Hello i was wondering if anybody could give me some advice.

we are getting our puppy in a couple of weeks time and we have never had a dog before. We ahve quite a large garden and it has a shallow pond in it and to get to the place where we want to train the puppy to 'go' we have to pass the pond. I  am worried that during the first few days we have the pup, she is going to make a bee line straight to the pond and pick up some horrible disease, or we will be shouting for her o get out the pond, which would not be a good start.
Would it be likely for her to run straight to the pond or will she be quite happy to follow me to the place?

can you fence of the pond ? even just temporarily ? puppies being puppies will want to investigate :)

Only had a couple who've ended up in the pond, but they haven't done it again.  A friend looked after my mum's Pomeranian a couple of weeks ago and she went for a swim, the person said that she didn't have a second try :d  I wouldn't leave the pup on it's own outside though not even for a split second unless you have the pond fenced off.

I took Fagan to a friends party once when he was about 5 months old, I left him under the kitchen table chewing a bone whilst I got totally sloshed, the next thing I know everyone outside is cracking up - poor little Fagan had been looking at the fish in the pond then decided he could walk on water

There is also the real risk of drowning.

No matter how shallow the pond, it is definately a risk.... according to your posting on another thread, this pup is half Labrador.....water magnets.....You must cordon off, or drain the pond....your puppy's life is at serious risk if you dont......

My daughter's boyfriend adores our dog and when she was about 9 months old he asked if he could take her round his parents for the afternoon.  He is very responsible, it was a lovely day, the garden is fenced securely so I couldn't see any harm and we were going shopping anyway so I said ok.  Well it was fine for us but what I didn't know was that his parents have a pond and my daughter's boyfriend spent the whole time trying to keep her out of it and failed badly :D  He didn't keep her for the afternoon but brought her back as soon as he could :D

Even on walks, any puddle has to be jumped in and any pond or stream regardless of how smelly has to be launched into.  I have only let her off lead at our town lakes once and that was when she was about 5 months old, never again! :rolleyes:

My breed doesn't like water but nevertheless pups always end up in the pond - at least twice. As others have said, there is a very real risk of drowning, especially if the pond is difficult to get out of. I always treat my pups like children when it comes to ponds. They are not likely to pick anything nasty up though, unless your pond is particularly disgusting

Friend of mine who does breed rescue had a dog in because it kept escaping and jumping in next door's pond. They had these mega expensive goldfish

I agree there is a risk of drowning, I'd cordon off the pond for a while :)

We had to drain our pond when we had pups, they fell in, jumped in, killed the fish and ate the frogs, it was just easier to do away with the pond.  We refilled it when the pups had gone but the big bad boy we kept just used to sit in it, so in the end we got rid of it completely.  They also completely destroyed the plastic greenhouse and ate all the plastic flowerpots!

Hi,
This is for amusement value only!
When I brought my new GSP, she developed a magnetic attraction to our pond. As soon as she realised there was water in it she would launch herself towards it at top speed. Luckily we had anticipated this behaviour, and replaced the usual heron deterent (fishing line) with strong plastic mesh, of the type used for fruit cages.
This was very firmly secured to metal posts, but, as it also had to do the job of protecting the fish from bird attack, the mesh was fixed at the base of the pond, and then sloped up towards the middle of the pond at an angle.
Whilst I was out in the garden with Indie, trying to encourage her to go to the loo, she suddenly remembered the pond, and shot off towards it at full speed (she knew by this time it was strictly out of bounds). I trotted after her to retrieve her and ask her to consentrate on the job in hand. She put on an extra burst of speed, delighted she was being 'chased', and determined to get to the object of her desire. To my complete amazement, as she neared the pond she launched herself into the air and landed about half way up the netting. The netting acted like a trampoline, propelling her about 3' into the air, she did half a somersault (only 0.5 degree of difficulty, but quite impressive for an 8 week old puppy!), and landed flat on her back, with a huge splash right in the middle of the pond!! I was laughing so much I nearly couldn't rescue her (not that she needed it, by this time she was trying out a few swimming strokes). I can't even say that that experience put her off trying again, she has always had a fascination for being airborne, and combining it with water was close to paradise as far as she was concerned!! She was a very bold puppy!! Needless to say, the fencing was redesigned that afternoon.
K.
I would just like to point out, that this poster in no way advocates or encourages providing puppies with trampolines or ponds.

:D :D :D *chuckling away to self over that one GSpup* :D :D

Typical GSP :D :D  Just want to have fun

I would drain the pond. The people who used to live next door to us had a swimming pool in their back garden which was only covered with a loose covering. They let the dogs out to the toilet last thing at night, and only one of them returned. After waiting a couple more minutes they went to investigate and found the missing dog dead in the swimming pool, after it had fallen in and been unable to get back out :( It really isn't worth the risk.

