So the other day, the border collies Lycan and Lexie invited Donna to their birthday party where they have prepared seafood for the kiddos.
Donna examines the packet seafood.
The party was held at Sun Petgamart’s swimming pool.
Donna, who has never really swam before, wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do here. So she wondered around and around the edge of the pool.
I don’t know all these other dogs, human. There’s not enough space to walk here with all the water…
We planned to slowly get her used to the water. The brown dawgs advised before:
… find a banked area of a pond or lake where they can go in slowly and not jump right in. But we try to get them excited and all heated up playing and fetching around the edge of the pond and then toss the toy in the water. Not far just to the edge (hard in a pool if you can find a clean puddle, you could start there). What ever you do, do not toss or otherwise push her in. Even if she jumps in and goes under it might startle her so be prepared. It is not uncommon for it to take many trips before the dog will go all the way in the water (and some is just breeding too). Make sure it is a warm day and the water is warm….most important! Good luck!
But the occasion with so many dogs running around, just didn’t seem suitable to put the advice into action. She was just too distracted and she was never really toy motivated out of doors anyway.
So at that point in time, poor Donna hadn’t really come to love the water or to enjoy it yet. Not like Sir Toby the Golden Retriever :D Toby was definitely the perfect guest for this party.
The slippery slope that deterred him from getting out of the pool on his own was no dampener. His human slave was on hand to… well, give his less than 35kg self a hand or two.
Yup he had fun heading in, being carried out and heading in again…. Several times, repeat and rinse. :P Quite a work out for the human, no?
I thought perhaps the slope was difficult for dogs in general, but Toby’s human told me that some dogs don’t find it difficult although Toby did. Toby, whyyyyyyy? :P
Anyway, I guess Lycan and Lexie would have met all the invited dogs before, so mingling is easy for them. Toby certainly seems to be pretty happy walking in synch with Lycan there.
Clockwise from top left: 1. Toby with Lycan 2. Tugger 3. Tobby with Tugger in the foreground 4. Lexie
Tugger the puppy not so much. He is like Donna trying to make sense of the pool and the other dogs all around. Donna tried her best to initiate play with various dogs that weren’t in the pool, without much success. She ended up persistently approaching Tugger. Tugger did his best to avoid her so I had to reign her in after a while to avoid her stressing him out.
But not for long, because what is a birthday without cake! Donna was so excited she jumped on the bench and we had to call her off it again in case she tried to eat it all on her own. *Oops!*
Perhaps Toby thought it was his birthday?
Nope, it’s Lycan and Lexie’s.
Can I have some cake please? Cobie asked.
Not before we wish Lycan Happy Birthday again (it’s this week!) ;)
Happy Birthday, Lycan! and also Mango today!!
Lycan and Lexie’s post on the birthday party here.
Also Mango the sheltie’s post on the party here. She also made this awesome nose bump video at the party. :)
Note: The Sun Petgamart swimming pool comes equipped with taps for showering the dogs, as pictured below.
More about Sun Petgamart
26, Seletar West Farmway 1 Singapore 798126
Phone: 6484 0709
SGD$38 for 5-year membership gives you discount on purchases and free usage of doggy pool weekends and public holidays. $10/dog on weekdays.
Sun Petgamart Facebook
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Kyla
Donna was trying to read the tail signals from a Pembroke Corgi????
weliveinaflat
She’s never met one before. Give her points for effort. :P
D'Arcy H
Looks like a wild time! I once threw my boxer a birthday party with a piñata shaped like a kitty… but she wouldn’t let any of the other dogs play with it! You just can’t explain human rules to dogs!
savedbydogs
Pool party! What fun :-)
Emmadog
What a fun party. That photo of the pizza floating in the pool is so funny…reminds Mom of the tootsie roll in Caddyshack.
Chewy the Golden
Haha, I’d probably have the same pool-exiting problem as Toby!
Looks like an awesome place for a pup party. Too bad Donna hasn’t found her swimming legs yet! Maybe next time!
2 Brown Dawgs
The video was interesting because not many dogs were in the pool. I think if more dogs had been in the pool and enjoying it, it would have gone a long way to get Donna in there. We use other dogs to show young ones how much fun swimming can be. We would not been able to get brown dawgs out of the pool…lol…but not all dogs like the water. :) If the slope was slippery, they may have made the dogs uneasy using it. The cake was cute!
Nature by Dawn
Happy Birthday, fellas! That looks like one fantastic party. Too bad Donna didn’t try the water out. Maybe next time.
Will and Eko
What an awesome party! So cool that you had that space available. Pool parties are fun, even if you don’t swim.