Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Hydrotherapy

Since we are in the thick of summer here in FL the pugs' walks have been short, sweet and to the point. This means they have not been getting nearly enough exercise. So, this weekend, I started something that I have been meaning to do with the pugs since June - swim time.

Sure, Henry goes swimming all the time, but I have been meaning to start having a bit more structured swim time with the pugs. Afterall, Henry & Sol could really benefit from the low impact exercise and a little extra activity sure isn't going to hurt Benjamin & Luna.

Swimming is a good exercise for Henry because of his hip dysplasia and Sol has pretty bad arthritis in her hips and front shoulder so the lower the impact the better for her. Sol also has almost no muscle mass on her body. Luna came to us this way as well, and after a few months of a quality diet and regular exercise her muscles developer rather quickly. The vet advised us that reversing Sol's muscle atrophy would be nearly impossible at her age (I didn't really like that answer). While we are not trying to build muscle, a little excercise with her goes a long way and it may also help her keep what little muscle she has left.

So here is how swim camp went down on Sunday. Once we got all the pugs suited up in their life jackets we were ready to begin. We took the pugs in the pool, one at a time, and each pug swam one lap - from one end of the pool to the other (lucky for them our pool isn't that long). After their lap, they hopped out of the pool and got a chance to rest while the other pugs swam their laps. The swim order was Henry, Luna, Benjamin & Sol. So after Henry finished his first lap, he got to rest while Luna, Benjamin & Sol swam their laps. I bet this was the first time the pugs wished they had more siblings.

When the pugs swam their lap one of us swam with them and I was quite impressed with how well each of the pugs did. There was no monkey business, no running around like wild pugs, just good quality time in the pool.

Benjamin, Henry & Luna each did 5 laps and Sol did an impressive 3 1/2 laps. In Sol's defense, though, she may have swam more. After her first lap, Sol decided that she wanted to swim the perimeter of the pool. So instead of going up and back, she swam right along the edge of the pool. It made her happy so we complied.

The one thing we did notice with Sol was that she did not kick her rear, left leg. This is most likely because of the arthritis in her joints. So I think she did pretty good considering she was only using 3 legs.

I thought having swim camp twice a week would be a good routine for the pugs, but considering they have been conked out on the couch for the past two days, I am thinking that once a week is plenty for them. The good news is that the two pugs that can benefit the most from swimming, Henry & Sol, really seem to enjoy it. Benjamin & Luna could live without getting wet, but I was very impressed with how well they did with their one-on-one time in the pool.