Today I took Izzy swimming. For only her third time, I think she did very well:
Looking at Izzy’s flotation vest, the Float Doggy made by D-Fa, you’d think I bought it for her, but in fact it’s a hand-me-down – and a testament to the quality of the item.
The D-Fa vest was purchased by a client for Ollie, who within the span of days became a quadriplegic in 2010. Swimming was part of his long-term care program (I won’t say rehab, since he never re-gained the use of his legs and on autopsy it was found that he had a brain tumor).
When Ollie died in September 2011, Ollie’s owner passed his life vest onto me for Daisy. By then, Daisy was also swimming at the Dog Swim Spa on a fortnightly basis.
Daisy wearing her Float Doggy flotation vest
Daisy passed away in July 2014 and so that vest saw a lot of use from September 2011 to July 2014.
And it came out of storage this year to support Izzy.
I wash out the vest after each use with liquid laundry detergent and cold water; chlorine from the pool can damage fibers of most garments.
Otherwise, that’s all I’ve done to maintain it.
I’d say that’s pretty well made!
Izzy wearing the same Float Doggy, 22 November 2017
Kathleen Crisley, specialist in dog massage, rehabilitation and nutrition/food therapy, The Balanced Dog, Christchurch, New Zealand
DoggyMom.com 