Denver does love its dogs.

Denver pools have gone to the dogs

'DENVER - If you have ever wondered how clean your local pool is, Sunday was not the day to ask.

Things got a little hairy at the Berkeley Park pool in Northwest Denver. A few hundred dogs took advantage of the fact that the pool in now closed for humans.

"As long as we're going to be draining the pool for the year we might as well make the most of it before we do that," said City of Denver employee Meghan Hughes.

Saturday marked the end of the season for the outdoor pools in Denver. But that didn't stop some dog lovers from taking a dip with their furry friends. Most dogs leaped at the chance to swim a few laps while other dogs need a little push before taking the plunge.

Baxter, a Rottweiler mix, was splashing around with his "mom," however "dad", Chris Dunbar, could not be persuaded into the water. "No, not at all. It's disgusting, it's filled with dog. I don't even know how she got in, there's all this dog hair. There was an accident earlier that definitely made me go away," Dunbar said.

Lifeguards were on duty in case any puppies forgot how to dog paddle. However, they were overlooking the "no running" rule and the "no peeing in the pool" rule.

Denver Public Works was also there promoting its Keep it Clean Denver campaign, reminding dog owners about their responsibility for keeping our environment clean by picking up after their dogs.

Darren Mollendor was handing out dog leash bag holders and informing people about unwanted bacteria.

"Anything that gets put on the ground, when a rain storm comes through, it all gets picked up and washed down into the storm sewer inlet on the corner of your street and it goes straight to the rivers. A lot of people think those go to the treatment plant but really they go straight to the river untreated and cause pollution of our waterways."

Anyone who missed Sunday's event can go to keepitcleandenver.org and sign up for a free dog leash bag carrier.

"Dogapoolooza" was a fundraiser benefiting the Denver Municipal Animal Shelter.'