Pools and Pets

Accidental drowning of a pet in the family pool is common and most often not reported.  There are roughly 58 million dogs and 62 million cats in North America and approximately 450,000 new pools per year, accidental pet drowning will continue to rise unless something changes.

Although healthy dogs and cats have an innate ability to swim short distances, escape from a pool may be a life and death struggle.  Barking is sometimes difficult once the animal is in the water.  The untrained animal instinctively heads for the closest edge of the pool and tries to claw its way out.  Panic quickly leads to exhaustion.  While animals can be trained to go to the shallow end, if they exist, the steps may be too high for a smaller animal.  Vinyl liner pools offer no grip to the animal and only have a vertical ladder, which is impossible for most animals to climb.  Pool repair service is routinely called to repair foot-long holes through pool liners caused by the front claws of the owner?s animal.

A solar cover on a pool is one of the most dangerous times for pets.  They fall on the cover, try to walk on it, go under and can?t get back up.  The heartbreak people experience when they lose a pet to drowning is like losing your child.

Boats and Pets

Pet life jackets are selling in record numbers because pets find so many ways to fall overboard when least expected.  Depending on water temperature and visibility, chances of a rescue are small unless someone sees the pet fall in.