Hot Fun in the Summertime

Bailey is not a big fan of water. He detests bath time. He has never had the opportunity to swim, so I don't know how he would react to swimming . . . yet. One of the best exercises for dogs with degenerative myelopathy is swimming. Because of course it couldn't be Frisbee catching or tail chasing or tennis ball tricks or anything else that comes naturally to Bailey! So the plan is to start hydrotherapy with Bailey at home. The nearest animal rehab facility is at least 2 hours away, and our vet thinks that Bailey would be freaked out (even more?) by the special hydrotherapy tubs that they use because they are small and he would feel closed in.

The first step was to buy a kiddy pool and get him to sit in it with no water. That went over very well. He got into the pool pretty easily and loved having Mommy sit in it with him and love on him for a while. We did that a couple of times, and he had no problem with it.

Then I added the water.

He was a little more reluctant to get in once he saw the water in the pool. At first, he stood outside the pool and drank the water. I believe he thought he could make it go away if he just drank enough. I managed to wrangle him into the pool and then I sat down in it with him, planning to love on him just like we did before. He would not sit down and was not at all happy being in the water. But then he found a nice little island in the pool where he could place his front feet so that at least not all of his paws were in the water at once.

Yes, he thought it was very convenient that Mommy's legs were there for him to stand on. I kept him in the pool for 30 - 45 minutes, waiting for him to get comfortable enough to sit down. He finally did sit, with me pushing on his rump, which popped back up as soon as I let go. After that, I let him get out.

The second time I put him in the pool with water he did a little better. He did not try to stand on me the entire time, and he would walk around some to follow me as I moved around the pool. After several more dips in the pool, he still won't relax enough to enjoy it, even when he's burning up hot and tired from walking.

We're taking baby steps for now, but the next step won't be baby sized. I bought one of those easy-set above ground pools (thank goodness for Wal-Mart's low prices!) and now I need to get him swimming. Besides getting the pool set up and the filter wired, the biggest challenge is going to be finding a way to get Bailey in and out of the pool without me having to lift him. He is not so heavy that I can't pick him up, but once he is soaking wet, I might not be able to lift him. Maybe once I have the pool set up an idea will come to me . . . .