Editing Dog paddle

{{Short description|Swimming style}}
[[File:Golden retriever swimming the doggy paddle.webm|thumb|A [[golden retriever]] swimming the doggy paddle]]
The '''dog paddle''' or '''doggy paddle''' is a simple [[List of swimming styles|swimming style]].  It is characterized by the swimmer lying on their chest and moving their hands and legs alternately in a manner reminiscent of how [[dog]]s and other [[quadrupedal]] [[mammals]] swim.<ref>{{cite book|title=Boys' Own Book: A Complete Encyclopedia of Athletic, Scientific, Outdoor and Indoor Sports|year=1881|publisher=J Miller|author=William Clarke|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RiAMAAAAYAAJ}}</ref> It is effectively a "trot" in water, instead of land.<ref>{{cite book|title=At the Water's Edge: Fish with Fingers, Whales with Legs, and How Life Came Ashore But Then Went Back to Sea|author=Carl Zimmer|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]|year=1999|isbn=0-684-85623-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OZZpBy-lLTgC|page=183}}</ref>

It was the first swimming stroke used by ancient humans, believed to have been learned by observing animals swim.<ref>{{cite book|title=Breakthrough Swimming: Stroke Mechanics, Training Methods, Racing Techniques|page=[https://archive.org/details/breakthroughswim0000colw/page/12 12]|author=Cecil Colwin|publisher=Human Kinetics|year=2002|isbn=0-7360-3777-2|url=https://archive.org/details/breakthroughswim0000colw/page/12}}</ref>  Prehistoric [[cave paintings]] in [[Egypt]] show figures doing what appears to be the dog paddle.<ref>{{cite book|title=Olympic Swimming and Diving|author=Greg Kehm|page=[https://archive.org/details/olympicswimmingd0000kehm/page/4 4]|isbn=978-1-4042-0970-1|publisher=Rosen|year=2007|url=https://archive.org/details/olympicswimmingd0000kehm/page/4}}</ref>

It is often the first [[List of swimming styles|swimming stroke]] used by young children when they are learning to swim.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Framework for Physical Education in the Early Years|author=H. Manners, M. E. Carroll|year=1995|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0-7507-0417-9|page=110|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2945yExihiEC}}</ref>

The dog paddle has also been taught as a military swimming stroke when a silent stroke is needed - since neither arms nor legs break the surface.<ref>{{cite book|title=Survival at Sea|author=U.S. Departments of the Army and Air Force|year=1950|publisher=United States Government Printing Office|page=58|url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/76323994/Survival-at-Sea-1950}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Human swimming]]
* [[Front crawl]]
* [[Breaststroke]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{wikihow|Doggy-Paddle|Doggy Paddle}}

{{Swimming styles}}

[[Category:Swimming styles]]

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