Editor’s Pick: The Hedz UP Watercollar

Spot loves to swim. Dolly, not so much. She sees the pool as an oversized bathtub, and who in their right mind would willingly take a bath?

Dolly’s aversion to water has kept her from truly learning how to swim. She will sit with me on the steps of a pool, but if I try to take her any deeper, she panics and unsuccessfully tries to scramble up the side, even as I am steering us back to where her paws can touch.

Add to this her near blindness at age 14, and you can understand why I am a bit on edge whenever we are around a pool, which happens when we visit my parents or the kind neighbors who let Spot take a dip from time to time.

All of the above was why I was so eager to try the Hedz UP Pets Watercollar. Unlike a traditional life jacket, this personal flotation device attaches to a dog’s collar to keep their head above water at all times.

Dolly chillin’ on the steps of our neighbor’s pool. (Photo by Mackenzie Anderson)

We recently put it to the test at our neighbor’s pool, and I found that it helped both Dolly and me relax around the water. She laid on the steps, letting the Watercollar keep her head afloat, and I didn’t worry when she climbed out to explore the backyard—if Dolly happened to fall in, she would be fine until I pulled her out.

Hedz UP president Lynne Peters says she created the Watercollar with dogs like Dolly in mind. “My own dog played around — and many times fell into — the pool. She was always terrified. Not all dogs are good swimmers, and even if they are, they may not know how to find the steps to get out of the water. The results can be disastrous.”

Thank you, Lynne, for the Watercollar. It will be a much more relaxing summer for us because of it.

The post Editor’s Pick: The Hedz UP Watercollar appeared first on Dogster.