Dogs and ponds

quiggmarkyMAUR7c8_

GW has been one of our COVID discoveries. We are thinking of building a pond like Monty  Don’s, but we have two large dogs. How does Monty keep his dogs out of his two ponds?

K67

I don't think he does! From his Twitter feed https://mobile.twitter.com/themontydon/status/1276038863908192258?lang=en

Captain_Chaos

One of my collies fell in my Dads koi pond once (being nosey no doubt). He only did it once. HAHA

Omori

Same with my dog...fell in and snapped the water lily buds  You'd want to have a liner tough enough to resist dog nails. Not sure what Monty's is. 

Dovefromabove

We had a black labrador ... one of the lovely large old fashioned kind of labs ... we lived on a smallholding with three ponds in the fields and a small river on the boundary so  he was used to plunging in to cool off on a hot day. 

One day we were on a camping holiday and went to Chatsworth for the day ... @WonkyWomble will remember ... it was a hot day and we were strolling past the elegant Canal Pond with the Emperor Fountain when Boss felt the need to cool off .................. the embarrassment 🤣

https://www.chatsworth.org/garden/history-of-the-garden/early-garden/canal-pond-the-great-fountain/

Posy

It depends on your dog! My spaniel would rather die than get her feet wet but some plunge straight in. Labs and poodles are probably the most keen. it's in the genes.

Obelixx

We have a large pond and a Labrador and a Mixta with a lot of terrier.  The Labrador only goes in our pond at the height of a heatwave to cool off but is just as likley to sprawl on a tiled floor indoors.  Out on walkies he will  jump in puddles, ditches, ponds, rivers and lakes but not at home.

We occasionally look after a young spaniel and he loves running in and out of the pond when it's hot.

Our last garden also had a pond.  The terrier Mixta never went near it, even to drink until we adopted the Labrador and one of the first things he did was jump in and splash about but that only lasted a few days.   By the time we moved here, years later, he never went in that pond at all.

I suggest, if you do make a pond, that you provide a shallow beach at one end so your dogs and any other critters such as hedgehogs and even frogs and toads can get out easily without risking drowning and without ruining your pond and its plants.  Unless you have water dogs I suspect the novelty will wear off soon enough and the pond will be fine.

Omori

Yes dogs will use the pond as a giant water bowl, so access for them and wildlife is important. Similarly, not adding chemicals for blanket weed etc. What I did is at one end I have a beach which smaller birds use to drink and bathe, and at the side I have built in a little step down which the dogs and pigeons use. 

raisingirl

Greyhounds don't paddle, let alone swim. She lounges glamorously in the shade and expects to be waited on 

janetfoss

Yes, I think it depends on the breed of dog. My greyhound cross has drunk out of mine occasionally, but I know for sure previous labs would have leapt in without hesitation. As long as no harm has been done to dog in question or the critters in the pond itself, treat it as a funny thing which delights both dog and owners!

Nanny Beach

You could make it above ground,our last 2,border collies never bothered with the ponds, this one is now 5 when she was a puppy heard this weird splashing,wondered what on earth it was.looked outside she was in the pond which is a good mtr above ground