Dog rescue

[Tarrot]

Our new house came with a swimming pool - our first.  I seem to have managed to get everything working, but I have one remaining worry.

What do I do if our dog falls in (or jumps in)?  He weighs 36k and although he can swim he would not be able to get out.

I have looked for suggestions on the web and see that there is a device sold in the US - in effect a lage plastic shute that a dog could clamber up.  Can such things be bought in France?  Or is there some other solution (we have thought of "discouragement" but he is willful).

[Chrissie]

Surely your pool has to be either fenced off or alarmed in case a child should fall in?  In which case the alarm would warn you if the dog went in.  Or are you worried he will fall/jump in when you are not at the property and could not save him?

A dog-useable ramp sounds a great idea though - and could also help wildlife that might fall in.  If you Google "rampe piscine" you will see all sorts of things available here, many you can buy online. (I would have thought a plastic chute would be very difficult to climb up when wet!)

Chrissie (81)

[Tarrot]

Perhaps I didn't put my question very well.  I appreciate if the the dog falls in he will set off the alarm - the problem is how do I get him out!  The idea of tussling with a massive frightened dog in a swimming pool is a bit daunting.  He is a hunting dog (not that he actually hunts anything).  He is very friendly normally and a perfect pet, but when frightened who knows what he could do.  He is strong enough to kill me.  I was hoping that there was some standard technique in this situation, well known to pool owners - something I hadn't thought of.  It looks like the plastic ramp is the only solution.  Thanks.

[Théière]

Will this do?

http://www.difloisirs.com/index-idp-1319-rampe_pour_animaux.html

[Jonzjob]

We bought a set of steps that drop onto the ladder in our pool. Blue in colour and unfortunately due to what seems to be an upgrade on photobucket I can't post a photo even if I found it! We trained our chocolat lab to get in and out of the pool using these. Dead easy and she loves her time in the water. Getting a bit old now we think, she was 14 on 1st May, but with care she will enjoy her swims again this summer.

They litterally just drop onto the top step of the ladder and as a very heavy friend proved, in his pool, he can use them, but gawd knows what it does to the liner of his pool. He weighs in at almost 20 stone!

[Tarrot]

Thanks.  I shall look for this on the web.  Fortunately, so far, our dog is proving extremely wary.  He's trying to work out what happened when the cover came off and everything changed.  He's keeping his distance.

As a new pool owner I've been startled to discover how much wild life gets into a pool - not something you see much about.  Frogs, lizards, mice, and yesterday a rather alarming small snake.  Alarming because it seemed to be able to swim quite well.  It's a pity they mostly drown - I'm now looking for something (a one-way something !) that will let them crawl out.

[Tarrot]

Thanks.  I shall look for this on the web.  Fortunately, so far, our dog is proving extremely wary.  He's trying to work out what happened when the cover came off and everything changed.  He's keeping his distance.

As a new pool owner I've been startled to discover how much wild life gets into a pool - not something you see much about.  Frogs, lizards, mice and yesterday a small snake.  It's a pity they mostly drown - I'm now looking for something (a one-way something !) that will let them crawl out.

[Théière]

There is the critter skimmer

The small snake could have been a grass snake (harmless) they love water and are excellent swimmers. Sadly a lot of these creatures are over come by the chlorine byproducts rather than the chlorine itself. Consider dolphins in captivity ( the Brighton aquarium always used to use the same names) but they die of pneumonia and other respiratory diseases

[Jonzjob]

This is the step that we have, complete with Celé our chokky lab!!

[IMG]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f180/Jonzjob/Johns/Celebypool1a.jpg[/IMG]

[Tarrot]

Thanks for the suggestion and the link.  I don't think this one would work for me because it appears to replace the skimmer covers and mine are rectangular.  But it's good to know that there are possible solutions - at least in the soft-hearted USA.  I guess it's going to be harder here.

[Tarrot]

Jonzjob

It's looks perfect !  Did you get it in France?

It might also double as a frog-escape.

[Théière]

[quote user="Tarrot"]Thanks for the suggestion and the link.  I don't think this one would work for me because it appears to replace the skimmer covers and mine are rectangular.  But it's good to know that there are possible solutions - at least in the soft-hearted USA.  I guess it's going to be harder here.
[/quote]

If I had posted the retangular one then would you have said I have round ones? [:)]

[Jonzjob]

Do they do an hexagonal one TP? [8-)]

Yes we did buy them here. It was a long while back now and I can't remember where, but it was one of the pool shops.

I went one further because our pool is fairly old and just has the ladder. I shopped around everywhere I could think of and finally decided that DIY was the only way I was going to get the steps we wanted and this is the result of what I made..

[IMG]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f180/Jonzjob/Johns/Poolsteps.jpg[/IMG]

So now our dog has the choice [:D]

[IMG]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f180/Jonzjob/Johns/Fairyman.jpg[/IMG]