It's My Dog-Pool Party and I'll Cry if I want to...

It's July and the sun is warm and nothing says cool and refreshing like a dip in the old back yard pool. At least that was my thinking the other day when I hosted some of the dogs I nanny over to my house for a good old fashioned summer pool party!

You see back in the day when I lived in Seattle my favorite thing to do was to walk our lab Fergus and our first Irish Setter Seamus down to the bay near our house and watch them swim. Oh I couldn't keep those dogs out of the water! Sadly here in the Chicago suburbs there are not too many options for dog paddling for my setters. Most of the man-made lakes in our area subdivisions are pretty to look at but chemically treated. Chicago does have a dog beach on Lake Michigan but it is kind of a hike from our home in the Western suburbs. So to bring a little water fun to my hounds and their guests I set up a kiddie pool in the back yard. A kiddie pool I forced my husband to purchase last weekend from the local garden center where he cryptically announced to the cashier "this is the stupidest waste of money we've spent on the dogs yet!"

So last Wednesday our doggie pals Riley the Yorkie and Charlie the Terrier came over to our house for the day. I waited at least an hour after they ate lunch (as per swimming law) before filling the pool. I ran the dogs around the yard with a ball to get them all hot and ready to hit the waves. I threw some floaty toys in the pool and I grabbed my camera and announced "It's a Pool Party! Whooo-hooo!" and waited for the fun to begin. And, umm, waited.

Dugan whined at the sliding door wanting back inside the house to be in the comfort of the central air.

Fiona sprawled out under the shade of a bench on the deck and watched for birds.

Caelan went to the other side of the yard to chase her own shadow.

Riley found a comfy place to lay on my outdoor love seat and started sleeping.

Charlie rolled on his back on the deck and sunned his tummy with a content look on his snout.

I stood in the pool barefoot and hopeful. I splashed around and again invited all to come in and join the fun the pool had to offer! Yipppeeee! Nothing. I even reminded all the dogs how damn lucky they were to have a crazy lady throwing them a doggie pool party! (I know, I know, Catholic guilt does not work on dogs, but I was desperate!)

5 dogs in the afternoon heat ignored me completely and I was again thankful for my 7 foot privacy fence because if anybody else could see this pathetic display I would surely be embarrassed.

10 minutes later I ducked back in the house (dodging Dugan who was desperate to get back into the AC) and returned to the pool with Organic Chicken Treats. 5 dogs immediately gathered with renewed interest.

I stepped back into the pool and invited some fellow swimmers to join me! Nothing. All eyes were on the chicken treats. So I tossed them in the pool. For the next 5 minutes all the dogs took turns trying their damnedest to get the treats without actually getting any part of their body wet. It was like a giant canine game of Operation where if any part of your body hit water it would buzz and you'd lose. There was stretching and whining and circling of the pool, but no getting in it. The lengths these dogs went through to avoid getting their paws wet was the entertainment of the afternoon.

I finally lifted the terriers in the water completely and they stood looking at me like I was torturing them on a strange Japanese game show and sprung out of the water.

While I can forgive our little dog guests my setters have no excuses...they were bred to swim damn it. Fiona acted like I was dipping her front paws in battery acid and upon seeing this forced entry of water Dugan hid behind my storage shed not wanting to be next. Caelan stood in the water and daintily lifted her paws alternately like the water would somehow go away if she did not have all four paws down at the same time.

So much for cool water splashing and yapping and doggie pool party fun and summer memories. Sigh. I guess you can lead a pack of dogs to water, but you can't make them swim.