Dog likes swimming but keeps inhaling water droplets...

[AvocadosBeforeMortgages]

PestDog suddenly realised he can swim a couple of weeks ago (it was like a lightbulb moment) and now every time we go near the dog pond he will find a stick and ask me to throw it in the water so he can swim after it, wagging his tail furiously as he goes.

However, a couple of times he's come out seemingly having inhaled a little water, coughing and wretching. Clearly not at death's door because he was still more than happy to play tug of war with the stick, but it didn't look very pleasant. I think yesterday's selected stick was a bit wide and so held his mouth open further than was ideal, but he'll only go in if there's something to fetch.

Has anyone else's dog done this and if so did they learn how to do the breathing bit of swimming more reliably?

Our lab does this but she has a good cough and yaks everything up, then goes straight back in. She's 5 now, hasn't done her any harm yet

Maybe change to a floating toy for an easier shape for the dog to carry, avoiding ones that will absorb too much water that will then get squeezed into dogs mouth as they retrieve. Giving them chance to cough up & recover, as they can be daft wanting to resume play.
Dogs can also get secondary drowning so best to avoid too many incidents of inhaling water or play where may dunk head underwater.

Kong stick works well for my lab boy he not lost one yet