Houseboating Adventures - Issue 19 - (Page 8) 9(C£B$)(CH Carrie Agnew is the marketing director of Skamper Industries LLC of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, the manufacturer of Skamper-Ramp®. Pet safety around Water Every pet owner with a swimming pool or a houseboat knows that whether they want their animal in the water or not, their pet may end up in the water at some point, involuntarily! Even if under constant supervision, the unanticipated takes place—animals are chased, doors are left open; accidents can and do happen! Over the past several years a number of articles have been published in newspapers and magazines across the country specifically on the subject of pet water safety. Specials/segments have been devoted to it on national television programs such as Animal Planet, Good Morning America and The Early Show, to name just a few. This is largely due to the fact that the odds are of a pet drowning are 1 out of every 1,028 every year in the United States alone. This equates to as many as 170,000 dogs, cats and small animals! And this figure doesn’t account for the tens of thousands of "critters" that suffer the same fate. While many pets love the water, others don’t. Most pet owners simply assume that all dogs "know" how to swim, but many do not and the first time they find themselves in the water can be traumatic! All pool owners with a dog should introduce their animal to the water - gradually, in a non-threatening, supervised form. That way, even if the owner doesn’t want their dog swimming in the pool, at least if it falls or is chased in, their pet won’t immediately panic. Boat owners face a slightly different dilemma, but it still deals with the water. Regardless of whether an animal has jumped or been chased in the water, how they get out can be a major issue. Many pet owners believe they can train their dog(s) to use the steps of their pool. But even this technique isn’t fool-proof, primarily because the dog can’t see the steps—they are under the water! In reality, the pet has a landmark—such as a plant, fence or tree—but at night or if in distress- that "learning" is quickly replaced by panic. If the dog has jumped or fallen off a houseboat the )6B@" A05("%C&5AB9&@ By Carrie Agnew issue can be made more complicated if the boat is moving. In this case there are very few options that can help your dog unless an alarm has been employed, or unless shore is near. A pet alarm like Safety Turtle (pictured below) alerts the boat with an alarm that signals that a pet has fallen overboard. This system also works for children and can provide an additional layer of security for Moms and Dads. For pets around pools the challenges are different. A large number of pets, particularly dogs, enjoy swimming but even the youngest, strongest swimmers can panic if they can’t find their way out, get fatigued or distressed. They will instinctively head for the closest edge of the pool and start clawing their way around the edge, looking for the exit they remember is there, somewhere. For owners of vinyl-lined pools this is an extremely expensive problem, as the entire liner may have to be replaced or at least repaired if it is ripped or torn. When it comes to keeping a pet safe, money isn’t the issue. Effectiveness is. Peace-of-mind is worth more than expense. To many people, the death of a pet is just as difficult to cope with as a human family member. With the accompanying sense of acute loss and depression just as real as if it had been a "human" family member.
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