Spokane pools take turns hosting an event for dogs

More than a hundred dogs piled into the pool at the Shadle Aquatic Center on Monday evening for Doggie Dips.

SpokAnimal partners with the Spokane Parks and Recreation Department each year to give local dog owners and their pups a chance to hit the water.

Sharon Dunphy’s chocolate lab, Happy, loved swimming Sunday night in Comstock Pool – so much so that Dunphy brought him again Monday to the Shadle event.

All labs love the water, Dunphy said.

Vicky Green sported a shirt at the event that read “Dog hair, Don’t care.”

She brought her Saint Bernard, Mocha, one of her three dogs.

“They each get a turn,” she said.

But it will be one at a time, Green said, because all three in the pool on the same night would be too much to handle.

“I’ve come every year since they’ve been doing it,” Green said.

The event started five years ago, said Niki Conner, development director at SpokAnimal.

Doggie Dips is again proving to be popular, with 128 dogs attending this year’s first event at Comstock on Sunday and more than 100 at the second event Monday.

With so many wet dogs in one place, it’s easy to see how a few skirmishes could break out, but Conner said they’ve only had one dogfight during its duration.

“Yesterday, there were no problems whatsoever,” she said.

Many of the dogs already know each other from the dog park at High Bridge Park and love to play together, she said.

SpokAnimal works with the Parks Department to run the more than 11-acre High Bridge dog park at 330 S. A St. The park has separate areas, one for large dogs and another for small dogs.

Deanna Doyle brought her daughter, Tinley, to watch the dogs at Shadle on Monday.

“They’re cute,” Tinley said.

The family has a dog named Sugar, who looks like a little fox, Doyle said. They weren’t sure Sugar would like to swim, so they came to watch instead.

They were particularly excited to see one of the dogs, which kept jumping off the diving board.

“It’s hilarious and so much fun,” Conner said.