We moved into a house with a pool recently. We, thankfully, spent a few days teaching our dogs to swim. Little Hercules, our Maltese, swims by the edge of the pool and keeps his head up while paddling all the way out.

It took a few days to get him to swim out of the water rather than panic in the middle of the pool but he eventually learned to stay by the edge and follow it out.

One day my husband and I were in the front yard and had forgotten that our dogs were left on the patio. When we went around to the pool, Herc was soaking wet and had apparently fallen in the pool while playing with our I. G., Percival. We were so grateful we had invested in those swimming lessons....