Thursday 8 March 2012

Enjoying Canine Hydrotherapy

At the end of last year I decided to try Alfie with some hydrotherapy as he has always adored water but seldom gets to go in it with the cool temperatures in the UK.

Plus he cannot go offlead as his nose rules his head in true beagle fashion :-) so the hydrotherapy gives would give him a good cardio-vascular workout.

So A friend recommended a local hydro-therapy pool called Adams Canine Hydrotherapy

Adams Canine Hydrotherapy



At first he was a little unsure what was going on but after a few sessions he soon got the hang of it - he quickly learnt the word swimming and now if I say the word he gets all excited which is really lovely to see.
Its so rewarding knowing it makes him so happy


About 4 weeks into him starting I started taking my other beagle Star with me just to watch but she was very interested in what Alfie was doing she would wander around and peer at him as he was having his swim, so after a couple more weeks passed we decided to let Star have a go she was a little more reluctant than Alfie when she first went in the water but after a bit of splashing she settled into it really well.



Quite early on Alfie started to get distracted when the water went in his ears and it would really disturb his swim he'd spend more time shaking his head than actually swimming, so I looked around online for some kind of ear protection eventually I came across an american company that made a product that sounded absolutely perfect - its name Aquabandit


I measured his head and followed the instructions on the website and within a week it arrived, to get him use to it I got him to wear it for a few mins at a time around the house - giving him treats to make it a positive experience - then came the next swim session I got him ready put on the band and he was fine - he had a totally un-interrupted swim no water in his ears no head shaking fantastic product and he's not swam without it since.


When Alfie first started he swam for 2 minutes in total with several rests in between

1 minute of swimming = 1 mile of running on land

Almost 4 months in to it for Alfie and he is upto 8 minutes with just one rest in between
Star is doing really well too she is now upto 5 mins - but they swim totally different Star works really hard in that 5 minutes whereas Alfie takes it more laid back but they both really enjoy it and it gives all of the muscles a good work out!!

Finally Links to both Adams Canine Hydrotherapy and Aquabandit can also be found on my Links page