I learned my lesson a few years ago when I almost lost 2 of them in the pond. They went in to chase geese and couldn't climb out of the open hole in the ice that the diffuser made. Temps were right around zero with wind chills in the -20°F range. Long story short, it took them 20 minutes in a hot shower to stop shivering. A week before that the temps were 20 degrees warmer and one of them caught a grey barnyard goose that was swimming in the pond, climbed out of the open hole onto the ice and brought it to the house. (still alive and honking) Hup. Give. Good girl. No bird, hup. Then I let the goose go. Hup is their command to sit.

That's when I learned to move the winter diffuser close enough to shore so if anything went for a swim it could get close enough to shore to walk out. (after I almost lost both of them)

Now I go to the pond with the dog. Or if I let her out of the house without me going out, and she's not back in 4-5 minutes I'm calling her back. If she doesn't show up in a minute, she knows she'll probably be in trouble..... If she's back before I get my coat on and go outside, then she's safe. If not, well.... She gets picked up by the scruff of the neck and yelled at. She doesn't like getting yelled at with her feet off of the ground. I normally put the e-collar on her before I let her out. 1 is the lowest it'll go, 15 the highest. 6 or 7 is a tap on the shoulder that means Hey, I'm still here and you have to listen to me.

If she's not back in a minute after getting tapped, then the tap is at 10. Only once has she not beat feet for the door, and then I was out calling her with it on 6. I've clocked her at 28 mph with the ATV, and she can keep it up for at least a quarter mile to the back of the property, then turn around and do it back again to the door.


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3/4 to 1 1/4 ac pond LMB, SMB, PS, BG, RES, CC, YP, Bardello BG, (RBT & Blue Tilapia - seasonal).