It may have made a splash on social media, but the City of Winkler says it cancelled a controversial dog pool party over concerns about a recently replaced pool liner — not the lively public response.

"You can't please everyone, obviously," said Barb Dyck, city manager for Winkler, just under 100 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.

"We had decided that we don't want to take the chance of risking what has been spent by the taxpayer here to fix [the liner]."

The Dog Swim Day planned by the city's recreation department would have taken place at the Winkler Aquatic Centre on Sept. 3. Had it gone forward, it would have allowed dog owners to bring their pooches for a swim in the pool, with proceeds going to the Pembina Valley Humane Society.

Similar events have taken place in public pools throughout Canada.

Following the announcement of the event, Dyck said many residents came forward to the city and spoke out on social media with concerns, many about the pool liner. The pool's new liner was installed last year as part of a series of improvements that cost upwards of $600,000, Dyck said.

On Monday, a post on the aquatic centre's Facebook page announced the event was cancelled in a statement attributed to recreation manager Deb Penner.

"When Aquatic Centre staff brought the idea of a Dog Swim Day to me, I encouraged them, with the knowledge that they had conducted their due diligence and had no concerns over damages, cleanliness, etc. In fact, events like this take place all over North America and are a fun and unique activity for many communities," the post reads.

"It has become evident however, that Winkler, a city known for its progressiveness, is not yet ready for this."

That post was, in turn, followed by a fresh batch of public concern in the form of dozens of Facebook comments and more calls to the city.

On Tuesday, Dyck wrote a follow-up post, clarifying that the event had been cancelled because of the city's own concerns for the pool liner.

"There was a no-win. When it was first of all set there was a lot of objection to it from those who didn't want to have it happen, and then when it was cancelled there was objection to that as well," Dyck said later Tuesday.

"The sole reason for having cancelled it was having looked at that and having just recently put a new pool liner into the pool, and having spent upwards of … $600,000 for the replacement of that plus other improvements to it."

Dave Bone, the shelter manager at the Pembina Valley Humane Society, said the group was looking forward to being part of the event.

"We were disappointed, obviously. We never want to lose an opportunity. But there's obviously reasons for it," he said.

"We've always had a good relationship with the City of Winkler. They support us very much in what we do, both financially [and] for volunteer support and what have you."

Bone said he hopes the idea can be explored again in the future. Dyck said she wouldn't rule out revisiting it again as early as next year, provided the city can do more research into how the events have worked for other municipalities.

The city continues to provide grant funding to the humane society, she added.

"There's no ill-intent here," she said. "It is not like [there was] a decision that was made because of people who don't like dogs, or don't support pet owners and having events for them. That never played into this decision whatsoever."