Pooch Plunge O'leven

One of the things I love about Wilmington is how dog-friendly it is. There are at least three dog parks that I know of (our regular spot is Empie Park) and most neighborhoods and trails feature handy poop bags and receptacles. ("Pick up after your dog... it's your doody!" Folks, you cannot make this stuff up.) At the dog park, we learned of yet another awesome thing Wilmington offers it's canine citizens - the annual Pooch Plunge!

The public pools close after Labor Day and before they empty the pools, the city offers one week where dogs are allowed to enjoy the water. It costs five dollars per dog to enter and the money goes towards animal organizations in town. It is, in a word, awesome. We took Seamus and Calvin twice (what can I say? My pooches are spoiled) and they had a mostly great time.

I say mostly, because the first time we went to the pool Calvin was not very excited about swimming. It is well documented that Calvin is a dog with a lot of quirks (a nice word for "issues") such as barking at inanimate objects and having to be neutered twice. He likes water, but he's used to lakes where he can enter the depths gradually. The pool had steps, which were apparently too much to handle.

Seamus, on the other hand, is a true water dog. He jumped off the edge of the pool into the water and never looked back. He likes to swim slow circles in the pool and bark at any dogs who get too close.

If I was rich/crazy, I would get him one of those endless pools. It would be good for his hips.

There were a lot of dogs at the pool. They were all very happy.

Nathan coaches Calvin on the fine art of swimming. Some dog owners were pushing their wary dogs into the pool but we like to let our dogs make their own decisions. After enough cajoling and sweet talking, we finally had success!

Go, Calvin, go! Did Calvin swim right back to the edge and try to climb out, even though the stairs were two feet away? I'll never tell.

At the end of the day, I am confident that both Seamus and Calvin had a good time at the pool, and I'm certain they're looking forward to next year's Pooch Plunge. It's good to be a dog in Wilmington!