My new Lab pup just went retrieving in the water for the very first time, at our retrieving club training day. She's been paddling in the ocean and around the edges of lakes before, but when our club president heaved a bumper in the lake for her, she never hesitated.
She's a little splashy, and she doesn't like to give the bumper up, but she nails it every time and comes straight back. Not bad for a little 10 month old buzz saw on wheels . . . .