Table of Contents
Key Takeaways
- You can design your yard to be dog-friendly and beat the heat.
- Having a doggie pool is a great way for pups to cool off in the summer.
- Fun DIY options are a cinder block pool, bone-shaped pool, and fire hydrant water feature.
- This article lists estimated costs to create these pools in your yard.
The dog days of summer are here, and with them comes scorching heat through most of the country. To avoid heatstroke in dogs, always provide your pup with a way to cool off. Ice packs, homemade paw-sicles, and cooling swamp vests are all effective ways of cooling down.
For a more permanent solution, consider installing a dog pool. A dog-friendly backyard is easier and cheaper than most pet parents imagine, especially if you’re a DIY guru. Depending on the design of your yard and aesthetic preferences, the cost and size of a dog pool can vary widely.
Check out our top picks for DIY dog pools, or head over to our Pinterest for more ideas. (Note that price estimates do not include tax and are from current Home Depot prices.)
1. Cinder Block Pool
The easiest of the self-created dog pools, all you need is a plastic kiddie pool – the hard plastic, not an inflatable one – and some cinder blocks of your choosing. Dig down relative to the depth of your plastic pool, then increase the area’s diameter to include your cinder block border. Arrange the blocks in a decorative pattern and fill crevices with sand or dog-friendly ground cover plants.
Cost: $200 (150 blocks) + $10 (45×13″ pool) + $8 (paver sand) = $214 for your very own dog swimming pool!
2. Bone-Shaped Pool
Unfortunately, both the pool and deck showed are pre-made products, sold by One Dog One Bone. Pet parents with carpentry skills will find the pool’s cypress-wood deck no problem to recreate. Even those who purchase the ready-made deck will find it requires a little DIY to bold the sides together and plenty more to stain the wood. One Dog One Bone’s original deck is made of cypress, but any wood cut to length will do – the DIY dog pool shown uses cedar.
Cost to buy: $399 (bone pool) + $1,999 (deck kit) = $2398
Cost to DIY: $75 (cedar lumber) + $30 (deck sealant/stain) + $399 (bone pool) = $504 to DIY this bone-shaped dog pool.
3. Fire Hydrant Water Feature
Many of the DIY dog pools use the pre-made bone-shaped pool, but it’s no sweat to swap in a traditional round or rectangular pool, and may even save you time cutting lumber! A similar fire hydrant water feature is available through Dog-On-It-Parks, misting water for a cool $1,102. For the DIY pet parent, fire hydrants are available on eBay from $150 to 200. The project is so popular that eBay released its own handy guide to making a fire hydrant fountain for pets. From here, the process is simple – consult one of the numerous guides on how to make a fountain.
Cost: $150 (fire hydrant) + $50 (pump kit) = $200 for this dog pool decoration.
Finally, be sure and sign up for dog insurance so your pup is covered if they suffer any heat-related conditions.
