What’s the Best Pool for My Dog?

A lot of people with medium-sized pets like to let them play in the pool.

Dogs need two important things from a pool:

• They need a shallow area to stand up in.
• They need to know where to get in and out.

Pets love shallow water where they can stand up. They can hang out there, and they can swim out into the deeper water and back if they feel like it.

Have a Landing or Resting Spot for Your Dog

So you have a dog that loves the water. He has fun being in the pool with the family doggy-paddling around and occasionally barking at the splashes. Eventually though, your canine pet will get tired while he’s in the water and will need to rest. Surely he’ll rest where he can by putting his front paws on your shoulders or on a float or something and that will be fine. However, if there were a place where he could always take a rest, it would be better. The top rungs of a basic A-frame Ladder in the pool will provide a good place for your dog to rest.

What is the best type of pool for my dog?

First and foremost, vinyl liner is out of the question for most homeowners. For obvious reasons, the liner can tear or get small punctures, which can lead to major leaking issues and headaches.

On the other hand, dogs will almost never damage fiberglass and concrete pools. These two pool types are usually the right choice, depending on the needs of the homeowner.

Depending on the size of the dog, a decent-sized set of steps is important in terms of entry/exit points.

A tanning ledge also provides a shallow area for dogs (and kids) to play in the water without actually swimming.

What is the best type of chemical to use in my pool if my dog likes to swim?

Frankly, there just haven’t been many studies on this one in the pool industry, but we will explain what is obtainable up to this point.

So many homeowners (1000+ inground and above-ground pools) have saltwater pools, and many allow their animals to swim in the pool. It has been reported that salt chlorine generators work very well with dogs. Because they produce a low level of natural chlorine, the chemicals aren’t harsh and the salt is easy on the skin.

Up to this point, there is no news that dogs had an adverse reaction to their salt chlorine generator.

Will a dog be hard on my filter system?

They say a dog is equivalent to about 50 people in the pool at one time. Crazy, huh?

However, although their fur and such is harder on a filter system, by no means are they known to do damage either.

For example, if you have a cartridge filter on your pool, you may simply have to spray off the filter more often. If you have sand, you may need to backwash more often. But just as with the previous question, there is no news of any homeowners complain about their animals negatively affecting their pool’s filter system.