Great Danes, Newfoundlands, Shih Tzus, and Labradors will take laps in a pool usually filled with less furry patrons today as part of the City Park Pool’s seventh-annual Dog Paddle.

On Tuesday, the first day of the event, Bonnie and Tess, Karla Tonella’s bichon frisés, bobbed among other friends in matching orange life jackets.

“Last year, they had trouble swimming, but they did much better with their life jackets,” Tonella said. “We go to the dog park every day; their best friends are here.”

The event is organized by the Johnson County Dog Park Action Committee, a community-based organization that formed in 2002 to encourage city officials and citizens to help create a fenced-in, off-leash dog park.

Iowa City now has two such parks — called Thornberry and Rita’s Ranch — which were funded with proceeds from previous Dog Paddles.

“It’s really good for the dogs, but it’s a real social thing for people, too,” said Diana Harris, the president of the dog group. “A lot of people have made friendships at the parks.”

After the first dog park opened in 2004, 3,000 annual permit tags were purchased for $25 each in the first month, she said.

Along with hundreds of community members, several UI students brought their dogs out for a swim.

“The weather is perfect, and he’s getting tired out. That’s always a good thing,” said UI senior Arrowen McNamara, whose vizsla, Otto, kept busy chasing tennis balls into the pool. “We go to Thornberry all the time, so he gets to swim in the new pond when it’s nice.”

Dog Paddle is the main fundraising event for the dog group and the City Park Pool has been the site of the event since its creation. Admission to the poolside event is $6 if registered, $8 at the door.

Last year, 750 canine visitors helped Dog Paddle raise more than $3,000, Harris said. Among others, UI service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega furnished up to 20 volunteers for this year’s Dog Paddle.

Eight sponsors also helped the dog group fund the event, which honors the late Terry Trueblood, who passed away in July. Trueblood was the Iowa City Parks and Recreation Department director for 23 years and gave the OK for the first Dog Paddle. Proceeds will pay for fence construction, paving, trees, benches, signs and other dog-park amenities.