my parents dog - Bear the staffy lab x - is a water baby, the only thing that distracts him from killing himself playing ball chase is a pond/river/beach and nothing can distract him from water......when we take him near water we have to make sure he has a very long rope attached to his collar cos he will swim til he drowns and no amount of calling (friendly or otherwise) will get him out of the water once he is in there!!!!!!