Gosling afraid of swimming

[warriorholly]

Hi. I have a question that I hope someone may have the answer to. It seems my 2 month old Chinese gosling is afraid of swimming. He squeaks and starts crying for me as soon as he's in deep enough water that his feet don't touch the bottom of the tub. It doesn't seem like a physical problem, as he's swimming perfectly. He loves playing in water; just not deep enough he can't stand. Does anybody know why he may be this way? I've never raised geese before, so I have nothing to back this up with. Thanks~!

 

[The goose girl]

All of my geese have preferred secure footing when they're bathing. They also like to swim in deeper waters, but it takes them longer to get used to it. Probably because I didn't go swimming with them very often when they were little, like a goose parent would do.

Geese really, really like things to stay the same. I'm guessing you fill the tub while your gosling is in it. So when he all of a sudden can't reach the bottom, he doesn't know what's happening. All he knows is "this is different", and that scares him. He's not afraid of swimming; he's just afraid of the tub changing qualities.

My guess is, if you try to force him to get used to the deeper water, he'll eventually be afraid of the tub, regardless of the water level. Just let him bathe in the shallower water. If he wants to swim or float, he'll lift his feet up. Geese don't need much more than 5-6" of water to swim. They also don't need to be taught or trained how to swim. That's an instinct, and your goose will know how to use it if the need arises.

If you want your goose to experience the joy of swimming, you should go swimming with him. The ocean is probably a bit far away for you

, but you could take him to a lake or a pond and go in with him.

 

[warriorholly]

Oh, thank you for replying so quickly! I was thinking it was because he was imprinted, and wanted to stay closer to me. (Even though I love him, it would be kind of icky to lay in a tub with my goose.

) He's my first goose and house goose, so all I've ever had to compare him to were ducks. Totally hooked on geese now, however.

We do have a lake really close to here, so perhaps I could try and swim with him there? I can't actually swim, so I'd have to stay in sort of shallow water. Would there be any risk of disease by bringing him to the lake?

 

[The goose girl]

Totally hooked on geese now, however.

That's how they work!

Quote: It's very unlikely he'll catch anything from other waterfowl using the lake - geese hardly ever catch anything contagious. But make sure the lake is not polluted by industry or algae. If is has fish and amphibians, it's fine.

I took my goose to the ocean last summer:

She really enjoyed it; especially the shallow "pond" on the beach: