My Lab loves balls, empty water bottles, and his favorite ball on a rope. One very important thing to keep in mind is dogs are creatures of habit. If they jump in from the side they will most times try to get out where they jumped in. Be sure that you train them immediately to enter and exit from the steps. It won't take long but may help to prevent a terrible accident. Have fun with the pups!

Bill

If you plan on putting the cat in there, I'd suggest some very heavy leather gloves that run back to about your shoulders, then hold the cat waaaaaay out in front of you :-) Once it's in be ready to jump out of the way, LOL! We've had several cats and not one of them liked water!

You think you need to get a life?

We're literally putting our pool in for our two retrievers! Of course, we plan to use it too, but I have an arthritic Golden (who I couldn't love any more than if I'd given birth to her myself) and a new Chocolate Lab. One can't exercise in the traditional way, and the other I just want to wear the heck out of.

I used to have a pool when my Golden was younger and she LOVED it! She was good about not swimming when I wasn't outside, but she'd sit by the back door and stare at me until I got up to let her out. Every once in awhile she'd get in down to the second step (where it turned into a bench) and bark until I walked out. Once she set eyes on me, she was off!

I used to love throwing frisbees to her in the water, and Kong makes some great water toys too.

I agree about making sure the dogs know where to get out of the pool. That's critical. Our pool is going to be tiny (we start digging either Monday, or Tuesday), but even so, I put in two sets of steps - again, for the dogs. I know... I'm sad, pathetic, etc.

What makes it even worse, is we're also putting in a pergola too, so I can work from outside and watch my two daughters in fur suits, swim.

There. I hope I made you feel better.

bjrb, thank you very much for your suggestions and the safety advice too. Our dogs both love balls and ropes, so that is helpful. I think the empty water bottle is a good idea also.

tresw, I have had cats all my life, and the one we have now is the only one I think might have an interest. He's a big Maine Coon who likes to come into the shower and see what is happenin' in there. I will just give him space and see what he thinks about it. I am sure that in typical cat-like fashion, he will choose to remain at afar and regard us all with utter disdain...

smbnobles, I understand completely. EVERY facet of our lives revolves around what we collectively refer to our 2 cats, 2 dogs and 2 horses as "the animals." We are also putting in two sets of steps - making sure that they are animal-accessible. My pool builder just rolls his eyes...

Congrats on your pool build and we will need to start a thread with pics of our various "babies" of the 2 and 4 legged varieties enjoying "their" pools.

I won't go into what my tax-attorney husband said when I asked him if we were to make the pool accessible to the horses for therapeutic reasons if we could write it off... Ha ha.

I asked our CPA if I could write off the pergola as an office. I got a good eye roll with that one too. :-)

Someone awhile back posted pictures of their Golden laying in about 12" of water at the bottom of the pool while their gunite was curing. I thought it was hilarious. Typical Retriever!

Very creative. :)

I saw the pic you are talking about with the Golden.

Awww, he was missing "his" pool.

We like to get those Nerf water "squishy" balls and use those for our one German Shorthaired Pointer, Pepper, to retrieve from the water. Pepper is 10 yrs old now, and he loves to go into the pool to get the ball and bring it back to us for a potato chip reward. We just need to make sure we get the waterball back from Pep, because he likes to take off to our backyard, sit on the grass, and chew the ball up. (They're not pet toys, so they can rip easily.)

If I'm posting this the right way, here's a photo of Pepper and our new Australian Cattle Dog puppy, Nash, checking out the pool together. Nash is only 3 months old, so he's keeping Pepper and our 9-yr old GSP, Lilly, busy!

-Melissa

I had high hopes for my cat, a Ragdoll who loves running water in faucets, and will curl up in a sink even if there is a puddle in the bottom. He did love exploring the faux rock waterfall, but levitated out of the pool the day he fell in by accident! Besides wet cats are really weird looking! Best of luck!

