Do Dogs Like Swimming Pools?
Posted by Kent Carpenter on Thu, Nov 17, 2011 @ 12:19 PM
Do Dogs Like Swimming Pools?
Good question! 
Our dog Chloe like many dogs can swim but only do so for their survival if they are in the water over their heads. And most importantly rarely other than a flash flood, a tsunami or similar rare event occuring, dogs that do not particularly care for the water will not end up in the water unless "encouraged" (forced) usually by one of the kids. Once in the water they "doggy paddle" quickly to the closest exit point without delay. There are many breeds of dogs that prefer to remain high and dry out outside of the pool. For whatever reason these dogs seem to consider swimming to be useful only for self preservation. No matter the lively encouragement from the family they are not going to go for it,although they love the attention they are getting from everyone doing the coaxing. The breed or size makes little difference in the decision as the most ferocious german shepherd, doberman or rottweiler are equal to the smallest chihuahua in their dislike of being immersed in the swimming pool. I personally believe that the dogs that prefer land are quite similar to those of us that cannot grasp the concept of sky diving and jumping out of a perfectly good airplane for fun. They just don't see any point in it.
Now there is another group of dogs that absolutely love the water regardless of where they can find it. No fear whatsoever this is the whole point of their existence for them. Much of this group of dogs consists of different retrievers such as Labadors, Goldens etc. however there are other breeds and certainly mixed breeds that love the water as well.
We have customers that purchased a fiberglass swimming pool for their dog or dogs. Seriously folks I am not kidding. To name a few, there is Jerry Clayton who wanted a place for his huge white Labador retriever named "Wu" (Jerry says his labs are named from the Ming dynasties of China) to "cool off". Another customer Jane Ballard purchased and installed a swim spa for her German Shepherd that had hip dysplasia. I will never forget Jim and Anne Delpappa's Labador (sorry I cannot recall the dogs name) literally flying into their pool in the dead of winter breaking the ice as it landed and then looking around at us as if to say are you coming in? These dogs so love the water the water that there owners purchased fiberglass swimming pools for them, well mostly anyway. Fiberglass pools were selected because of their duability and extremely low maintenance and because a vinyl liner had literally no odds of making it six months with one of these dogs around.
Bonnie and Brian (my daughter and son in law) have an awesome pair of horses sorry I mean dogs that are definite members of the second group the Water Dogs. 
Jefferson and Maxwell were created to swim period, no reason or encouragement needed. Where they swim is doesnt matter whether ocean, lake, pond, river, stream or swimming pool (ownership is immaterial). If these mastifs escape the yard you can only hope and pray that the neighbors are understanding and they don't have a vinyl lined pool.
Not all dogs care to swim but if you want to experience some real fun forget swimming with the dolphins take a swim with a Water Dog!
Check out this Diving Dog video posted on CNN.com! Simply Amazing!