Beanie’s been having baths once or twice a week because of her skin allergies. She doesn’t really mind them, but sometimes she gets a bit fed up of getting wet. At last week’s swimming lesson she wasn’t keen on having her pre-swim shower so we took a little bit of cooked liver with us to make shower time more enjoyable. It worked a treat – she couldn’t get in there fast enough :)

Normally toys are used to tempt the dogs to do laps of the pool. This doesn’t work too well with Beanie as she’s never been toy oriented…unless of course she’s stealing another dog’s toy to ‘encourage’ it to race her. Today there was a rather noisy dog staying in the kennels next door to the pool and Beanie was more interested in a barking chorus with him than in swimming.

The vet suggested that we try using the liver treats in the pool. What a transformation!! Little Beanie was like a thing possessed. She was just a blur as she did lap after lap, desparately trying to catch that little piece of liver that stayed just ahead of her nose. Normally the vet has to keep hold of her little harness to stop her bolting for dry land. But while she had that little piece of liver in her hand our pup was mesmerised. The only drawback was that she was so focussed on the liver that when she finally got it she’d forget all about swimming and just sink…..with a mouthful of liver and an expression of utter joy on her face.

Beanie had another swimming lesson yesterday and this time swam without a life jacket! She actually does much better without it. She’s a superb little swimmer now, and we’re confident that by the end of her course she’ll be swimming regularly in the local rivers, ponds and sea.

We met Sophie there again, and she’s reached the end of her first 10 week course so went to get all her vital statistics taken again. Sophie mainly started swimming lessons to get her back into shape after her phantom pregnancy. The measurements show she’s lost quite a bit off her waistline and put on a significant amount of bulk in all the right places!

Beanie has certainly built lots of lovely muscle over the past few weeks, although because she’s a devloping pup it’s not clear how much of that is down to the swimming. But I’m told that typically in a 10 week course dogs do build measurable muscle. Beanie certainly got loads of compliments from the vetenary nurses about her lean, muscular build! And I have to say we agree with them – she looks fabulous!

Beanie had an extra special swimming lesson today – her buddy Sophie was there!

We met up with Sophie in the park this morning and it turned out that their lessons were about the same time so we decided to all go together.

Sophie went first, and was swimming just great. Without a life jacket too!!

Beanie’s turn came next and she was quite miffed when they made her wear a lifejacket – with Sophie watching too!!

She needn’t have worried – Sophie was more interested in raiding the toy box.

Sophie did 24 laps without a life jacket and with the water jets to make her work harder.  But little Beanie wasn’t going to be upstaged – she did 25 laps :)

The peer pressure seemed to result in a better performance from both Beanie and Sophie, so we’re booked in for a double session again next week.