Our two Mini-labradoodles love to swim. Amos, our black curly hair boy will retrieve a thrown toy whether in the pool or in the house. We use the Air-Dog toys cause they float really well. Our little female, Andi has to be put in the pool cause she has short legs and can't step down into the pool. She will jump in but we don't encourage it.
We taught them to always come back to the steps to get out.
Amos won't jump in either, even though he could get out in the swim out as well as the steps.

We did use the nylon frisbee type toy as well but our little girl would carry it in her mouth vertically and that made it more difficult to swim so we now only use the Air-Dog toys. Make sure the toys fit in the mouth so that they help keep the water out of the mouth. We use the one that looks like a barbell.

By the way, we had our pool resurfaced for the puppies. It hadn't been swan in for about 5 years, ever since our Brittany got too old to swim.

We have 2 big labs and they love water needless to say. Our pool isn't done yet but I'm a bit worried about them "living" in the pool and me having major problems with the pool filters. As they are labs, they shed worse worse than some cats I have seen. How often do you have to clean your filters with your dogs swimming daily? Am I asking for trouble? filter replacement is not cheap.

Oakrunfarm...For the most part my Lab mix just wants to be on the steps or swimout when we're not in the pool. It's very, very rare that she'll actually go into the main part of the pool to swim by herself.

Her toys consist of a floatable Kong with rope, nylon frisbee, and 4 "floating doggy toy" items found at the Dollar Store. All 4 FDTs are neon colored, soft and they float. Two are shaped like dog bones and two are shaped like small retrieving dummies. She only gets access to these toys if we're in the pool to play with her.

We do have one geriatric dog that absolutely does not like the water...we've tried! His swimming skills are minimal. Although we've shown him the way in and out of the pool, I don't trust him to remember - AND - he's very unsteady on his feet. For him, we have a Safety Turtle system. He wears a sensor on a separate collar (have to remove it if there's rain) that sets off an alarm inside the house if the sensor gets wet, i.e. he falls into the pool when I'm not looking.

Dogbone10...I use skimmer sox (aka debris shields) in both skimmers and that catches the vast majority of the hair. I clean my cartridge filters only about 2-3x/year and that's just because I think I should. They've never reached the higher pressure that signifies they need cleaning.

Many of you may remember our silly girl....

Boby

Our dog, a Brittany, does not like to go in the water. She avoids it. She thinks its big dog bowl for drinking only.

Boby, that's too funny!

I'm beginning to think I'm a weirdo here, but I have trained my dogs NOT to go in the pool. I know they do when I'm gone, which I pretend to not notice, but they don't ever go in when I or the kids are swimming.

We have large groups of kids frequently, and dogs and kids in pools seems dangerous to me, my daughter has scratches on her back now from a dog who was playing in the river with her. I have strong swimmers but younger kids it seems like could get easily overwhelmed by large dogs swimming around them.

Then there's the hair issue....

Anyway, to each his own, I hear this issue a lot and wonder if I'm alone in this!

I have two black poodles, a standard and a miniature. Neither one likes the water.......the little one barks and growls at the Aquabot everytime it climbs the wall and shoots water out of it's spout. When we are in the pool the big one puts his tail between his legs and runs in the house and hides in his kennel. It's so funny, but I really wanted them to like the pool.

Kurt

We have a cat who loves to walk around the pool cage to try to catch a lizard on the other side. She just started climbing on the rock waterfall, of course when its not on. Recently, she will hang out on the lanai when the kids are playing in the pool, that use to scare her and she would want to go back inside. She is an indoor declawed cat. I cant imagine her getting wet and we keep an eye on her when she is "outside". Its starting to get REAL hot in Florida so her days outside will end. She is a long hair so its too hot for her. She is funny though, she will hiss at the pool toys. Boby's picture is a riot. I cant believe that is a cat!

Here are my two water nuts, taken about ten minutes ago. The puppy simply cannot push herself off from the steps like my Golden. She has to launch herself!

smboles..LOVE the picture!

I am another nut job! We are building a pool also partly because of the dogs. We have a lab that we are hoping will like the water. She hates baths and didn't like the ocean, but friends tell us you just have to play and make coming in fun!

