re: My dog thinks he needs to save me when I jump in the pool

What kind of dog?
Like anything else, you will need to train the dog to understand that you are ok in the water. Start by making him sit by you with your feet in the water. Upgrade to getting in the water slowly .
A lot of praise and commands to sit or lay down while you get in the water.

Tie him up while you're in the pool?

My wife's family's dog would do the same thing, if you were swimming and came up to the side of the pool it would bite you and try to drag you out. It was an a-hole.

We had a cocker spaniel (spaniel, i.e. water dog) that was scared of the water.

She loved me but she would have let me drown.


kind of looked like Stevie Nicks

Sounds like you have a good dog

Please let it be a Rough Collie...

Deer faceplant

My dog does the same thing. Besides telling her to stop crying, when she gets in, I tell her "off" which is a regular command, and she knows not to come try to climb on me. So instead of clawing me to death, she just swims around me in circles.

I have a yellow lab, who used to this when he was a puppy. We got him a floating stick toy, and every time he jumped in after me, I would throw the stick to the other side of the pool, and he'd swim after it. Eventually he realized we were playing in the pool and now he joins in and is absolutely obsessed with leaping in the pool when we throw his toy. He's 2 years old now. Probably the best dog I've ever had.