can pugs swim?

[CoolDogg]

Is it ok to have him around a pool?

[Almandine]

IMO - Only if you actively teach him to swim. Samson can swim but I would never leave him unattended where he could get near water like in a pool. Even the best swimmers can get exhausted and drown if they can't get out and pools usually don't accomodate a suitable pug exit.

You can get very good life jackets for pugs which would help keep him safe if he falls in but my advice would be teach him to swim and never leave him unattended with access to the pool.

If you are looking into pool-proofing, I have heard tragic stories about dogs walking onto soft covers and getting wrapped in them, so maybe a fence or hard cover is best.

Oh - and teaching a pug to swim is fun!

[ShellnOtis]

I have to keep such a close eye on Otis if we are ever around a pool (like at my Mom's house) because he sinks like a rock when he is in water. He has absolutely no water skills at all...he splashes so much water in his face that it freaks him out and then he just sinks...poor little guy.

Figgy, on the other hand, swims like a fish. She's amazing in the water.

But I still wouldn't let either of them around a pool without my constent supervision

[Pugdawg1]

Only with constant supervision should he be around a pool... whether or not he can swim, IMO. Not worth the risk. My guys love water, but I'm right there with them.

[Rosiepug]

Rosie also sinks like a rock...too top heavy. No swimming skills here but no pool either.

[Luvbean25]

Three of my pugs can swim and both Bostons, and that is becasue they have been around water since babies and learned to get comfortable in the water. It is best to start them off young!

[puglovernwburbs]

I believe I told this story before, but just in case I didn't. . . . .

Before I got married I was always a cat person, and trying to give a cat a bath, much less trying to get a cat to SWIM was basically taking your life in your hands. Because, although you might care for the life of your cat at that moment, the cat DEFINITELY does NOT feel the same way about you! Yes, I know that there are SOME cats that actually LIKE swimming, but mine were definitely NOT in that group!

So, one day when Spirit was about 8 months old, my husband and I were walking around a state park with Spirit. We came across a boat dock with a labrador retriever joyfully bounding in and out of the water retriving a tennis ball on a rope. So, I looked at my husband (who had had dogs all of his life because of his severe allergy to cats) and asked, "How do you get a dog into the water to swim?" I knew Spirit wasn't afraid of the water because she LOVES taking baths and showers. My husband said, "Well, you kind of go onto the dock and toss her in."

I decided to take him at his word. You can't after all, lower a CAT slowly into the water - that is a DEATH WISH! So, I walked partway out onto the dock, with my husband beside me, and kind of tossed Spirit out into the lake. Looking back, I probably should have tossed her while I was in a sitting position (which would have been only about a foot and a half above the water) instead of a standing one (which put me with the dock, about six and a half feet above the water) . Spirit goes flying THROUGH THE AIR spreadeagled (she looked like one of those flying squirrels on the National Geographic specials) with a "WHAT THE ^&%$^% are you DOING to me?!?!?!" look on her face. My husband starts yelling "Don't actually TOSS her!!!" and Spirit HITS the water (bellyflopped - OW! ) and sinks like a stone. I had had the foresight to leave her leash attached to her collar, so I reel her in like a fish. She breaks the surface of the water and gives me a look that basically called me a female dog (the "B" word). I brought her out of the water (she is still wishing she had a middle finger that she could display to me) and made sure she was fine. She was, just mad as anything. She didn't speak to me the rest of the day.

Before you all start accusing me of dog abuse, let me just say that I love my dog more than anything. I NEVER would have done something to deliberately hurt her. I figured my husband knew what he was talking about when he said you kind of toss the dog in (he MEANT to sit on the edge of the dock or the water and lower her in, but that ISN'T what he said! When I told him that, his reply was, "Well you NEVER do ANYTHING I tell you to - so how was I to know you were going to listen to me THIS time?")

Incidentally, Spirit is fine. She didn't get water in her ears. She also has been in the water again (from the edge - NOT through the air), so no lasting scars either physically or emotionally.

Does it make me a bad "pug mom" to still chuckle when I think of Spirit's expression as she was flying through the air?

[crazypugmom]

None of my pugs swim very well. We had a pool in Texas, and Taz fell in 8 or 9 times in the year we lived there. He would sink like a rock. About the 7th time he fell it, he actually began moving his legs but would still be under water. I figured if he did learn to swim, he would be too tired to make it over to the steps where he could possibly get out.

I never let my pugs in the back yard unless I was watching them. I could never trust that they would not be running or playing and accidently fall.

[1stTimeMom]

Christine I don't think you're a bad pug mom, but I do think that they story would make a great Sheldon comic plot. I can see that pug drawing flying through the air!!!!

[Donandpug]

Puggles somehow got in the pool here once. She ran on ahead of me as I closed the door to the back of the building. We cut thru the indoor pool room to get to the back garden. As I secured the door, I heard a splash. I ran down the few steps and there she was head above water clinging to the side of the pool, looking like "What the!!!" I fished her out and dried her off. I think she is a little to heavy to swim.

From what I understand, unlike a lot of dog breeds, pugs are generally not good swimmers.