German shepherds Titan, left, and Harper wait for their owner, Scott Kludt, to throw a toy ball into the pool at The Paw. Kludt and his fiancee, Tina Krueger, came to The Paw to let Titan take a final swim.

MANKATO, Minn. — Friday was a bittersweet afternoon for Tina Krueger and her fiance, Scott Kludt. The couple watched with enjoyment as Titan, their 10 1/2-year-old German shepherd, splashed around in a pet swimming pool at The Paw, a pet resort in Mankato.

“He’s been swimming for an hour and we can’t get him to take a break,” Krueger said.

She and Kludt knew it would likely be the last time Titan would take to the water. Diagnosed with cancer in December, Titan is in his last days.

He got sick on Christmas Eve and they took him to the University of Minnesota where his spleen and a tumor were removed. The cancer diagnosis came soon after and the couple were told he only had weeks to live.

Krueger and Kludt enrolled Titan in a trial for his type of cancer at the university. It extended his life, but a CAT scan last week showed his condition had worsened and he has days or weeks to live.

“His favorite all-time love is swimming. He should have been a fish,” Krueger said. “We have a boat and take him to the lake all the time and we have a pool set up in our backyard.”

After learning Titan was near the end, Krueger started searching for pools where they could take him one last time. “I found one in Wisconsin and one other (in Minnesota), but you had to board them there to use the pool.” The couple, who live in Rice in central Minnesota, drove the nearly three hours to the Paw.

She said that while Titan has been weak from his treatments, things changed when he hit the water. “He just came alive.”

The Paw’s Tanya Whitcomb said they don’t advertise the “last swim” services. “But people hear about it and so it’s pretty common.

“When someone learns they have a terminally ill dog, they want to take a few days to do everything their dog loved to do. So they book the pool here privately.”

For Krueger and Kludt the coming loss follows on the heels of the death of their other long-time German shepherd last October.

But they have a new puppy, a 2-year-old German shepherd named Harper they just bought two weeks ago. “We brought her along so she can get used to water, too.”