If you are lucky enough to be one of the 950,000 people in South Africa who own a beautiful pool and garden, then without a doubt, you make the most of your garden by hosting barbecues, candlelit dinners, or family get-togethers. In the warmer months, the pool is usually the nucleus of activity, and just about the only bad thing about it from a pet owner’s perspective, is that it has the potential to be a safety risk. In this post, we focus on how to stop your pet from being just another statistic.
 

Teaching Your Dog to Swim
 

Should your pet fall into the pool, he should know how to swim right out of it, so teach him to swim from an early age. Ideally, a trainer will help you out but you might like to have a go yourself, starting out by letting your dog splash around in the tub or in a plastic kiddie swimming pool with water that reaches around halfway up his legs.
 

When you think your dog is confident enough, use a safety vest to introduce him to the pool, keeping him on the steps first so he feels secure. Just spend a couple of minutes every day with him in the water until he begins to really enjoying his lessons.
 

With the dog in his vest, place him a few inches away from you and let him paddle up to you, lavishing lots of praise on him when he reaches you. Build the distance up very slowly, without overwhelming your pup.

Installing a Fence
 

One of the best ways to keep the pool and garden safe, is by building a fence around the pool, to eliminate drowning risks for kids and pets alike. The fence should be high enough so your dog cannot jump over it (1.2 metres at the very least) and the space between slats should be narrow, so you dog can’t squeeze through.
 

For chain link fences, ensure the diamond pattern is 4.4 cm or smaller, which makes it harder to climb over.

The Importance of Alarms
 

To play on the safe side, have an alarm placed in your pool that goes off any time someone (or a pet) enters the water. The truth is that even when we have fences and other safety features in place, we can become distracted or a child can leave the pool gate open, so having an alarm adds one more important layer to your safety strategy.
 

To stop your dog from drowning, teach him to be more comfortable in the water than Michael Spitz (especially if your dog is a Spitz), surround your pool with a fence, and think of additional ways to play on the safety (by using an alarm, for instance). Remember that not all breeds take well to pools (bulldogs, for instance, have a heavy head, which increases their drowning risk) so do the research relevant to your dog’s breed or type. Not all canines take like a duck to water.