Backyard Pool Safety Tips (To Keep Children and Pets Safe)

It’s springtime, it’s warm outside and you’ve got the backyard pool! With kids around the house, safety is always a concern. Here are some tips to keep your family safe while enjoying summer outdoors in style.

The “how to make a pool safe for toddlers” is a guide that offers some safety tips and suggestions on how to keep your children and pets safe when using the backyard pool.

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When I began house searching, I wasn’t looking for a pool. The number of properties available in my price range was limited, but two or three of them featured inground pools, which surprised me.

I eventually closed on one of those pool homes. It’s quite a pool! Approximately 40,000 gallons and 22 x 45 ft. I had no idea what a pool owner was when I purchased the home, but I really wanted it.

When I moved here, the previous owners were kind enough to leave notes regarding the pool on the kitchen counter for me to locate. When we walked in to sign paperwork, I also bumped into them, and they provided me a lot of information that day.

After that, it was up to me to continue reading and learning about pool maintenance and keeping everyone safe in and around the pool.

Doing all of this research while moving in and putting the home in order took a long time, and I didn’t get to enjoy the pool until the end of the season.

Here are some safety guidelines for keeping your children and dogs safe around your backyard pool to save you time and get you in the water quicker.

What Should Every Pool Owner Know?

You have additional obligations as a pool owner to keep yourself and anybody who uses your pool safe. To ensure that no accidents occur, the pool area must be maintained safe, and all house inhabitants and guests must be properly watched.

Even when the pool is not in use, accidents might occur. It’s really riskier when no one is supposed to be swimming. When no one is watching, a youngster or pet may stray and fall into the pool.

Check the pool first if a youngster goes missing. Because drowning victims are frequently unable to shout for aid, don’t assume they aren’t out there if you don’t hear them. First, check the pool; every second counts.

Along with making the pool area safe while it is in use and when it is not, the pool owner should also know CPR, have rescue equipment around the pool, and ensure that safe procedures are followed in and around the pool at all times.

A first-aid kit, a flotation device, a fully charged mobile phone, and scissors should all be included in your rescue kit (in case hair or clothing needs to be cut).

Even if the pool has a “Swim at your own risk” notice, the pool owner is responsible for accidental drownings. Do not depend only on signs and regulations. Take all necessary precautions to avoid mishaps.

How Frequently Do Accidents Occur in Backyard Pools?

According to the CDC, the average rate of mortality from accidental drowning in the United States is 3,536 per year, or 10 fatalities each day. Aside from mortality due to birth abnormalities, drowning is the biggest cause of death among children aged 1 to 4. The majority of these drownings occur in private swimming pools.

Swimming pool supervision for all family members can considerably decrease the chance of drowning in your backyard pool.

How to Prevent Unattended Entry into Your Pool by Children and Pets

There are three major strategies to keep unattended youngsters and pets out of the pool. A pool gate, a pool alarm, and a safety cover are all recommended for best protection.

Pool Barrier

The first step in keeping your pool secure is to build a fence around it with locking gates to keep youngsters and dogs out when they shouldn’t be there. A self-closing and latching gate with a latch higher than a small child’s reach is ideal.

Pool Barriers should be at least 4 feet tall. Keep furniture away from the fence so that it doesn’t create a way to easily climb over the fence. You may also want to consider fencing with vertical bars to make it harder to climb.

When the pool is not in use, keep the fence closed and never allow children or dogs unsupervised near the pool, even for a minute. “They were only alone for 5 minutes,” according to the majority of pool accidents.

I don’t have children, but I do have a dog who is occasionally around the pool with me. When I need to leave the area for a minute, I tell my dog “let’s go” and she follows me outside of the Pool Barrier so I can close the gate until I come back.

Alarms for Pools

A pool alarm, such as Lifebuoy, is another choice for keeping your family safe.

Alarms for Pools alert you of a person or animal falling into the pool water. The buoy communicates with an alarm inside the house via a RF signal so even if you’re inside, as soon as it detects the splash of a body falling in the water, it will trigger a loud alarm so you can run to the rescue. To be extra safe, use a pool alarm in addition to a Pool Barrier.

Don’t worry; you can turn off the alarm while you’re in the pool, and it will automatically turn back on when you’re done. Your smartphone can also be used to operate the Lifebuoy.

Covers for Safety

If you live in a location with chilly winters, you should shut your pool for the season. When it’s time to shut your pool, a safety cover will keep young children and pets from falling in.

Covers for Safety can also be used during swimming season. Whenever the pool is not in use you can put the cover on to protect your family and others.

Covers for Safety create a flat surface at ground level that floats above the water. The covers are secured to the decking around the pool via brass anchors and stainless steel springs. Covers for Safety come in multiple options, including solid material, mesh, or sun blocking mesh.

Implementing all three of the aforementioned safety elements is the ultimate safety trifecta.

Learning to Swim with Children

All youngsters who will be in or near water should take swimming lessons. After their fourth birthday, the American Association of Pediatrics advises that children receive formal swimming lessons. At this age, youngsters have developed the capacity to learn how to remain afloat.

You may introduce your infant or toddler in the water at an early age (as young as 6 months) by holding them in your arms and letting them splash about.

They can accomplish a bit more in the water by the time they are toddlers. They may begin to float, kick their legs, and blow bubbles in the water with assistance.

They should be wearing a life jacket if you are not hanging on to them. Life jackets are much safer than any air-filled flotation device, including water wings. Because the air may deflate, the youngster would be unprotected. You’ll be there, of course, to keep an eye on your youngster and keep them afloat.

