Hi Tina,
Just "in case" they jump in???? Jumping in is how Pax thinks you GET in.
If you've ever taken a dog to the lake and tossed in a stick and then walked down the beach a little ways you will have noticed that the dog will come back out of the lake pretty much the same place he want in, then come running down shore to meet up with you. Dogs tend to get out at the same place they got in. If you have jumpers you definitely need to show them the exit.
All our dogs are GSDs with undercoats. There is no problem with the hair. My pump normally runs at night but I turn it on when the dogs are in the pool. I scoop the hair out of the skimmer after a swim session and check it again after an hour. The hair will be densely packed in the skimmer (another reason I like skimmer socks) and will look like boiled wool or felt. Just peel it off he sock or the skimmer and discard.
One real benefit of dog hair in the skimmer basket is that it lets water through but catches a whole lot of fine debris and bugs which might otherwise get into the pump pot.
I installed a PoolSkim about mid-season and am very impressed with its performance. It catches far more dog hair than the skimmer ever did in a much shorter time.
You will find, the next day, a clump of dog hair on the bottom mof the pool, about the size of a small puppy. That's the hair that was suspended in the water, rather than floating on top, got waterlogged, and sank. Scoop it out with your net.
On a tool hook on my deck I keep a small bucket with a lid. Into this I empty the skimmer sock, the PoolSkim, and whatever I scoop off the bottom. I add a glug of bleach to it to keep it from turning green and dump it in the trash when it's full.
Anna