It's funny you mention this, because we took our dog to the beach for the first time over the weekend that just passed. I was curious as to how he would like it -- and I guess that I naively thought that he would just run on in to the water and start swimming away, happy as a clam!
In reality though, it wasn't like that at all. I think he was actually quite frightened of the water. He doesn't even really like baths so I guess I should have figured! He ran up to the edge where the sand meets the water, and upon getting too close (and a little frightened, I think!) he ran away as if he'd seen a ghost! After that point, there was no convincing him to go into the water! I think perhaps we will have to take baby steps and try to introduce him to larger bodies of water more gradually, than quite literally throwing him in the deep end!