I have a pond complete with fat, interesting koi to chase. I never left my puppy alone in the garden when he was very small and it's never been a problem. He mostly just looked at the water but I was there to rescue him if needed. Of course when he got to be 6-7 months he discovered the joy of jumping on the shelf and getting really soggy. Well, he's a goldie so I expected that. The pond may still go just so I can have a dry dog now and then. I still never leave him in the garden by himself, I'm always at home to make sure he doesn't drown.

we fenced of that part of the garden with the pond because he would have fallen in and drowned as it is a deep pond with steep sides and a net on. I think now we could take the fence down but I wont risk it, too dangerous, even if he tried to drink from in and fell in he could drown..

thanks very much everyone! GSP hilarious! I think the best option would be to fence it off or toilet trainig=ng could be incrediably difficult if we're going to have a soggy pup everytime we take her out to the garden! The only problem with that is my husband isn't very keen on the idea since we only took the fence down a couple of years ago when the children were old enough to be trusted around the pond, and he really does like his garden! i shall have to talk to him...!
thanx again

I know how your hubby feels  When we got our puppy we had to buy stair gates for the kitchen door and the bottom of the stairs.  Our youngest are 8 now so we took them down ages ago.  They dont look great but Id rather be able to stop her venturing upstairs when she feels like it (sometimes with muddy paws).  What I mean is, it will definately be easier to cover it/fence it off, otherwise youll never be able to relax while shes out there.  I know while shes very young you will be with her but if your garden is secure, its nice to let them wander for 5-10 mins while you get on with other things.  Youve got to think of the worse case sinario - you wouldnt want that to happen but it could.  I wouldnt take the risk

Ooh he is going to get a shock then if the garden is not to be fenced off into dog and non dog areas, as puppies and nice gardens are mutually exclusive

Seriously if at all possible I would fence off the garden so pup has access to the part nearest the house for toileting and play.

this will keep the reat nice and also poo free which is pretty important when you ahve young kids and their freinds playing in the garden.

I foudn this way the kids went in the no dog area and didn't bring dog muck in on their shoes. 

It also meant that kids and pup were kept seperate while each played, important to avoid games getting out of hand, overexcitement and scratched nipped kids, or acidental falls and hurt to pup or child.

Children and puppies/dpogs should not be allowed to mix except under supervision when both are calm for their mutual protection.

I had dogs and pups from when my oldest was a toddler.

i know im trying to pursuade him to fence a puppy area off so that his beautiful garden does not have to be touched, just the corner bit! My youngest child is 11 and myoldest 14 so im relying on them to help me alot with the puppy! My oldest has been reading up on puppy training almost obsessivley- its actually quite terrifying! thanks for ur help

My lovely pride & joy pond lasted about 5 minutes before our youngest discovered the delights of bathing AND ripping up pond plants.  The fish lived in pea soup for weeks until I discovered stock fencing.

A year later, it's still in place and I can see no chance of it ever going.

Good luck!!!!

Please, please make sure that your pond is secure - our neighbours' adult pug drowned in their (unfenced) pond two weeks ago :( :( The dog had previously fallen in it and they had done nothing :(

Get rid of the pond! When we bought our new house the first thing we did was fill in the pond. My auntys dog drowned in her 'shallow pond'. She wasn't in the garden long - my aunty was inside cleaning and had let the dog out when she went to check on her it was too late! Never risk having a pond and a dog its just not worth it - you'll never forgive yourself if anything happend.

We have always had a pond in our garden ever since I can remember, my dad is mad keen on all kinds of reptiles and amphibians so we HAVE to have a pond :D And now he's talking about putting another one in....we used to have a good sized garden, not anymore!
We've taught all the dogs from an early age that the pond is out of bounds, for leaping into anyway, in the summer they are allowed to drink out of it and I let them sit on the edge with their feet in...don't tell my dad that though, he'd go mad! They love watching the frogs and dragonflies, keeps them out of trouble :D

I can honestly say, as the owner of spaniels who go out on the river wildfowling and can quite happily retrieve substantial duck and even the odd goose, I am shocked to think that dogs can drown in garden ponds.

Mine have all had an innate ability to swim from a very early age and although I've always been very careful when near the canal, due to the steep banks, I would never have thought of a garden pond as a risk.  My dogs go into water all the time, rivers, ponds, lakes, cattle troughs, etc and I do consider their safety but it woudn't occur to me that a dog could get into difficulty in a garden pond.

Are these dogs who have lost their lives miniature ones who have never had the opportunity to swim before?

there are a lot of inherent dangers in Garden ponds. some may be impossible to climp out of, amany will have netting that the dog can get entangled in etc.