Question: Is my dog too big to swim in your pool? And how are we going to get him in?
Answer: When my buddy, Cardiff, arrived at the pool, he resembled a small horse weighing in at 240 pounds. This was the largest dog that had ever visited La Paw Spa. Well ok he was actually the biggest dog I had ever seen! I almost snuck out the back door!!!
To get this big fella in the pool, his 'Mom' and I would lead him to the steps and gently put his front paws on the first step- then I would get in the pool and bring his back paws in onto this first step so that all 4 paws were on the first step and he was standing comfortably parallel to the pool. At this point, I went deeper into the pool and brought his back legs down to the deepr steps while his 'Mom' stood at his head and kissed his nose to keep him from leaving. Once he was perpendicular to the pool on the steps I could start sliding his front legs down onto the deeper steps until eventually I had him in the pool.
Cardiff 's body is about 7 feet in length and the pool that Cardiff came to was only an 8x16 swim spa - so we use stationary swimming techniques and we were very successful in rehabilitating this big boy from hopping on 3 legs to walking on 4. He now enjoys his sessions as well and is one of my favorite clients!
Because he's only 10% of his body weight in water, I can move him around with ease... I think he thinks I'm Hercules!