I have a very large still some what overweight chocolate lab. She suffers from a condition which causes her to slough off a much higher than normal amount of skin cells. Thus more shedding and dander. I also have 3 boys who suffer from skin allergies and one is a 6 month old baby who LOVES playing on the floor. Unfortunately this means Ginger must spend a lot of time outside. I live in mid Georgia and it is extremely hot and there is pretty much zero shade in our yard. All these things combined (plus the fact that she started digging a 2 foot deep hole next to our house foundation to lay in and stay cool) got me searching for a way to keep her cool. At the beginning of the summer I purchased this for my big boys (we’ll use their nicknames too) Bubba (7) and Rew (4). Monkey’s not interested in getting in yet at all…
It is another project in progress. I need to trim down the tarp, mulch around the pool , ring that with stones and add stepping stones from back patio to poolside. But enough on that, back to Ginger beating the heat… Buying the big pool left me with this from last summer…
So I cleaned all the winter debris off my back patio dragged the Kiddy Doggy Pool out of the shed and scrubbed it clean. I had planned on turning it into a raised garden bed for a little bit of lettuce but Ginger’s health seemed more important. The day I kicked this project into gear she had collapsed on my porch on the verge of heat exhaustion. I still bring her in and let her sleep in the coolness of my master bathroom from noon to 3 during the peak of the day but she LOVES her pool !! We also feed her popsicles and float them and ice cubes (mostly ice cubes they’re better for her) in the pool and she “bobs for ice cubes”. It is one of her favorite games. She will stick her whole face or head under the water if necessary ! It is so funny to watch. I also float sponges in the pool she loves to chew on them since they’re dripping with cool water !! On the day I went to take these pics my boys were at Gram’s so the Diva came out to feed Ginger popsicles for me
In this pic you can see she’s almost got the popsicle !
I wasn’t kidding about submersing her head
When she finally gets a hold of the popsicle she jumps out to eat it.
In this pic she just jumped into the pool… you can see the water is all churned up. And this pic leads me to the only modification I had to do to turn it into the doggy pool. I bought some heavy duty clear non skid stickies (like for bathtubs). They had to be clear cause if she thinks there is something on the bottom of the pool she will NOT get in !! I took the non skid stickies and trimmed them into small pieces the same shapes as the raised bumps on the bottom of the pool. Then I coated the bottom of them with pool repair kit adhesive to give them extra strong stickability LOL ! I stuck them on and when she does her super dog flying leaps into the water she doesn’t slip and go down. So far they are holding up well !! Ginger is cool and being a Lab is ecstatic to have her own pool and my boys are entertained watching her antics.
I am linking this up in the Garden Party over at Keen Inspirations that I mentioned the other day. Stop in, check out everyone’s outdoor and summery projects and enter all the giveaways. There are several and they are all great !!
Peace
Steph
2 comments:
I have never heard of doing a nonskid surface for the dogs pool. Very interesting.
Also interesting that she takes the popsicle out to eat it.
The way she super dog leaps into this thing the non skid is a must!! Her feet used to slip and slide and go out from under her and she would go down hard on that concrete and be sore for days. Shes 5 so shes no spring chicken :o)
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