Antryg couldn’t wait to jump into the water Tuesday at the Lawrence Aquatic Center.

But the 6-month-old poodle was equally eager to climb back out.

Wizzard, a 5-year-old Norfolk Terrier, fetches a toy at the Pooch Plunge at the Lawrence Aquatic Center. Wizzard, owned by Joan Meyer, was one of many dogs who got to frolic in the pool Tuesday before it was drained for the year.

“I don’t think he thought it would be that deep,” the dog’s owner, Ginger Vermooten, Lawrence, said as she worked to coax the dog back into the 3-foot-deep children’s pool area.

“Poodles were bred to retrieve ducks,” Vermooten said. “They have webbed feet.”

It was a dog day afternoon at the aquatic center, 727 Ky., when the gates were opened to man’s best friends and their owners for the second annual Pooch Plunge. Nearly 100 dogs had been registered to take part in the special swimming day, which began at 3 p.m. and lasted until 8 p.m. Walk-ins were expected, said Lori Madaus, the center’s manager.

Monday was the last day of the season for public swimming at the pool.

Ginny Wessels brought her golden retriever, Red, to the pool. Red enjoyed it last year, too. The 11-year-old dog swam slowly around the pool, sometimes carrying a tennis ball.

Event offers dogs a chance to cool off

“This is his special day with ‘mom,'” Wessels said. “We have another dog, but he doesn’t get to come.”

Elsewhere, Trudie Lyons kept an eye on her Australian shepherd, as she alternately played in and out of the water.

Cosmo, a 6-year-old chocolate lab, retrieves a tennis ball for his owner, Tony Sailors, of Lawrence at the Pooch Plunge at the Lawrence Aquatic Center. The pool finished off the season by opening the pool to dogs and their owners Tuesday.

“She was a little leery at first,” Lyons said of her 5-year-old dog. “She’s usually in rivers and lakes.”

Lyons also brought a schnauzer named Captain who was roaming around the pool area. Lyons had lost sight of him.

“He’s probably off greeting people somewhere,” said Lyons, a Montana native who lives in the Lawrence area during the summer while working at The Woodlands pari-mutuel dog and horse tracks in Kansas City, Kan.

Dave Besson’s dog, Tilly, didn’t hesitate to get into the water and have a good time.

“I’d probably enjoy it, too, if I was in the water chasing tennis balls and Frisbees,” Besson, of Lawrence, said of his golden Labrador retriever. “The only aquatic experience he usually has is the Chi Omega fountain.”