INNISFAIL - With the local aquatic centre pool heading for a two-week maintenance shutdown, staff came up with a novel idea.
Not for humans though. It was one for the dogs. It was Pooch Day at the Pool.
On Aug. 27, local humans and their beloved canines were invited to come to the pool at a nominal $6 cost to have Fido jump in.
After all, they too need relief from the COVID-19 pandemic, a watery one at that.
Dawn Murray, supervisor of the Innisfail Aquatic Centre, said there was always dog swims when she previously lived in North Vancouver just before the pool’s scheduled “dumping and scrubbing.”
“So, this year we get to dump and scrub so we thought it would be a nice treat for the dogs and the dog owners to have somewhere nice to swim, and get some energy out because it has been harder for the last little bit to get the dogs out,” said Murray.
She said there were some initial objections to holding the event but those came from people who didn’t realize the pool was scheduled for a full maintenance – “dumping and scrubbing” before being repainted. The aquatic centre pool is closed to the public after the Aug. 27 event for two weeks and won’t be reopened until Sept. 13.
She said the response for Innisfail first Pooch Day was “surprisingly good.”
“It has been great. The dogs have been gorgeous. They have been really friendly. There have been a couple that learned how to swim today, so that has been awesome as well,” said Murray, adding the humans enjoyed the experience as much as their canine friends. “There’s actually been a few people swimming. They haven’t really cared too much about being with the dogs.”
Christine Morris, owner of Barks N Bows – a pet grooming and daycare service in Innisfail and Olds, brought four dogs to the event, and they enthusiastically welcomed the watery relief once they made the decision to just jump in.
“They were not sure about it at first because they are not normally allowed in places like this but they absolutely loved it and kids loved it. I think it’s just a great idea, and we want to give credit to Dawn, the town and the pool for putting this on for everybody,” she said. “It is really good socialization, especially after the past year when they have not had a lot of time to be social.
“It is a good for the older dogs to get out and do water exercise so they can move their joints and get moving,” added Morris. “It’s good for the little dogs to have an opportunity to do something in still waters where they don’t normally get to play.”
As for the future of Pooch Day? Town officials said they would love to have it again but will have to wait until the next “dumping and scrubbing” before it can happen but when it does there could also be room for dogs’ arch rivals – cats.
“Yes, definitely,” said Murray. “There’s a demand out there for sure. The little dogs didn’t stay as long so we can cut that (time) in half and have cats and little dogs.”
