more proof of steve's awesomeness.

sadly, i have no pics because i forgot the camera.

anyway, i took luce and steve for our introductory swimming experience at a dog training club about 45 minutes away that recently put in an indoor dog pool. it's fairly sizable, four feet deep, heated, and has a ramp for the dogs to get out of the pool that goes about ankle deep for the dogs and then drops off.

luce, who loves to swim at the lake, would absolutely NOT NOT NOT go in. she wanted the wubba sooooooooooo bad but she would NOT swim for it. she does not like the drop off. if it were a gradual descent to swimming depth, i'm pretty sure she would have gone in and would have swum herself to the point of exhaustion after the wubba.

steve, otoh, was freaking awesome. i was afraid he'd be really wimpy because he's generally kind of wimpy. he fell in my parents' fishpond last weekend in the freezing cold and i was worried he was traumatized.

guess not.

we suited him up in a life jacket and urged him in after the wubba. the guy showing us the ropes took him out a couple time and had me call him back with the wubba halfway in between so he could grab the wubba and swim for the ramp. it didn't take long until steve was LEAPING off the ramp after the wubba. he's a freaking champion. i was so proud.

totally not what i expected- i took luce along partly because i thought she'd go right in and monkey-see-monkey-do would go right in after her. turned out the monkey was braver!

we were cleared to use the pool on our own whenever it's available (they have a calendar where you can sign yourself up for private pool time so no worries about other dogs) and i'm so excited! i can't wait to go back!

how cool! Go Steve!

that cool

sounds very excited, dont forget your camera next time

They do love to swim

Are you still using the life jacket though? If he's jumping in and swimming, I'm not sure he needs it. Just my opinion.

indoor heated pool for dogs!!!!!!!! Way to go STEve. Wants heated pool for mary.

Sounds great !!! Mary sure would love it !

LOL - that is SOO civilised!!!! I think Bo'd 1st deep water experience was jumping into a pond and realising she couldn't reach the bottom!!!

Then it was running for sticks and realising the same and swimming back!!!

yes and i will probably continue to use it at least the next time. he's so wimpy i want him to have a big fat good long history of no scary experiences before i take his water wings off.

Okay

I just know that Blaze was pretty wimpy as a pup too, especially when it came to water. He was scared of ALOT. No joke, he didn't like people petting him, really didn't want ANYTHING to do with other dogs, and was just. . .meh. So I know what you mean. We just started out slow, throwing a stick in where he could touch, and now he swims on his own in the lake/pond.

i really hope he grows out of the wimpy.

with the pool, he doesn't have the option of going in gradually, because once you reach ankle-deep on the ramp, your option is jump or don't jump. if there were a bottom he could reach, i wouldn't bother with the life jacket.

I sure he will. I just did alot of extra stuff with him, and I've had to continue it well past the first few months. But he has gotten over it