Swimming Dogs

[SamSpade]

Originally Posted by oldman

One of the best investments I ever made was an electric cover for my inground pool. A little expensive perhaps but well worth every penny. I slept well knowing nothing/noone could accidently fall in. A turn of a key and it was covered/uncovered, kept leaves, etc. out, acted as a solar cover and saved a lot on chemicals and evaporation. Strong enough to hold people and felt like a giant water bed to lay on. Worth looking into.

*How* expensive? My wife keeps saying she'd like something like this, but the cost sounds enormous.

[oldman]

Originally Posted by SamSpade

*How* expensive? My wife keeps saying she'd like something like this, but the cost sounds enormous.

Now remember this was about 15 years ago, but then it cost me $5,000 or so. I have no idea what they go for now. I cannot remember the brand or company so I'm not much help, but like I said it was worth every penny.

[BlackSheep]

Originally Posted by SamSpade

*How* expensive? My wife keeps saying she'd like something like this, but the cost sounds enormous.

F.Y.I (Estimates of course)

12 x 24 to 14 x 28 $ 6,160
15 x 30 to 16 x 32 $ 6,380
16 x 34 to 16 x 40 $ 6,600
18 x 36 to 18 x 40 $ 6,820
20 x 36 to 20 x 40 $ 7,150
22 x 40 to 22 x 44 $ 7,370
24 x 44 to 24 x 48 $ 7,590

[mdgirlie]

I took my Toy Fox Terrier with me on a trip to Ohio. To get some exercise, we took him to one of the many beautiful nature trails in Northeastern Ohio. Well little did I know that the park had a pond. My boyfriend took the dog walking around one side of the pond, while I waited on other side of the pond. I called out his name to see if he would come running around the pond to me. And do you know what he did?! He jumped in the pond and started splashing like he was going to drown. He's never been around a body of water before. Well he started stroking and eventually got the hang of it. Did I mention how cold it was out there. It had to be in the mid 30s to upper 40s. He got halfway through the pond and stopped kicking. All I could say was OMG, my dog is going to drown in this pond and I won't know what to do with myself. So I called out to him again, and he finished swimming to me. I think that he thought it was grass. OMG it was pretty funny though. He actually jumped in again and just missed some ducks.[/COLOR]

[PrepH4U]

Originally Posted by mdgirlie

I took my Toy Fox Terrier with me on a trip to Ohio. To get some exercise, we took him to one of the many beautiful nature trails in Northeastern Ohio. Well little did I know that the park had a pond. My boyfriend took the dog walking around one side of the pond, while I waited on other side of the pond. I called out his name to see if he would come running around the pond to me. And do you know what he did?! He jumped in the pond and started splashing like he was going to drown. He's never been around a body of water before. Well he started stroking and eventually got the hang of it. Did I mention how cold it was out there. It had to be in the mid 30s to upper 40s. He got halfway through the pond and stopped kicking. All I could say was OMG, my dog is going to drown in this pond and I won't know what to do with myself. So I called out to him again, and he finished swimming to me. I think that he thought it was grass. OMG it was pretty funny though. He actually jumped in again and just missed some ducks.[/COLOR]

That is funny.

[Pandora]

My dog is really good about going to the stairs when he falls in the pool, but it wasn’t always that way.

[SamSpade]

Originally Posted by Pandora

My dog is really good about going to the stairs when he falls in the pool, but it wasn’t always that way.

We make sure they head to the stairs every time they try to get out - we want that to be an instinctive reaction. The stairs are wide enough for almost everyone to sit on all at once - they take up the whole lower side of the pool. The female actually prefers to never leave the steps. I still can't get over how funny it is to look across the yard and there she is - sitting on the steps in the water, splashing with her paw, barking and biting the splashes.

I'm still amazed by how FAST Jangle swims. He moves at about a walking speed. I think it's because he's just very strong for a dog - he can't run very fast, but he's solid muscle. Jingle is at a disadvantage in the water - she's very lean and thin, and doesn't float quite as well as he does. She can zig-zag on a dime on dry land, but she doesn't swim well, and her brother knows this - which is another reason I worry. They play a little rough even though they're best friends - but the pool is no place for playing rough. This past weekend when I'd hold her in the pool - and there's no way to avoid this, if I get in, she WILL swim out to me - he'd try to swim over and mess with her. Well, I had enough of scolding him and saying 'no' - I dunked him. It worked. Every time he tried to swim over to bite her on the foot or something, I'd say something like "no biting" or "don't even THINK about it" and he'd swim away.

I'd like to find the Dog Whisperer episode about the dog and the pool.

[EmnJoe]

All I can remeber is is was a couple who had a yellow lab. the owner had problems with the dog jumping on people in the pool and the dog wouldn't stay out of the pool. Good Luck!

[SamSpade]

We're planning on getting a safety cover for the pool. Bluejay talked to Village Pools, and they're saying it will run about 3100 dollars to put one in. Even with labor, that strikes me as quite high. For those of you who have put safety covers in, what is a reasonable cost? When I go to LOOP-LOC, they show about 1000 per cover (for our pool size and shape). Where's the extra cost? The hardware to lock it down? Drilling into concrete? They claim 200 bucks in labor cost.

Can you open and close a safety cover at will?

[Rael]

So, it is internet-rumored these people were wondering why their decks were getting wet while they were out...maybe wondering if it was the kids next door waiting for them to leave.... No.

Most likely a fabrication, but I still like it.