Soggy doggies
Canine-only swimming pools are catering to an exclusive pack
An unusual aquatic centre inside a suburban Maryland strip mall has five narrow pools and several swimmers of varying abilities, but only one stroke: The dog paddle.
In 2016, a canine-only swimming facility opened to fill “a need that people were not aware of,” according to owner Dominique Darcis. The K9 Aquatic Center now has some 900 dog clients regularly booked for 30- or 45-minute sessions of fun, exercise or help with injury recovery.
“When we first heard about this, I thought, ‘That’s kind of ridiculous,’ ” said Carol DiPace, the coowner of 11-year-old Ditto, a former agility competitor who a year earlier blew out three discs in her back and underwent surgery that left 23 staples in her spine and two back legs that did not move.
Then the dog’s surgeon sent them to this place, DiPace said, and now Ditto “is 90 per cent of herself.”
“We’re very lucky to have found this place,” said Ditto’s other coowner, Cookie Backelman.
This is not the first dog aquatics centre in the U.S., a title that reportedly belonged to a Los Angeles facility that opened in 1985 and later closed.
But the concept has taken off in recent years as pet owners treat dogs more as family and veterinarians increasingly undergo training for canine rehabilitation, the dog equivalent of physical therapy.
Similar swimming outfits can be found around the U.S. and some veterinarians now prescribe walks on in-house underwater treadmills or laps in clinic pools.
“It’s a relatively new field in veterinary medicine, but it’s one of the fastest-growing areas,” said Jonathan Block, veterinary medical director at Water4Dogs in New York.
Just as with humans, swimming or walking in water can help build muscle in injured dogs or those recovering from orthopedic or neurological surgeries, and it can be a low-impact workout for pooches pained by ailments such as arthritis or the canine version of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig ’s disease).
Block’s centre provides patients with comprehensive rehabilitation plans that can include this “hydrotherapy,” as well as obstacle course work for strengthening and acupuncture or therapeutic laser treatments for pain management. The goal, Block said, is “to help keep pets comfortable, mobile and active for as long as possible.”
Darcis, a former antiques dealer, started her business after tiring of ferrying her own Labrador retrievers to a swimming facility in Virginia also used for horses. She’d seen similar storefront pools offer swim lessons for kids and wondered if she could do the same for dogs. There was some red tape but no legal barrier, and a year later, K9 Aquatic Centre was open. Swim sessions start at US$30; also on offer are 60-minute “splashing ” birthday parties for up to six dogs.
While it can be particularly gratifying to see how swimming helps ailing or weak dogs, dog swimming as rehabilitation can be risky if not supervised by a vet, said Darryl Millis, a professor at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine who helped develop the first underwater treadmill for dogs in 1997.
“You have to use a lot of caution” to avoid further injuring a dog, Millis said. But the benefits to strength and mobility are real.
“It’s one of those things that dogs can do without a lot of verbal communication.”
Kelly Coupe, head swim coach at K9 Aquatic Center, says the job sometimes feels as therapeutic for her as it is for the dogs.
You have to use a lot of caution, (but) it’s one of those things that dogs can do without a lot of verbal communication.