Beanie and her pal Sophie went for a joint swimming lesson today at Allers Farm Kennels Hydrotherapy Pool.. We all had a fantastic time!

Jennifer, the hydrotherapist, had told us that we could go in the pool with our dogs if we had wetsuits. Suprisingly, you can get a wetsuit for about £20 – £25 from a variety of online stores and also from Aldi or Tescos. I managed to pick up a real bargain and paid just £6.25 for mine. It’s not the best fit in the world – but then I’m not the best shape in the world :) And at that price you can’t complain. So Jennifer looked after Sophie for her lesson and I went in with Beanie.

I thought the water might be a little cold, but it was lovely and warm.

Sophie and Beanie clearly loved being in the pool together, but suprisingly didn’t try to wrestle each other into submission whilst in the water. In fact, they really seemed to work together as a team:

All I need now is a pair of water ski’s

The pool has water jets to make the dogs work a bit harder (Beanie and Sophie are swimming into the jets in the picture above). They seem to love swimming into these, and Jennifer thinks it’s because they like the nice massage that it gives them.

The dogs don’t swim for the full half hour. There’s a little ramp for them to climb up onto every so often for a quick breather. But as Beanie and Sophie have been getting swimming lessons for quite some time they’re happy to stay in the water most of the time:

We really want the dogs to get used to playing in the pool and just having fun, so Hazel worked hard from the side of the pool trying to tempt the terrible twins with just about every toy in the toy box. Sophie showed some interest…

…but Beanie only has eyes for food:

Whilst Hazel and Jennifer persevered with getting Sophie interested in the toys..

…I took the easy option and tempted Beanie around the pool with little lumps of chopped kidney:

But next week I plan to take along some toys that will both float and contain food – that should do the trick!

Part way through the swim session we had a little visit from a young Beagle called Henry. He’s a regular border at Allers Farm Kennels and was lured in by the smell of Beanie’s tub of chopped kidney. He stopped to say hi to Beanie and Sophie:

Beanie finished off the session with a little bit of diving practice….

I can’t recommend Allers Farm Kennels Hydrotherapy enough. It’s not officially open yet as the pool room hasn’t been decorated. But the pool is fully operational and I doubt the dogs care what colour the walls are! The owners and staff are all very friendly and go out of their way to make sure dogs and their owners have a great time. It’s also very affordable if you have more than one dog or go along with friends as the cost is the same regardless of how many dogs you take with you. Needless to say Sophie and Beanie are booked up for more fun next week.