I have a 30 pound golden doodle and we are installing our pool in a couple of weeks. We are on the fence about covering steps with the vinyl to have a beautiful cohesive look. Not really a fan of the white steps. Vinyl covered steps seem to have been around a while now and I am wondering if anyone who has them has a dog and if there have been problems. We are having a 27 mil liner installed. Thank you in advance for comments/suggestions
Steel vinyl steps and dogs
- Thread starter Rubythegoldendoodle
- Start date
Hi and welcome to TFP!
If you take good care of Ruby nails it will fine. What I do with my 90 lb mastiff/lab mix is use a drimal tool with the sandpaper barrel on it. It makes his nails so smooth and rounded. Of course it took a couple of trainings to get him used to it. Now he just lays down and holds his paws up to be done. Of course he knows there is a peanut butter filled kong waiting for him when it is over.
If you need any training tips I can write them out step by step for you.
Kim
If you take good care of Ruby nails it will fine. What I do with my 90 lb mastiff/lab mix is use a drimal tool with the sandpaper barrel on it. It makes his nails so smooth and rounded. Of course it took a couple of trainings to get him used to it. Now he just lays down and holds his paws up to be done. Of course he knows there is a peanut butter filled kong waiting for him when it is over.
If you need any training tips I can write them out step by step for you.
Kim
@kim I would love the step by step if you do not mind. I have a 90lb black mouth cur and I am very concerned about the vinyl covered steps on the pool I am putting in since he loves water.
- Jun 22, 2014
- 47,789
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
Doggy nail trimming with the Dremel Tool:
-find THE yummy that your dog loves over anything else! Mine is cut up hot dogs and peanut butter. I use the hot dog pieces for hand feeding while doing the training/work and the peanut butter kong for once it is all done.
-start by laying them down on their side and handling their feet one by one. Some dogs this may take some training. Touch foot=give yummy over and over until they are handing you their feet to get the yummy. I say "foot" as I reach for the one I want.
-Next start holding one nail at a time and moving it a bit like you would need to to work on just that nail. If they have long fur there you will need to trim it to keep the tool from grabbing it and hurting them.
-Next let them smell the tool and give treat with it off.
-Next touch their nails with it with it turned OFF-touch and treat over and over until it is no big deal.
-Next training session turn it on and treat. Do this until it is no big deal.
- then turn on and touch to a nail=treat repeat just touching the nail and treating until again it is no big deal
Once you can touch each nail with the tool on and it is no big deal then you can move on to doing each nail. In the beginning I did NOT even try to do all four paws at one sitting. I would do a paw and play tug or throw the ball to help him release he tension.
Depending on the dog this could take a week or a month. Take it at your dogs pace. to it is a nice thing for him.
Good luck and let me know if you need any deeper pointers or such.
Kim
I do NOT use the "pet nail trimmer" one. It is not strong enough. I use a "real" corded dremel tool.
-find THE yummy that your dog loves over anything else! Mine is cut up hot dogs and peanut butter. I use the hot dog pieces for hand feeding while doing the training/work and the peanut butter kong for once it is all done.
-start by laying them down on their side and handling their feet one by one. Some dogs this may take some training. Touch foot=give yummy over and over until they are handing you their feet to get the yummy. I say "foot" as I reach for the one I want.
-Next start holding one nail at a time and moving it a bit like you would need to to work on just that nail. If they have long fur there you will need to trim it to keep the tool from grabbing it and hurting them.
-Next let them smell the tool and give treat with it off.
-Next touch their nails with it with it turned OFF-touch and treat over and over until it is no big deal.
-Next training session turn it on and treat. Do this until it is no big deal.
- then turn on and touch to a nail=treat repeat just touching the nail and treating until again it is no big deal
Once you can touch each nail with the tool on and it is no big deal then you can move on to doing each nail. In the beginning I did NOT even try to do all four paws at one sitting. I would do a paw and play tug or throw the ball to help him release he tension.
Depending on the dog this could take a week or a month. Take it at your dogs pace. to it is a nice thing for him.
Good luck and let me know if you need any deeper pointers or such.
Kim
I do NOT use the "pet nail trimmer" one. It is not strong enough. I use a "real" corded dremel tool.
I have a springer doodle -- he's 60 lbs and LOVES the pool. We have full-length vinyl steps, and we had zero problems with his nails or anything else, and I was scared all summer long! I keep him away from the walls, and he's learned not to exit at the deep end. (Even when he's done it, though, we haven't had damage.) We DO get his nails dremeled, and I really think it helps! Nice and smooth. JUST IN CASE, though, I have a vinyl repair kit from amazon in the pool house. I'm hoping I never need it, but at least it's there!
Just so you know that the vinyl kit you speak of may not work anymore. Some adhesives actually have a fixed life and past that you're simply wasting your time. I found that out some years back trying to fix something and couldn't get it to hold as I expected it to so I called the manufacturer and the guy asked after hearing me complain well how old is it ,when did you buy it. It was only short of a year and a half old . He said to me that some adhesives don't work the same after some time that's why I'm forewarning you if you should ever need it get a new kit so you have a fare chance of it holding the repair.
ACK! That's good to know. My kit is less than a year old, but I was hoping i'd be able to use it indefinitely. Thanks for the info!
- Jul 16, 2019
- 686
- Pool Size
- 20000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Turbo Cell (T-CELL-5)
I agree about dremeling - pool aside, it's a great option. I work in a veterinary office, so I also understand how anxiety ridden doing anything with your dogs feet can be. LOL
As an aside to white, they make fiberglass steps in grey and blue. We did grey this past fall, and love them! So you def have some options =)
As an aside to white, they make fiberglass steps in grey and blue. We did grey this past fall, and love them! So you def have some options =)
I was just gonna recommend colored stairs. They look really good when matched to the liner base color