Today I took the kids and the dog to the beach together for the first time. Everything was great, he's curious and gentle with other dogs, great off the lead and comes when called...BUT...the kids went straight into the sea and he went a bit nuts. Went bounding after them and bit DS on the hand. Not hard but hard enough. They ran away and of course he chased them. SO I told the kids to get out of the water and walked him up and down the beach a bit. Then I put him on the lead and he sat with me while they played in the water.

Then I got them out and went into the water myself and he did the same to me, as soon as a big wave came up he ran to me and grabbed my hand with his mouth. So...I'm pretty sure he was trying to "rescue" us but how can I stop it?

He's not afraid of the water at all and bounds straight in there. FOr those that don't know he's a 7ish year old Ridgeback and as far as I know this is the first time he's been taken to the beach in his life (since I got him so he;s been every day for a week). He's a massive softy and DS is fine, didn't hurt but he;s a big dog so DS was a little shanken to begin with.

So how can I teach him that the water is fine for us and to let the kids and I swim?

TIA x