DOING the doggie paddle, ears floating on the water's surface like water wings, four-year-old cocker spaniel Jenna ploughs up and down the swimming pool.

Jenna is obligingly demonstrating the use of the hydrotherapy pool at the Canine Care Centre, at Hangersley, just outside Ringwood.

Canine hydrotherapist Sara Egan had first given her a shower before helping her into a bright orange life-jacket and lifting her into the heated pool.

"The dogs are always showered before going in, to warm up their muscles and clean off any dirt on their paws or coat because we try and keep the pool water as clean as possible.

"The buoyancy jacket makes it easier for us to manoeuvre the dogs in the water," she explains, catching Jenna by the carry handle on the top of her float coat and turning her round neatly before sending her swimming back in the opposite direction.

The pool is about ten feet wide, twenty feet long and four-and-a-half feet deep and its temperature is maintained at between 28 to 30C.

One end has a shallow shelf below water level so that the dogs can take a rest between laps.

"A minute of swimming is the equivalent of a mile run," says Sara, who works five mornings each week. After her swim, Jenna will be showered again to remove the chlorine from her coat before being dried.

Most of the dogs that use the pool are post-operative swimming helps them build up strength and mobility in their legs and spine while some are there to improve their fitness and lose weight and others to ease conditions like arthritis.

"Post operative cases come in twice a week usually for as long as it takes," says Sara.

Not all dogs are there purely for therapeutic purposes, some come in for fun swims to maintain health.

All the dogs attend after vet referral and reports go back to the vets with progress updates at regular intervals.

Sara and hydrotherapy colleague Donna Scott, who is a trained veterinary nurse, also raise any concerns that might need further veterinary attention.

Before each swim, the pair check for runny eyes and noses or ear problems, all of which may be contra-indications to swimming.

Dogs are either allowed to swim freely or are controlled by use of tri-ropes or collars and poles.

For some dogs, just getting into the water can be a problem if their mobility is severely affected by injury or disability.

Next to the pool is a mechanised hoist, which allows heavier animals to be lowered gently into the water.

"At the beginning, the dog might just go in for 30 seconds if they are unfit or have a heart problem," says Sara.

"We always rest them in between laps, but as they get fitter we turn on the water jets and then they have to work very hard."

Sara and Donna occasionally get wet themselves.

"If there are two if us with a difficult case, we have been known to don our wet suits and get in," says Sara.

"It makes it easier to stimulate leg movement."

Owners are encouraged to participate as much as possible, although some find themselves more involved than they would like as enthusiastic pets have been known to drag their humans into the water.