The lagoon at Bowness Park can open for skating from mid-November, weather depending, and from freeze-up there is ice on everything in this part of Calgary that was water in October. Dogs do not read ice. They see a flat surface and a goose on the far side of it. The part owners get wrong is what happens next.
In more than half of the frozen-water deaths safety bodies have reviewed, the person who died had gone in after a dog or another person.
Why the Bow is a different thing from the lagoon
The skating lagoon at Bowness Park is a City-maintained surface, and the City posts rink status online so you can check before you go. That is the distinction that matters: the City tells people to skate only on City or community rinks and maintained surfaces like that one, and to stay off ice-covered water everywhere else.
The Bow River is not that, and it never will be. Moving water thins ice from underneath where you cannot see it, and the thickness changes from one step to the next. Calgary Fire is blunt about this: never venture onto frozen rivers or other waterways. A chinook makes it worse, because three mild days can hollow out ice that looked solid all week and will look solid again on Friday.
The storm ponds and retention ponds scattered through the northwest are the other trap. They look like small, harmless, shallow things. Water moves constantly through their inlet and outlet pipes, which raises and lowers the level underneath and leaves unstable air gaps beneath ice that looks continuous. Road salt and sediment weaken it further.
The City is blunt about these: recreation on a storm pond is prohibited under the Stormwater Bylaw, fines can be issued, and a pet out on one should be reported to 311.
If your dog goes through
Read this part before you need it, because there will be no time to think it through on the bank.
- Do not go onto the ice. This is the entire message. If the ice did not hold a dog, it will not hold you, and a person in cold water loses the use of their hands in minutes. Safety bodies note the dog often scrambles ashore unaided while the owner who followed does not.
- Call 911 and ask for the fire department. Do it first, not after you have tried something. They have ice rescue gear and they are quick.
- Call your dog towards you from where you are standing. It sounds too simple. It is also what works most often. Dogs frequently break their own way back along the channel they made, and they orient to their owner’s voice.
- Reach or throw, do not go. A branch, a leash, a rope, anything that extends from solid ground.
- Keep other dogs leashed and back. A second dog going in is a genuinely common way this gets worse.
If your dog gets themselves out, do not simply towel them off and finish the walk. Get them warm and get them seen.
Cold water does damage you cannot see
A dog who has been in freezing water is dealing with more than being cold and miserable. The first gasp on going under can pull water into the lungs, and the consequences of that often arrive hours later rather than straight away. Body temperature keeps falling after the dog is out, especially in small dogs, thin-coated breeds, puppies and older animals.
Shivering that stops is not a good sign. A dog who was shivering hard and then goes quiet and floppy is colder, not warmer.
On the way to us: wrap them in something dry, put the car heat on, and keep them still. Do not use a hot bath, a hair dryer or a heat pad directly on the skin. Warming the outside too fast while the core is still cold causes its own problems, and cold skin burns easily without the dog reacting.
What we look at afterwards
We check core temperature properly, listen to the chest, and warm the dog in a controlled way rather than quickly. Where there is any chance water was inhaled, chest imaging and blood work tell us whether the lungs have been affected, and that picture can change over the first day, which is why we sometimes keep a dog in rather than send them home the same hour.
Dogs who have scrambled on ice also arrive with cut pads, torn nails and strained hind legs from the climb out. Our medical team handles the ongoing care, and anything that cannot wait during our opening hours goes through same-day and urgent care.
Keeping it from happening
- Leash near open water from freeze-up onward. The river path, the lagoon edge and the storm ponds. A recall that works in July does not beat a goose in January.
- Skate where the city says to skate and keep the dog off the ice surface even there.
- Watch after a chinook. The days after a warm spell are the worst of the season, and the ice gives no warning.
- Know the after-hours hospital before you need it. Our own site refers after-hours emergencies to VCA Canada Calgary Animal Referral and Emergency Centre. Put the number in your phone before freeze-up, because we are closed Sundays and statutory holidays and this is a Sunday-afternoon sort of accident.
Our hours
We are open Monday to Friday from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm and Saturday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. We are closed on Sunday and on statutory holidays.
A dog who has been in the water is not something to hold until Monday. If this happens when we are closed, go straight to the after-hours hospital we refer to, VCA Canada Calgary Animal Referral and Emergency Centre. Breathing trouble after an immersion can appear several hours later, so that visit is worth making even if your dog seems to have shaken it off.
Common questions
My dog fell in but got out on their own and seems fine. Do I still need to come in?
Yes, the same day. Inhaled water and a dropping core temperature both declare themselves late. A dog who seems fine on the riverbank can be in trouble by evening, and it is worth watching for coughing or laboured breathing for the next day or two rather than just the first evening.
How thick does ice need to be to hold a dog?
The honest answer is that you cannot tell by looking, which is why the question is the wrong one. Ice thickness varies across a single pond, and on the Bow it is not a question of thickness at all because the current undermines it.
Is the lagoon safe for my dog to walk on?
The lagoon is maintained for people skating, and dogs are not part of that. Keep them off the ice surface and on the paths.
Speak to the team at Bowness Animal Hospital
If your dog has been in cold water, bring them in the same day even if they seem to have recovered on the walk home. If we are closed, go to an open emergency hospital rather than waiting for us.
Published by the team at Bowness Animal Hospital.
This article is educational in nature and is not a replacement for hands-on assessment of your own pet by a veterinarian.
Bowness Animal Hospital
Unit #52, 7930 Bowness Rd NW, Calgary, AB T3B 5C2
Phone: (587) 391-3911
Hours: Monday to Friday 9:00 am to 7:00 pm; Saturday 9:00 am to 5:00 pm; closed Sunday and statutory holidays