We are really lucky to have a dog swimming pool just minutes away. Paws Rehab is indoors and heated, they offer assisted swims (an experienced person gets in the pool to help the dog swim/exercise the dog), they also do rehab, or you can rent a chunk of time and swim your dog by yourself. Assisted swims are required for first timers so Stuck used one of their life jackets and had someone in the pool with her.
Initially, Stuck did not want to go into the water. I suggested just dragging her in. Depending on the dog this might not have been a good idea, but I know her personality and I figured it would not crush her soul. The gal drug her in by her life vest and once Stuck realized she could swim and get the ball she had no problems going in by herself. She is not a naturally great swimmer but I think in time she will get better at it.
Here is a video I uploaded to instagram of her swimming:
After Stuck recovered from swimming she got in the treadmill!
The first week that Stuck was here I tried to get her on the treadmill. It was kind of a disaster. She wasn't very interested in food at the time so I had to use a harness and leash to keep her on the treadmill. She kept trying to jump off and it just wasn't very enjoyable. I didn't revisit it because I thought for sure she would never run it by herself. Fast forward to three weeks later. I let Stuck watch my other dogs on the treadmill. She was interested in the canned food that I had so I put a leash on her and got her on the mill. It was kind of hard to feed her fast enough on it to keep her going (I need more hands!) so I kind of shrugged it off and figured I would try again another time. Well, after swimming I had her watching my other dogs run the treadmill. She was very interested in the food this time too and after Seppel had a turn she stepped onto the treadmill by herself. Here is a clip from instagram:
Stuck is only going about 5-6mph right now. She is still not completely comfortable but I think the more experience she has using it, the better and more confident she will become. It's a really nice form of exercise for all of my dogs during our rainy winters. Right now it is also a good brain challenge for her. While I think the swimming and treadmill were somewhat physically taxing for her - I think the mental stimulation was far more tiring for her.
Yay for Stuck! I have been really wanting to take my dogs to the indoor swim places!
ReplyDelete