Swimming for health and happiness!
Jump in the waters fine!
Swimming 101
Swimming is perhaps the best exercise for dogs of all ages. It is a great facilitator for building confidence, helping to lose weight, offering a full range of gentle motion for growing or older arthritic joints and it just plain old fun!
It can also be difficult to get in ample exercise in the summer heat, so swimming is a perfect warm weather activity that allows dogs to keep cool and comfortable while conditioning their bodies.
 Once a dog learns to swim, they love it!
An added benefit is to teach your dog how to do water retrieves. This allows you to focus their direction and energies, keeping the dogs motion in the water for therapeutic benefits by following pulled toys around on the surface for the dog to follow.
There are many books written on teaching retrieves. For water retrieves it is best to look a books designed to teach Field and Hunt Trial retrieving since this is the sport which surrounds water work and training for this area. Amazon.com has several books specifically about teaching water retrieves.
 The best time to begin teaching swimming is to puppies. The younger they start, the better they become at swimming and the more enthusiastic they will be about swimming as adults.
Not all dogs automatically just take to water and it is a source of misinformation that all dogs can swim or even that all dogs, like water! Some take to it like a duck and others have to be introduced and made to feel comfortable and safe.
Water has to be looked as part of your training program for introducing and teaching a how to program. There are plenty of Labrador and Golden Retrievers who do not like being in water and the thicker muscled dogs such as Rottwielers and Mastiffs who don't have buoyancy in water, which, can make swimming difficult.
It is best to start in areas where the dog or pup can walk in and control their movements with feet planted under them.
Use gentle transition beach areas where they can get accustom to being in the water, splashing, the sounds and feel of the waters motion but still be able to control how deep they are and whether their feet still touch bottom.
Toys are a good way to introduce water play. 
A floating toy on a light line which can be moved around and get the puppy following it.
Put the pup on a long light line which is connected to a well fitted harness. Move the floating toy close to and around them so they can get it. The point is for the pup to succeed in getting the toy and moving the toy around so they have venture further away as they build confidence in their own water abilities.
It is not important to get them swimming in deeper water as it is to get comfortable with being around the water.
The next session out, you might move out a little further into the water to get the pup to follow you in a little deeper. Let them learn how to get out and what direction to head for shore. Let them learn to leap and splash while they can still touch bottom.
When the puppy shows comfort in the water and interest in going a bit further, now its time to teach swimming 101. Hold them up under their belly and chest and let them begin to "Doggie Paddle" while supporting their body. Most dogs will initially let their back ends sink down and not know how to use their back legs to help move through the water. They struggle to keep heads up and swim in almost a standing position hoping to reach bottom with their back ends. So to help them learn buoyancy in the water, keeping their bodies up will help them learn to use and paddle with their back legs.
You can begin to lower your hands to see if the pup is swimming on their own and using the back as much as the front. Once they are on their own be sure to stay connected via a long line.
Go out with them to where they aren't touching. Use toys to have them follow or have them play catch with you. When they swim to you, make a big deal out of coming to you. Scope them up, make it fun and exciting for having made it over to you!
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