Perfect Puppy Playground: Puppy Pool-ooza turns Prairie Village Pool into a puppy paradise for a day

The Prairie Village City Pool held their annual Puppy Pool-ooza event on Sept. 6, allowing Prairie Village families to bring their dogs to swim before the pool is drained.

“It’s the day after Labor Day when all the pools close, so dogs and their owners can just have one last little bit of fun in the water before we have to drain the pools,” Prairie Village Pool manager and East alum Shelby Winter said.

Sophomore Hattie Brooks, along with her mother and her shih tzu, Coco, enjoyed the bark-filled night. Although Coco may not have enjoyed the night as much.

“I love watching [and] forcing my dog to swim,” Brooks said. “It’s really funny to watch her stand in the water for like two seconds just for her to walk back out again.”

Lifeguard and junior Nora Hill has attended the event in years past and it encouraged her to apply to work at the pool.

“I came with my dog five years ago, and it was the greatest thing ever,” Hill said. “So I immediately signed up for [a lifeguard job].”

Although Prairie Village families have been coming to the Pool-ooza for many years now, there was a new addition this year: a young girl with a passion for helping dogs.

Taylor Svarvari and her mother, Erin Svarvari, saw ads for the Puppy Pool-ooza this year and wanted to use it as an opportunity to promote their cause of donating money to animal shelters.

“Taylor loves animals, and so she wanted to find a way that we could support different animals throughout the community,” Erin Svarvari said. “We make dog treats and we raise money, and then we give the money to different animal shelters across the Kansas City area.”

Taylor, when not in her elementary classroom studying, will make dog treats to sell. She and her mother set up a stand by the entrance of the Prairie Village Pool and sell their dog treats made out of bacon, cheese and eggs. This stand was a great hit at the Pool-ooza with the Svarvaris getting many customers.

In Brooks’ opinion, this year’s Puppy Pool-ooza turnout was biggest than in previous years. More dogs playing fetch in the pool meant more opportunity for money to be donated to the pet shelters by the Svarvaris.

With treats and other festivities, Brooks will be making an effort to come to the Puppy Pool-oozas of the future with her “water-hating” Coco.

“I love going to the pool-ooza with my mom, and it’s a fun new tradition I think we’re going to try to keep doing,” Brooks said.