Winslow and the pool

 Last year Winslow absolutely "hated" the swimming pool.  He barked like crazy if anyone was in it and ran around continually and constantly.  He was only 5-7 months old during last swim season.  When son/family came over to swim, we usually kept Winslow inside the house where he would still bark, but it was quieter for the neighbors.  It was so bad last year hubby and me only made it into the pool ourselves one time the whole summer.

This year, in an effort to be more proactive, we started doing research on the "issue" and found that it is not uncommon for dogs to act the way Winslow did around the pool.   Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer, says that dogs think of a pool like a cliff.  Dogs are familiar with water at a river or a lake or the ocean that may have a bank, shore, etc., that they can understand, but this water in a pool is hard for them to comprehend. Also, dogs "freak out" when they see their humans going under water, fearing for their safety.  He said it was important for dogs to know how to get out of the pool if they end up falling into it, etc.  Which made sense, though with our pool fence Winslow is never in the pool area without one of us, or both of us, keeping an eye on him.  

So after we educated ourselves a bit, and after my husband had done a terrific job with training Winslow since last summer with not barking when the vacuum started or the leaf blower or the lawnmower, which were all "sore spots" the year before with Winslow, we were ready to "attack" the pool.

We started with just sitting at the edge of the pool with our legs in the water.  Winslow ran around the pool a lot, but when he barked hubby worked with him to not bark.  Then we advanced to getting into the pool as the water warmed up.  I like "my" water to be above 88 degrees before I go into the pool.  I can work my way in at 86 degrees, but I can walk in at 88 degrees and above.  I know a lot of people say that is bath water, but I like baths :)  So when we got to 86 degrees, we started to get more in the pool.  He did pretty good with not barking, though he ran from one end to the other depending on where hubby and me were swimming at the time.  It was a good workout!

Now I think he actually looks forward to being in the pool area.  When we open up the gate to let him in, he quickly does 3 laps around the pool.  Hubby sprays off the deck so it is comfortably cool for Winslow, which is a necessity with the heat we have of over 110 degrees some days.  

Winslow is content running around keeping track of us.  He has only fallen into the pool twice.  The last time, most recently, I was getting into the pool and he misjudged where I was and where he was and tumbled into it.  I was right by the stairs.  He swam over to the stairs and managed to get out of the pool himself.  Our goal is to bring him into the pool and make sure no matter where he is in the pool he can find his way out by the stairs.  

He really has come a long way from last summer.  We've been pretty much in the pool five out of seven days a week since the first part of June so that is a record for us.

Son/family have been very busy and haven't made it over yet to swim this year but I'm thinking this weekend they will be.  Winslow is not ready to be out there with them as the kids scream and jump and splash (and we don't, but if we do a little splashing he will bark), so we'll keep him inside with us.  

And like I said before, after he has been running around the pool he is worn out.  A great corgi exercise!