The Swim Club is open at my house! Watch out for Pool Sharks!
<a href="" target="_blank"><img src="
" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="" target="_blank"><img src="
" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
= new reply since forum marked as read
What cute, happy souls 
Let's hope no one peed in the pool! 
They prefer the pool water to what's in the bowl and even what comes out of the bathtub faucet. So far neither of them are very keen on going in though. Boo wanted to and he'd get to the top of the steps and then chicken out before starting on the in-the-pool steps. I think it's because visually you can't tell depth underwater, and he wasn't sure how far away the first step was. Yoshi did the same thing last year, but I didn't get him until September and the pool was taken down after he was here for only about a week.
I'm trying to figure out how to convince Yoshi to get in the pool because I think he'd love it. He loves the bathtub and creeks and rivers and giant puddles, but just like Boo was, he's chicken to step down on that first in-the-pool step.
Hopefully, I'll be setting up my pool today. I wanted to do it over the weekend, but it was just to hot and humid to be outside for more than a few seconds, so Yoshi and I hung out in here all day... me working on the 'puter and refinishing my dining room chairs and him snoring the plaster off the ceiling.
I have no idea what I'm going to do with him while I'm setting up the pool. He gets right smack in the middle of whatever I'm doing, and I don't want him running around tearing the liner with his nails and getting all in the way, but he won't want to be stuck inside missing all the fun either. Maybe I could tie him to the tree so he can watch and be outside but not get in the way and make a tattered mess of my pool.
By the way... I always pee in my pool. It's MY pool, so I can pee in it if I want to! LOL! 
Ok, no, I don't make a habit of peeing in the pool for real. But last year when I had the pH problem it cleared right up after I accidentally weewee'd in the pool... wasn't my fault - Lisa said something hilarious and I had drunk all that iced-tea. So really, it's Lisa's fault. We'll blame her.
I wonder what it is though about the pee that fixed the pH problem? I'm going to keep that in mind if it happens again this year before messing for weeks with all the chemicals that didn't do a damn thing to fix it.
It's only and eight footer since I have such a small yard and it has to be on a perfectly flat surface, but I love, love, love it! It and the filter were only about $50 at Amazon. The filter works really well and you really only have to just hose off the filter cartridge with a garden hose once in awhile and keep reusing it. I also put foam insulation boards under it to make it cushiony on the bottom of the pool and they make getting the wrinkles out when you fill it up easy as pie. I built outside the pool steps for it out of stacked cinderblocks and the inside the pool steps opposite is just a two-step utility stair I got for about $10 at Home Depot. I had to tie a brick to the bottom of the first step on the underside so it wouldn't float though. You can buy a ladder for the pool, but it cost more than the whole pool and filter set up, so I worked out the idea for the steps, and I like them better anyway. I often sit on the inside the pool steps halfway in the water reading a book because if I sit on the bottom of the pool the water is up to my neck. I did end up getting the stronger filter for it last year (only about ten dollars more and looks and acts exactly the same) because the pool is shaded by part of the tree, and all kinds of crap was falling from the tree into the pool putting a strain on the filter... and the squirrels and birds were always chucking stuff out of their nests into my pool. They moved out of my tree for some reason (probably Yoshi) last fall and no critters are living in it now. I don't miss them... nothing like bird crap all over your pool cover to clean off every morning.
If you have the room you should think about getting one. They're easy as hell to set up and maintain all summer, and even my little one is a joy. Mine is the eight footer and looks like this. The 10, 12 and a little higher foot ones look the same but are just bigger...
But damn, you are right, it IS your pool and you can do whatever you want in it.
Just don't invite me over for a pool party, OK.
As to how to get the dog in the pool, I would try picking him up and carrying him in the first time. Or is there room for you to stand on the first step with the dog? He may be willing to step down if he sees you standing there. Good luck.
so they won't want to always come over to use it... I like using the pool to relax, and some people are anything but relaxing to be with in a pool. Besides, I have a horror that THEY might pee in it! LOL!
It would be really nice if I could pick Yoshi up and carry him in, but he weighs more than I do, so that's probably not going to work out. LOL! He's a really big boy. When he's up on his hind legs we're about eyeball to eyeball.
He's definitely interested in going in, but I think he just needs some coaxing to take that first step down into the water onto the inside-the-pool steps. If I can just get him to use the steps one time I think he'll be fine after that, but it's that first time that might not be so easy. I'm pretty sure that once he realizes how the steps work and he can stand on the bottom of the pool and still have his head out of the water he'll really like it. It took a lot of coaxing and time to encourage him to go all the way into the bathtub when it was full of water, too. Actually, I kind of wish now that I hadn't encouraged him to be ok with that because now it's really hard to take a bath by myself, and there sure as heck isn't room enough in the tubby for both of us.
Huh, now I'm kind of wondering if I really want him to like the pool because I'll probably never again be able to be in it by myself just just relaxing like the bathtub... he doesn't do water to relax but to play. I can just see us in there with me trying to relax and float around and him leaping around like a loon... "Yeah, we're playin' and swimmin'! (Me: you're playin' and swimmin' but your drowning me). LOL!
Don't get the dog in the pool! I cannot imagine what bath time is like for you these days.
But if you are still crazy enough to want Yoshi in the pool, maybe you could try teaching him to go up and down the steps with them set up outside of the pool first, like you see in those competitions where dogs go up and down obstacles???? Then at least the fear would be gone of the steps.
Just remember, I am on the side of "don't get the dog in the pool", and just enjoy your relaxation time. Don't blame me if that works.
