Well, I couldn’t handle it any longer, so Mr. Labby got to swim yesterday. It had been 4 weeks since Nixon went in the pool, and we were hoping that his ears recovered from their infection, but if not, we created this little swim cap alteration just in case. Sure, he doesn’t look very impressed, but once he knew what it was for, he perked up  a bit.

In the picture below you can see how the design could possibly flaw quite easily, and it did. It lasted for the initial jump in, and a few paddles, but after a brief break to shake his body, the two edges slipped together and basically held his ears open. Exactly what we wanted to prevent. So, this creative invention needs some work, but it was a hearty initial attempt.

After the swim cap failure, we busted out the life jacket, which is great for keeping dogs hot with its full wrap around style, and less tired due to buoyancy, but at least kept his head afloat for those dive-ins from the side. For good measure, since Nixon needs a certificate of health to cross back into the states very shortly, we opted to also dry those ears out by hand with a” pinning” on the bed and some cotton swooping. But even, after all this, I think Nixon would say it was well worth the fussing. I was also impressed today when he didn’t ask to go in the pool. He seemed to care less. Good. A full 48 hour ear dryout is necessary.