Dog days of summer
Pups swim laps at Denver pool
About 140 dogs yipped, howled and swam laps at Denver’s Cook Park Pool on Sunday.
It’s a Denver Parks and Recreation tradition that goes back more than a decade, aquatics director Lisa Perry said. The pool belongs to the dogs on the last day it’s open for Dog-a-Pool-ooza. Staff shut off the filtration system and charge $5 per dog for a few hours of splashing and sunshine.
All the dogs running around the Cook Park Pool appeared to enjoy their end-of-summer dip, but the swim was extra special for the Swain family.
“We got back from camping in June, and he was acting weird in the backyard,” Jerry Swain said of his dog.
Arrow, the family’s 2-year-old Goldendoodle, was gagging and sprawled out on all fours with his belly close to the ground. He looked like he was in agony, Swain said.
A vet told the family Arrow had a disease called bloat. It’s a condition where the stomach rapidly expands with gas and fluid, causing it to twist around itself and cut off blood supply. It’s fatal within a few hours, and even with medical treatment about half of dogs with bloat don’t survive.
Arrow was one of the lucky ones, and the Swain family was excited to take him to Cook Park Pool for his first swim day.
He was a little nervous at first, Swain said.
He watched the other dogs for a while before he worked up the nerve to jump in the pool. Once he got the hang of it, however, Arrow didn’t want to get out.
The family enjoyed it too. They’re thinking about taking Arrow to the next dog Dog-aPool-ooza on Sept. 2 at Berkeley Park Pool, 5105 W. 46th Ave. The one-hour sessions start at 9, 10:15 and 11:30 a.m.