Children may become excellent swimmers, but even the best swimmers should always be monitored while swimming.

It’s crucial to enforce rules like being in the shallow part of the pool and staying away from specific locations, such as the skimmers, once your older children can swim more than an arm’s length away from you.

Remove pool toys from the pool after you are through swimming so that youngsters are not tempted.

Teaching Animals Swimming and Getting Out of the Pool

You’ll hear this term a lot if you have a dog and a pool: “all dogs are natural swimmers.” Sorry, but this is incorrect. Even if your dog can swim, if they fall into the pool or can’t find their way out, they may get distressed.

This canine was fortunate enough to have a pal who came to their rescue:

This kind of thing happens all the time. Assuming that dogs are natural swimmers isn’t enough.

Certain breeds, such as retrievers and dogs named “water,” are more suited to swimming than others. There are exceptions to every rule, even then. Outside of these categories, some dogs may be excellent swimmers, while others may be scared of water.

Finding a swimming lesson for dogs is unlikely to be as simple as finding one for children.

The greatest thing you can do is put your dog in a life jacket like this one and gently guide them into the water. Allow them to practice swimming in a shallow place where they can touch the bottom, such as the top step.

Praise them for being in or near the water and for taking any extra steps toward swimming. This procedure might be lengthy. If necessary, be patient, take pauses, and try again tomorrow.

A canine life jacket may help them learn to swim by supporting them into a suitable swimming posture so they can concentrate on paddling forward rather than holding themselves up. Even if you remove the vest, they should eventually return to the shape they had while wearing it.

Once they can swim, teach them how to locate the stairs to exit the pool. This is necessary so that they know where to go when they get fatigued.

To teach your dog where to leave the pool, throw floating toys in the water and have them retrieve and swim back to you while you are at the pool’s exit. After a little experience going in and out of the pool, they should be able to find their way out anytime they need to.

Never leave a dog alone near or in a pool. When you’re not around, make sure to keep an eye on them and secure the pool.

How to Keep Everyone Safe Around the Pool

You should have the rescue equipment described above, as well as a posted sign of pool regulations, a sign indicating how to administer CPR, a list of emergency numbers, and flotation devices, before anybody enters the pool.

Remove any potential tripping hazards from the pool area. You avoid stumbling, be sure to follow the “no jogging around the pool” regulation.

You must also ensure that the pool water is safe. Trouble Free Pool has an excellent guide on balancing pool chemistry.

Maintaining proper pool water chemistry not only combats algae and germs, but also safeguards your pool and equipment. Did you realize that swimming in an imbalanced pool may be fatal? It’s an uncommon occurrence, but an amoeba may enter your body via your nose while swimming and consume your brain!

In addition to keeping the water balanced, ensure sure the water is circulated sufficiently each day to prevent mosquitoes from nesting on the surface. Water circulation also aids in the prevention of algae formation.

Last but not least, make sure that children and dogs do not consume excessive quantities of pool water. Although this seems to be common sense, the logic behind it may not be what you believe.

If a tiny quantity of water is consumed, most home pools do not contain harmful amounts of chlorine. Swallowing too much pool water may cause chlorine poisoning, however this is more likely in public pools than in private pools due to higher chlorine levels.

Taking in too much water might lead to water intoxication. This is a solid reason to avoid joining an infant swimming lesson when the baby’s head is submerged in water. Children under the age of two are thought to reflexively hold their breath underwater, although they will still swallow water.

Water intoxication may also be a problem for dogs that are retrieving toys in the water or swimming with too much water.

Water intoxication has caused dogs to die, even when they “bite” at water sprayed from a hose or sprinkler. This article from Mercola’s Healthy Pets has further information about water intoxication in dogs.

Preventing Small Animal Death in the Pool

One thing you may not realize until you have a pool is that tiny animals die at an alarming rate in your pool. In my pool, I’ve discovered dead birds, a frog, and even a ground mole.

I remember my first summer with a pool. I enjoyed seeing my two frog pals swim in the pool. I had a large and little frog that spent a lot of time in the pool. While I was at work, my father would come over to swim and inform me that the giant frog was swimming laps with him.

Imagine my dismay when I discovered a large frog dead in the bottom of my skimmer basket at the conclusion of the season!

I’d seen him climb out of the shallow end and back in before, so I didn’t believe he required assistance exiting the pool. I conducted some research after I discovered his corpse to see how I might avoid this from occurring again.

Frogs, it turns out, have trouble getting out of pools. During my investigation, I discovered the ideal simple method for assisting frogs and other tiny creatures in getting out of the pool. It’s known as Frog Log.

Birds didn’t appear to be able to discover the Frog Log, but I didn’t find any other dead creatures in my pool for the whole summer that I had two Frog Logs. Because the ground mole I mentioned perished because I didn’t have the Frog Logs out, I now know that I need to put them in every year when I open the pool.

Not only is it upsetting and unsightly to discover dead animals in your pool, but it also introduces germs that you don’t want in your water. If you discover a dead animal in your pool, shock it after removing it, then wait for the chlorine to recover to safe swimming levels before resuming swimming.

Last Thoughts

As you can see, being a pool owner entails a great deal of responsibilities. To keep children and dogs safe in your pool, follow the recommendations above and always employ safe techniques.

Now that you know how to keep everyone safe in your backyard paradise, go have some fun!

The “pool safety equipment” is a must have for any backyard. It is important to make sure that the pool is safe and free of hazards, so children and pets can enjoy it without risk.