Swimming Dogs

[SamSpade]

For those of you who have a pool....

It finally happened, the dogs have decided that swimming actually IS kind of fun. I bought them a baby pool to splash in, but they like the REAL pool a lot better. Granted, the girl (Jingle) prefers to sit on the steps and either lie down, or just take her paw and splash water (and then try to bite the splashes). She never tires of this silly game. We've seen her do this for at least an hour.

But her brother (Jangle) swims - a lot. He will go all over the pool. This is just a little weird, because their predominant breed - German Shepherd - is not particularly know for being attracted to water. Jangle not only loves to swim, but he can dog-paddle VERY fast. He's gotten a LOT better over the last week or two, and now simply swimming backwards away from him no longer suffices to keep him off of me in the water. I actually have to swim HARD to keep ahead of him, because he's at least as fast as I am if I'm just casually gliding above the water.

My main worry is this, and I hope those who have pools and dogs can tell me - should I be worried? They can both swim, now. They no longer have any problem going into the water without us nearby, and that scares me a lot. I cannot keep the pool away from them, but neither can I lock them up away from it. As good as they both swim - and one of the first things we did once they wanted to go into the water was to teach them how to go OUT safely - I'm just worried that one day when we're not looking, they will fight in the pool and one of them will panic.

What do you guys do? So far, it's been about two weeks, with them trotting in soaking wet every day. I just can't bear the idea of not watching them for a few hours and finding one of them floating in the pool. Some days, that fear just kills me.

 

[baileydog]

For those of you who have a pool....

It finally happened, the dogs have decided that swimming actually IS kind of fun. I bought them a baby pool to splash in, but they like the REAL pool a lot better. Granted, the girl (Jingle) prefers to sit on the steps and either lie down, or just take her paw and splash water (and then try to bite the splashes). She never tires of this silly game. We've seen her do this for at least an hour.

But her brother (Jangle) swims - a lot. He will go all over the pool. This is just a little weird, because their predominant breed - German Shepherd - is not particularly know for being attracted to water. Jangle not only loves to swim, but he can dog-paddle VERY fast. He's gotten a LOT better over the last week or two, and now simply swimming backwards away from him no longer suffices to keep him off of me in the water. I actually have to swim HARD to keep ahead of him, because he's at least as fast as I am if I'm just casually gliding above the water.

My main worry is this, and I hope those who have pools and dogs can tell me - should I be worried? They can both swim, now. They no longer have any problem going into the water without us nearby, and that scares me a lot. I cannot keep the pool away from them, but neither can I lock them up away from it. As good as they both swim - and one of the first things we did once they wanted to go into the water was to teach them how to go OUT safely - I'm just worried that one day when we're not looking, they will fight in the pool and one of them will panic.

What do you guys do? So far, it's been about two weeks, with them trotting in soaking wet every day. I just can't bear the idea of not watching them for a few hours and finding one of them floating in the pool. Some days, that fear just kills me.

I had that same fear actually happen to me. I was babysitting my friends small dog(weiner dog) a couple years ago. I had been watching him for 2 weeks and he never went near the top deck to the pool. We had the solar cover laying on top of the pool. On the very day he was suppose to go home, I let him out to pee in the am and about 10 min later I called for him and no answer. So I go looking for him, figured he was on the other side of the pool area getting into something, and as I pass the pool, for some reason I lift the cover and there he is. OMG, I got him out tried everything but he died. I felt so bad. So yes keep an eye on them, get a pool alarm or something and dont use a solar cover.

 

[Nickel]

I'm just worried that one day when we're not looking, they will fight in the pool and one of them will panic.

If you're worried, I wouldn't let them near the pool unsupervised. :shrug:

 

[cattitude]

If you're worried, I wouldn't let them near the pool unsupervised. :shrug:

My GSD got in and couldn't get out. Thank God my neighbor was home. AND my pool was fenced...my dog dug under the fence.

 

[Lilypad]

I personally have never heard of a dog drowning in a wading pool BUT-you might want to learn how to do CPR on a dog-just in case...OR get a lifeguard!
Take some pix's we'd loved to see em!

 

[Ponytail]

Definitely keep them away from it if you can't supervise. Dogs aren't smart enough to climb out before they are too exhausted to do so.

 

[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.

 

[Lilypad]

Definitely keep them away from it if you can't supervise. Dogs aren't smart enough to climb out before they are too exhausted to do so.

LMAO-most dogs I know are smarter than humans!!

 

[Nickel]

LMAO-most dogs I know are smarter than humans!!

There are some exceptions...mine nearly peed his pants (if he had pants he would have surely peed in them) because a plastic bag flew into our yard. He also barks animatedly at inanimate motorcycle helmets.

 

[Lilypad]

1 of my 5 dogs notices anything that is out of it's "normal" place..she'll stop-lean forward-look-and back up...A quarter fell on the kitchen floor, I left it there out of curiosity-damnn if she didn't come to a halt, back out and leave the room!

 

[SamSpade]

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]

*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]

*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]

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]

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.