Backyard Swimming Pools

[sgtbear111]

I just found another reason never to own a backyard swimming pool. I had one for a few years when living in Hawaii. THe pool was a nuisance: difficult and expensive to maintain, attractive nuisance to neighborhood kids who used it when I was away, depsite the locked fence. Razor wire and claymores did come to mind.

A few days ago my black lab almost drowned in a backyard swimming pool. A friend in eastern Oregon has a pool and visited there a few days ago. It was a high 90's hot day. While dozing in the shade nearby I heard a "splash" and my dog had jumped in that pool to cool off. I looked up and saw her panicked in the corner at the deep end trying to get out over the vertical edge 8 inches above the surface. She went under once and choked. I ran to the edge and grabbed her collar and a handful of skin behind her neck. I saw her eyes dialated in total panic, never will forget that. I knee walked, pulling her to the shallow end and to the steps. She relaxed as I took charge, only paddling to feel for the bottom. At the steps she was able to pull herself out, hacked and coughed a while and still shaking she walked towards the lawn and layed down. It took a while for her to recover, and she now remains right next to me, wherever I go. She is used to water as in creeks, the ocean, natural ponds, where the water entry and exit is shallow, but not the sheer walls of a swiming pool.

Watch your kids, and your pets around these backyard hazards.

[keith720]

We just had a precious 2-year-old drown in a back yard pool in the village I patrol. her Grampa is the head of the the streets department and the whole family is devastated.

[Shoestring]

Out of all the deaths I can think about happening, Drowning is my most fearful. It just has to be painful and yet you know whats going on.. .. scary

[keith720]

Out of all the deaths I can think about happening, Drowning is my most fearful. It just has to be painful and yet you know whats going on.. .. scary

I agree. When I was a kid, I grew up on Lake Buttes des Morts and my cousin drowned. I remember my dad and all of the neighbors going out in fishing boats and dragging the lake with grappling hooks looking for his body.

[Terminator]

Backyard pools can be dangerous. When my brother was about 10 years old he almost drown. A family friend broke her leg saving him as he was under water and not moving. True story.