Wednesday 16 June 2010

swimming as a means of relieving a limp

Penny's been having a quieter time than usual lately, because she developed a nasty limp last weekend. It was a long weekend, so we couldn't go to our own vet, which made us decide to let her rest and see if it improved. (She didn't seem to be in pain if she was resting.)

It has in fact improved a lot, so I decided to try her out on a swim at Kepala Canine County Club, in their warm indoor pool. We've been to the canine resort previously with Cindy's dog-walking group and, long ago, with the Kintala Club, but had never gone alone, so it was a bit of a discovery adventure.

I was late, because I overlooked the fact that our city's population is growing at the rate of about 100,000 a year, with the result that traffic is SLOWER than last time I travelled to Diggers' Rest!

But when we arrived, it was great fun and well worth the longish trip. Seeing I'd had a swimming lesson with Penny at Kepala in the past, I was allowed to supervise her myself, but when she was a bit nervous about walking down the ramp, I thought for a moment I'd have to abandon our session and come back another time for a proper lesson.



Feeling a bit tentative, I decided to attach her lead and walk beside her, but soon realised I was pulling her slightly off-balance and making her nervous. So I took the lead off.


Once I threw her treasured Whirlwheels in, close to the point where the ramp led into the water, she was off and swimming freely.



We had a half-hour booking, and I wondered whether she would swim that long, but not only did she swim happily for thirty minutes in the warm pool, but right when I was reluctantly thinking about leaving she climbed out for the final time and went to the gate to show me it was time to stop throwing her toy. She must be a mind-reader!



Next I got her to walk up the convenient steps to the hydrobath.



I washed her with the nice new cake of soap my sister bought from Warbotanicals a little soap shop in Warburton, and tried unsuccessfully to understand how to make the hairdryers work. No idea. Maybe next time we will have a proper drying session. Fortunately the car heater has a strong warm current, so she dried off on the slo-o-o-w drive home.

14 comments:

Two Pitties in the City said...

Wow, that looks like a great facility! This is also such a great idea; they recommend swimming for runners when their legs are injured. We've never tried having our dogs swim, but somehow I think Mr. B would sink with all of his muscle mass.

Slavenka said...

It was a very interesting post to me because here in Zagreb we haven't a swimming pool for dogs.

parlance said...

Two Pitties, I've heard that there are some breeds that would sink, and I think one of them is pit bulls.

parlance said...

Slavenka, we don't have many, that I know of. I think there are only one or two - or maybe only one. This one is forty kilometres from my home, but it seemed worth it.

JD and Max said...

Hi - gosh, we've seen hydro pools for dogs in several other blogs and we wish we had this facility here. Sure, JD likes to swim in the sea but I feel that a pool specialy for us doggies is a great idea as the sea is COLD and Max refuses to go in it! Glad that it's helping you Penny and we're glad that your car has a good heater too - we wouldn't want you to catch a chill! Schnauzer snuggles - JD and Max.

Unknown said...

I think there is one in Doveton as well.

i said...

Hope Penny gets better soon. You are lucky to have such a great facility at your place. We don't have that here, unfortunately. I would enjoy taking Happy for a swim too.

Teal'c said...

Tealc's mum:

It fascinates me how we treat/spoil our dogs nowadays :) The doggie pool certainly looks like fun but hey, I think twice to spend the money on a massage therapist when my back hurst from sitting in front of the computer all day long. But if Teal'c has something, nothing is too expensive... SIGH

Unknown said...

Oh what a wonderful place! A canine resort indeed!!! Am SO jealous! I've been meaning to look up canine hydrotherapy pools around Brisbane - now you've given me the push I needed! :-)

Oh - thank you also for telling me about your friend who threw the party. Will follow the link and see if I can contact her! Would you know (or be able to ask) if anyone in your Cindy dog-walking group (is that the same as the great training class you used to go to?) - have any of them thrown a dog birthday party? I haven't really found anyone in Australia yet (lots of volunteers in the States but sadly can't use them!) and am getting desperate!

Thanks,
Hsin-Yi

parlance said...

Doozer, someone told me about the Doveton one. I think I'll Google it right now!

Hmmm...looks good and costs the same, I think. Now to find out where Doveton is.

Okay, I see it. Thanks for the info. It has physiotherapists, also. And it's near where I went for Dancing With Dogs today.

parlance said...

Teal'c's mum, I know what you mean. I think for me the difference is that I know how I feel and can judge whether I'm improving or getting worse (my private measure of whether to seek help), but I can't seem to work that out with Penny. I keep endlessly asking people, Do you think she's limping?

parlance said...

JD and Max, I guess swimming anywhere would be good, but this place sure is nice in winter.

parlance said...

Serendipity, I feel a bit spendthrift in going there a couple of times a week, but I feel it does Penny good and it's actually very relaxing to have nothing to do except walk around a pool while a dog swims.

parlance said...

Hsin-Yi, I've sent out a request to two mailing lists in my local area to see if anyone could help with the article.
Following the link I sent you will only bring you to my blog, unfortunately, where I wrote about going to the party. I emailed the lady who threw the party but she hasn't replied.

If you can't find any actual party-throwers maybe you could interview me seeing I've been to one. It was a full-on party with doggie gifts, birthday cards, etc.