Many Golden Retriever parents are likely familiar with the term “water dog.” After all, this breed is as well known for their love of the water as their goofy personalities and thick golden coats.

But every now and then, there’s a golden who completely bucks this trend and turns into a scaredy-cat when confronted by waves at the beach. That’s the story of Hudson, the Golden Retriever.

As this video, which you can watch by clicking here, shows, when tiny waves stand between him and his ball, he retreats, afraid of getting wet.

This Golden Retriever's Ingenious Wave-Dodging Strategy

Hudson crawls on all fours, staring straight ahead at his ball, which lies no more than a few feet from the tip of his nose.

A flurry of pawprints is visible in the sand around him, a sign that Hudson has been moving around trying to figure out how to get to his ball without getting wet.

As he crouches down, the dark swash zone slowly recedes, approaching his ball. It's going to be on dry sand in a moment. Hudson’s head bobbles as he looks from his ball to the gradually drying swash zone and the tide returning to the ocean.

As the sand under his ball changes from dark to light brown, Hudson tentatively makes his move, approaching but not grabbing his ball because something else has caught his attention: the next wave arriving.

It’s at this moment that Hudson abandons his mission to retrieve his ball and retreats away from the gentle waves lapping at his paws.

He manages to stay completely dry while retreating, standing upright on his front paws while quickly shuffling backward on his hind legs, away from the water.

We wonder if anyone ever told Hudson that his breed was bred to work in the water?

Golden Retrievers came about 160 years ago because a Scottish nobleman crossed yellow Wavy-Coated Retrievers, Water Spaniels, Irish Setters, and Bloodhounds to create a dog that was eager to dive into cold Scottish Highland lakes to retrieve downed ducks.

Some golden retrievers even have webbed feet, which makes them excellent swimmers.

However, there is a small minority of Golden Retrievers that never enjoy swimming. This could be from having an early negative experience in the water, or it could simply be that they just don’t enjoy it.

It’s possible that Hudson is one of them. Maybe he had a bad experience in the water before, and now he simply prefers to avoid it altogether? It’s not too different from why many dogs don’t enjoy taking a bath.

If they have a negative experience when they were a puppy, such as slipping in the tub and hurting themselves, or getting shampoo in their eyes, they can carry those negative feelings and experiences with them and fear or deeply detest taking a bath as an adult dog.

We’re sure that many dog parents can relate to trying to get a stressed-out canine through bath time.

Whatever the case may be with Hudson, he’s clearly not a water dog. However, he still succeeds in retrieving his ball. After retreating from the first wave, Hudson crawls back up to his ball, but this time he’s quick enough to grab it before the next wave washes in.

It may not have been easy for him, but he did it. Even if Hudson is a Golden Retriever who’s afraid of the water, there’s no denying that he’s a brave boy facing his fears to retrieve his ball.