Swimming With Melanie

This past weekend we took Malanie swimming at a local “pet resort.” Ohhhhhh Ahhhhhhhh. Very fancy shmancy.

If you’ve been reading this blog for a long time, you might remember that we took Molly for a swim back in the day too.

If the dog is into it, I’m very pro-swimming. Especially for senior dogs. It’s a great low-intensity way to get exercise. If the dog has arthritis (which many seniors do) swimming helps to get them moving around without running and jumping, so it’s easy on their joints.

Plus, watching a dog swim is just about the cutest thing ever.

So when I found out that a new swimming facility opened up in the area I knew I had to go check it out. Melanie has been swimming in the past, so we know she likes it, but she’s never been in a real pool before. She’s only swam (swum?) been swimming in rivers and creeks, so a pool was a brand new experience.

First we suited her up in a life vest. She can swim fine without one, but the vest makes it easier for the person in the water to help guide her. I also think it made Mel a little less cautious about the whole thing since she didn’t have to work so hard to stay afloat in the water.

She is so stinkin’ cute in that vest.

Then it was time to hit the water. I’m not going to lie, Melanie didn’t take to it quite the way we had hoped. Even though she’s always loved outdoor swimming, she had second thoughts about the indoor pool. We definitely had to cajole and encourage her to walk into the water, but she didn’t flail around or fight us too hard on it. Some dogs go NUTS if you try to get them in the water, but Melanie didn’t do that. She was just hesitant about it.

It probably also helped that we brought out some really stinky peanut butter and bacon flavored treats to reward her whenever she walked in the water. She loved those.

Once she got the hang of it she started swimming on her own, albeit with her “concerned face” on. But look at that rockstar doggie paddle she has going on! She’s like a baby seal the way that she swims in that water.

And the swimmer was always right next to her to guide her around the pool. Mr. T and I walked around the edges to encourage her to swim towards us.

Even though Melanie wasn’t quite sure about the whole “swimming for her life” thing, she loved the swimmer she was with. Every time she was out of the water she’d trot right up to her like “look what I did!” with her tail wagging. Uber cute.

We made sure to give Melanie lots of breaks from the pool. She’d swim a lap or two and then we’d let her out of the pool to walk around and feel normal again. We didn’t want to terrify her by making her stay in the water the entire time we were there. Plus, she’s old, so goodness knows she couldn’t swim for that long anyway. But by the end of it she really started to get into it more and seemed to have a good time doggie paddling around on her own.

Of course I caught some it on video too:

When swim time was over Melanie got toweled off by her new best friend. She seriously loved that swimmer to pieces. I have to remind Melanie sometimes that she lives with us, and that no, she cannot go home with whoever gives her the best treats and most attention that day.

The whole pool experience lasted for less than an hour, but, for Mel, that was plenty of excitement for one day.