[counter]

I would never let my dogs swim in a pool that is shocked with chemicals/chlorine, or whatever people use, unless it is natural and I research it first. I don't ever remember seeing pics of dogs in pools, but lately I'm starting to see some on social media. I can't imagine this being a good thing for their coats and skin. Wondering if other people have experience with this and know if it adversely affected their dogs?

 

[Fodder]

granted, not everyone treats their pools with the same chemicals -that said, the majority do. I had access to 3 pools where my dogs swam regularly (3-4x a week, approx 7-8 months out of the year for 3-4yrs) with no adverse effects. perhaps occasional dry skin but I can't positively equate that to the pool exposure - their coats never suffered at all. solid diets (totw, Canidae, raw during that time period) and a good quality shampoo on rare bath occasions.

 

[counter]

Just thought of this too: what about drinking the water? I know that when we humans swim sometimes we'll accidentally swallow pool water. I've watched dogs in our doggie pool (pure water, no chemicals) and they'll drink from the pool as they swim or lay in it. Also, dogs drink the water in ponds as they swim. I wonder what drinking chemically-treated pool water would do to them?

 

[Fodder]

shallow water allows them to stand and drink for longer periods of time.... mine never drank while actively swimming (think, jumping straight into 4+ ft of water) and if I ever caught an attempt at the stairs I'd say "ah ah" and direct them to the water bowl. I'm sure they'd injesting some when grabbing balls or toys but overall, this really wasn't a big area of concern, I'd honestly worry more about drinking from a pond.

in the area of Southern California where I lived, probably 75% of homeowners had pools, many many dogs swam on a regular basis.

 

[carmspack]

chlorine very drying .
concern would be the inhalation of chlorine evaporating - so lungs

 

[trcy]

Southern California: We have always had a pool. When I was a child we could not keep our golden retriever out of the pool. He would swim year round. We had three dogs growing up. They all drank out of the pool. The all lived to old age.

I have three dogs now. (9, 8 & 2) The GSD would swim all day if he could. We block the pool off and let him in once a day. Only because last summer his undercoat started to smell like cheese. Anyway, two of my dogs love to swim and they are fine. They all drink out of the pool with no ill effects. Riley did have health problems, but it was something he was born with.

 

[llombardo]

Mine swam daily without issue. I only use chlorine once a week and they don't go in for at least 24 hours. In between I use stuff that is comparable to chlorine but for people that are allergic to chlorine and can't use it.