Pools, retention ponds and what a dog can drink

By the middle of July every backyard pool in Katy, Cypress and Sugar Land is in daily use, and every master-planned neighborhood has a retention pond that has turned green. A hot dog drinks whatever is closest, and it swims in whatever it can reach. This is the month our trainers get the calls about a dog that will not stay out of the pool, a dog that drank from the pond on the walk, and a dog that went into a bayou after a duck. All three are the same missing skill.

The water the dog should not have

• Pool water: chlorine or salt, and a dog that drinks it gulps a lot of it. Not an emergency in itself, but a sign the dog is hot and thirsty.
• Retention ponds and bayous in July: warm, still and often green. We are not vets, so ask yours about algae; until then the rule is simple, and the dog does not drink from standing water.
• Puddles on the pavement after a storm, which are hot and full of whatever was on the road.
• Anything with a gator sign, which in Houston means most of the bayous and a lot of the ponds.

The fix for all of it is a leave it that works at the water's edge, and a recall that beats a duck.

Leave it, at the edge

Start indoors with kibble on the floor and your foot ready to cover it. Once the dog turns away from food on the floor on the word alone, take it to the yard hose, then to the edge of the pool, then, on a leash, to the pond on your walk. Say the word once as the dog's head goes down. Turn and walk, and pay it when it follows. Within a week most dogs look at you instead of the water. The habit you want is that a body of water is a place to check in, not a place to drink.

The pool deck routine

A dog that jumps in every time the kids do is a drowning risk, for itself and for a small child it lands on. The routine is place on the deck, on a raised bed in the shade, with the dog released to swim on one word and called out on another. Run it for twenty minutes on three evenings with the dog on a long line. Show the dog the steps and have it climb out on them twice a session, every session. A dog that knows the steps does not panic when it falls in; a dog that only knows the edge can drown in a pool it swims in every day.

Recall that beats a duck

A retriever that sees a duck on the pond forgets everything except the duck. Recall on a long line is the July work in every stay at the training home, done at dawn on the shoreline at the lake and around the ponds in Bridgeland. The method is the one we use in February, distance before distraction, one word, run backward, pay big, release. The difference in July is that every session is fifteen minutes and then the dog goes inside.

Where a stay fits

Leave it, place and a working recall are what Gold teaches in two weeks for $2,500. For a dog that is going to live around water, at the lake or with a pool it uses daily, three weeks of Platinum at $3,750 adds the field trips where we do the work at the water itself. And a $220 in-home lesson on your own pool deck sets the routine in the place it will be used, which is the fastest way we know.

Written by

Best Dog University Team

Board and train trainers in Cypress, Houston. 16+ years, 900+ dogs. About our team