We are big time "water people" as I'm sure you can see from all the water pics I post :-) so we felt that for Dublin to be part of all that activity we had to make the effort to have her comfortable with being in or near the water. We never leave her on her own and do have a life jacket for the boat (which she hates LOL ) I have to get a video of her swimming cause you would fall down laughing. she sticks her tounge out and up like a little beacon. It's hilarious :-)