Just today I was discussing with a PB about how important a sun shelf is since we don't have kids, and she said some get it for their dogs:) We live in Florida, and I personally want to be IN the water, not just partially.

When you say to put in "two sets of steps", do you mean at each end? I was planning on doing step entries at one end, and a bench seat at the other so they could get out at both ends. I am assuming that a dog can get out with a bench seat???

If you look at my pool, the area where the bubblers are is a sunshelf and a set of steps. My Golden, only today, realized that she could lay down on it. She literally swims until she exhausts herself. She never sits or anything!

If you look past our Chocolate puppy, in that corner, there is another smaller set of steps. The second step wraps around the entire back of the pool as a bench. I honestly don't know if my dogs could get out right there. It would be about a 2' heave.

I used to live in Destin, and Chloe (my Golden) didn't like the ocean either, but she lives to swim in a pool, or in a lake!

Mine likes my Molly Brown float.

{{!gwi}}

Mel-Nash is so cute. Well his butt is cute!

Is that a black lab puppy?

She's a lab mutt. Her littermate won't even go in the water. Your picture is great. I especially love the launch. I'd love to see mine do that!

For you - what labs do in the pool when they think you aren't home....

Here is a link that might be useful: Home Alone

we have a golden lab who adores swimming...loves, loves, loves it!!! the fence prevents her from going in when we're not with her... though i do THINK i have her trained not to go in when we're not swimming, even when she's in the pool area...

i have found that the filter "socks" are really helpful for collecting all the fur that she sheds into the pool.

we do have a problem though with her soft (from the water) nails getting worn down during the summer and eventually bleeding---from all the getting in and out of and running around the pool.... anyone have this problem and what can be done to prevent it??? i was hoping to avoid this this summer....it seems like in past summers about 3 nails on each paw get worn down to the quick....

padrefan, I wish my lab would get in like a normal dog! What's funny, is if she sees her bumper on the other side of the pool, she'll jump into the pool onto the sunshelf, then get back out and launch herself from the other side. She just doesn't get it yet.

busybee3, my Golden got in yesterday (for the fourth time swimming) without permission. I thought I had her trained too...lol.

I've never had the issues with the nails getting soft. I know they make nail caps for kittens; maybe they make something like that for dogs too? Maybe check a water/gun dog website and see if there's anything out there.

snookums...ROFL...

nanshot, I'm not sure what breed of dog you have, but with retrievers, it's just in their blood and they love to swim. I always say that my Golden is the blond daughter I never had, so there's no way I could deny her. :-)

She's given me more than I can ever explain - she's just totally changed the type of person I am, so I put up with whatever downside there is to her swimming, because I know it makes her so happy. I have to put up with massive amounts of hair in my house and my clothes too. It's just the price I have to pay, I guess.

Dogs swimming near you, DO hurt though! I've gotten side-swiped by more than one set of paws. They tend to swim with the claws extended. I steer clear of them when they're in the water, big time! I can see where small children would be a major issue. They could really get hurt.

Snookums-That is hilarious!

I feel so inadequate. My golden HATES water. We've put in the pool a couple of times, but she beats the water to death trying to get out. She fell of the boat dock a couple of months ago, flailed her way to the lake wall and sat there whining and trying to go through the concrete wall all while my husband is about to fall into the lake laughing at her. She would not even acknowledge his existence as he tried to get her out of the water. I got down there and finally was able to coax her to move away from the wall so I could grab her and pull her back up on the dock. It really was funny, but said because she hates the water. Although if a leaf dares to fall into the pool she will balance on the very edge of the pool until she can bite the leaf and get it out of the pool. She's very odd, but I love her. I'll have to take a picture of her stalking a leaf. Love all the pictures.

I wish my Golden would clean my pool. :-(

Our kids have patiently been teaching our black standard poodle to get in the pool. Now he goes on the sunshelf, and occasionally even launches himself into the water. It's cute, but I'm wondering whether I should have headed this off as I now have a wet dog running through the house...

Our Golden's favorite thing to play with is his ball. He'll retrieve that thing all day long.