{"id":375,"date":"2023-10-09T08:46:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-09T08:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cryptovpn.me\/?p=375"},"modified":"2023-10-16T15:44:17","modified_gmt":"2023-10-16T15:44:17","slug":"natural-fresh-water-dog-pond-pool-a-diy-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.cryptovpn.me\/index.php\/2023\/10\/09\/natural-fresh-water-dog-pond-pool-a-diy-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Natural Fresh Water Dog Pond Pool \u2013 A DIY guide"},"content":{"rendered":"
If you’re not lucky enough to have a swimming pool, or if you’re not inclined to let your pup swim in yours, there’s a totally natural way for your pup to enjoy a pond. <\/p>\n
I’ve been working on a swimming pool for my dogs, but I got faced with the question of “How do I make this dog friendly and not have to drain it every few days?”. I wanted to keep clean water in the pond to help avoid ear infections, mosquito larvae and all the other nasty things that happen when water just … sits around <\/em>in a foldable dog pool and becomes a glorified dog bowl. <\/p>\n Not only is draining it every few days inconvenient, but it’s a huge waste of quite a lot of water if you have larger dogs like I do. <\/p>\n I looked at how you add pool chemicals, but I wasn’t much keen on that because I know that as soon as Indie dropped a ball in there, he’d be face-deep in there and we’d end up with itchy skin, skin irritation like hot spots or similar, and I really didn’t want to look at that. Not to mention that my dogs have dark coats could be affected by the chlorine and get a dull coat and stuff.<\/p>\n So I looked into how natural pools work! And most of it was for quarter acre and larger ponds, but delving a little I found the logic could apply to a small pond… which meant not only could I get me a water feature, but I could get one my dogs (and ducks) could use! <\/p>\n So let me break down what we’ve done, how it works, why it works so well, and how you can make your own! <\/p>\n We live in a really rural area. There are deer, and there are trees, and it’s very <\/em>natural. So, I wanted to keep it pretty natural, I wanted to<\/p>\n I looked at the classic, inflatable dog pools, a used backyard pool on facebook – but the first So I started knowing it would need to be one of the puncture-proof dog pools. But… when they get to 75lbs+ (35kg+) and you’re dealing with coonhounds (Ugh, those dog’s nails are pretty much diamonds), that “puncture-proof” label becomes totally relative…<\/p>\n Now, the next big issue is that we don’t have a huge flat area – we’re mainly on a hill – so it’s kind of inconvenient for the traditional “Family pool” without digging out an enormous chunk of the hill, and then we have rocks and … yeah it was looking pricey quite quickly, which didn’t seem like the best idea to me. And equally pricey was the idea of fiberglass pools – whilst I’d love that larger pool, the volume of dollars associated with that? Wasn’t going to be achievable for us.<\/p>\n We looked at a number of options, but the best choice for us was an 8ft round stock tank, we opted for the poly tank over the galvanised because the poly lasts forever, we won’t face rust issues and the poly tank comes with a ledge that’s pretty solid, so I wasn’t too scared that it would be a problem with large dogs (or humans) standing on it. <\/p>\n So, me being me, we waited and found one on facebook marketplace – because I hate paying full price for anything and I feel like by using something someone else no longer needs, I’m doing my bit for society, right? <\/p>\n I sent my helpful husband (Mr Rebarkable, who will be featuring in this!) to go fetch it from down the road (where it had also been used as a dog pool, interestingly!) and he returned it. <\/p>\n We were lucky enough that our neighbour had a tractor with a bucket that made mincemeat <\/em>out of the hill, and quickly levelled a spot where the new stock tank would sit. Mr. Rebarkable and I spent a bit of time levelling it out with some small amounts of masonry sand, and set it in place…<\/p>\n Now it’s a permanent fixture… <\/p>\n Poor quality water in your dog’s ears, or a wet dog can just encourage bacteria growth – which is never a good thing, and I think we pet owners know that, right?<\/p>\n Chlorine is an excellent way to sterilise water – and it is drinkable, however, it can affect your dog’s coat, and drinking too much pool water can be a problem!<\/p>\n We did consider the saltwater pool idea, and whilst it’s definitely a step up from the chlorine pool (in my opinion!), it wasn’t a great choice. This one can’t be drunk that much by my furry friend s and it means that, whilst it’s dog safe, it takes more upkeep, and needs a little bit more managing it it’s going to be a successful pet pool.<\/p>\n Drinkable and with minimal upkeep, and minimal impact on my dogs coats? This works for me – and whilst it’s harder to set up, it does mean that <\/p>\n We opted for what’s called a “Bog filter” which mimics how water gets filtered in nature. <\/p>\n Lots of people used 55 gallon barrels, or whiskey barrels, or a secondary pond. We were lucky enough to have a second pond laying around (a Rubbermaid tub that Indie was using the year before for splashing in), so we dug that in next to the main pond. <\/p>\n Now, this is theory only at this stage, because we’re still in hot summer days, but we’ve sunk half of it in, and we’ve created a bank, and stone wall around the bank to ensure that there is solid water flow at all times, then, we’ve made sure the plumbing is buried, and covered by large rocks, specifically large enough that when our dogs jump up, or down, that they’re big enough to <\/p>\n The bog is how we keep our fresh water fresh <\/em>– but it needs slow flow<\/em>, so we had excess flow coming from our pump — which meant that we hated to see the waste! So we began making a waterfall. <\/p>\n We made one with real rocks first, that looked clunky and… frankly didn’t work. So we reassessed and I reached <\/p>\n We had planned this! But it turns out our dogs don’t need it. but we had looked at a ramp, and concrete block step to help them get in and out – as the poly tank was robust enough that this would work a treat. Luckily, we could skip that! <\/p>\n Now, I like to plan ahead, and … that big ol’ shake that dogs do? I knew that was going to result in lots of mud… in my house, in the pond, in their coats – and I am not <\/em>into creating more work for myself – that sounds like pure stupidity, right?! So… I looked at some options.<\/p>\n What where my goals:<\/p>\n So there were a few results I started working through.<\/p>\n Dwarf Carpet Of Stars (Ruschia): <\/strong>This succulent is a grass alternative that’s drought tolerant, (lives forever) and takes solid foot traffic before showing any wear and tear… it also forms a 2-4 inch thick “Carpet” that I’m under the impression will keep my wet dogs suspended above the dirt, and allow them to get rid of most of their moisture before they hit the rocks and come into my house! Perfection (theoretically!). <\/p>\n Plants being plants, these take a little while to settle in, so we fenced off the bank for a little while they established, and when they grow in? I’ll let you know how well it works!<\/p>\nThe Vision<\/h2>\n
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The Pool Choice<\/h2>\n
The Water Choice<\/h2>\n
Chlorine<\/h3>\n
Salt Water<\/h3>\n
Fresh Water<\/h3>\n
How Do We Filter It?<\/h2>\n
How Do We Stop It From Freezing?<\/h2>\n
Flow Vs Bog Filter Means Waterfall!<\/h2>\n
What About A Safe Doggie Step?<\/h2>\n
The Bank…<\/h2>\n
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