Life Savers!

People have died trying to save their dogs from drowning. Wow, what a depressing way to begin a post. But seriously. It's surprising how many articles there are online of dog owners not even thinking before they jump in to save their buddies. It happens a lot. I know without a doubt that if that situation presented itself, I would jump right in too. Instead of killing yourself, why not buy your dog (probably not a bad idea for yourself either) a life jacket? It's true that some dogs just "know" what to do when you put them in the water, and some breeds are considered natural swimmers. However, depending on the situation, your dogs swimming ability might be irrelevant.

I thought you loved me?!

As you can see, Odie is modeling her Outward Hound life jacket. I love how the belly band is thick, and it has a handle on the top, but the reason I chose this one over some other brands is that it has an extra floating pad under her chin. I think it's safe to say that chihuahuas aren't on the top 10 list of natural swimmers. Odie would rather lay on the beach and sun tan while she watches you swim, thank you very much.

Trying to escape from a bath in the sink.

Ahhhhh... this is better.

I read a story about a man and his dog walking on a pier and the dog just jumped into the water and was swept out to sea really quickly. I don't think I need to worry about Odie voluntarily jumping into any body of water anytime soon. That isn't to say that she hasn't had any swimming experience...

That was Odie's first experience in the ocean, narrated by my dad. I'm really glad we bought her that life jacket. There was another little girl chihuahua on that beach when we were there, and she was also sporting a life jacket. She was liking the water more than Odie was though. Oh well. Anyway, we got a lot of use out of the jacket this summer during a boating trip.

Going to the shore for a dog break

During our travels, I talked to a lot of people about dog life vests and am glad to report that even people with big, water loving dogs have bought them just because you never know what's going to happen.