and the "whof" wouldnt be formed as the pitch and succession would rise. If this isn't clear just listen to ur dog and soon you'll be speaking Dog like you are one! I lost my 16 year old chatterbox on the 30th Dec so i'm happy to relive everything everyone talks about. I hope this was helpful. Please let me know! Good luck!!!