We could understand that in her first summer as she was only 8 weeks old, but in her second summer when she was just over 1 year, we began to wonder is we had some kind of dud retriever.
Well, in her third summer, when she was just over 2 years old. My daughter visited us with her Labrador retriever Daisy, who followed my daughter into the water without hesitation and Sea-Enna followed along without a thought, and she loved it. All she needed was someone to show her what to do.
So, now we had a problem. We live in a harbour. We live on a boat. And we certainly did not want to have to live with a constantly wet dog. The first time we let her swim off of the boat, we also discovered it was difficult to get her back up onto the swim platform. Even at 2 years old she was over 55 pounds.
Her "Bathing Suit" became the solution to both problems. It is a large strong dog harness that has a good strong strap across her back and under her belly, so that when she swims up to the boat Dan can heft her back up onto the swim platform.
We have been very consistent in never, never, never letting her go in the water without that harness on. Even if we are going swimming at a beach, she must have her "Bathing Suit" on. Not that she NEEDS to have it on then, but it makes her associate it with being allowed to go in the water.
That consistency means she never goes near the water around the harbour. No jumping off docks, wading into the mud or reeds, nor do we have to fear her jumping off of the boat without permission. It also means when we get out her "Bathing Suit" she gets very excited and can hardly contain her excitement.
If we pull out her "Bathing Suit" while we are in port she runs to the truck the minute she gets it on, because she knows she is going to the beach. 
Or if we stop on a cruise and get out her "Bathing Suit" she knows she gets to swim off of the boat. It works great.
All in all the "Bathing Suit" harness and consistency, have been a wonderful solution to what could have been a BIG problem for us.
SEA-ENNA LOVES TO SWIM
