# Plays with water bowl



## SadieNDave (Jan 5, 2009)

Hi all -

My dog Sadie is about 10 weeks. Sometimes she likes to step in her water bowl or bury her face in it. Then she gets water all over the place and sometimes gets muddy and dirty from stepping in dirt. It's really funny but at the same time I can't have her do it all the time cause it creates a mess. And it's hard for me to tell her "NO" when she does it cause she might get confused and think im telling her not to drink water. What should i do?


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## Maggies mom (Jan 6, 2006)

When I have foster pups here I dont leave water down for this reason... By given them a drink I also can watch there intake and it makes potty training easier.


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## SadieNDave (Jan 5, 2009)

Maggies mom said:


> When I have foster pups here I dont leave water down for this reason... By given them a drink I also can watch there intake and it makes potty training easier.


How often do you give them water and how much and so forth?


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## LOVEisGOLDEN (Jan 4, 2008)

it's pretty common, they are such water loving dogs. I won't say they grow out of it, but they do make less mess as they age...


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## capa (Jan 7, 2009)

Dogs should not be deprived of access to water. Some dogs outgrow this "messing with the water bowl" phase and others just don't, so keep your fingers crossed.
What I did when Axel started messing the whole house with wet paws and toys is I got him a much smaller and flatter water bowl for a while. It kept me busy refilling it but I had less of a mess to deal with as a result. Nowadays at age three+ that is not such a big problem for us anymore.


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## SadieNDave (Jan 5, 2009)

capa said:


> Dogs should not be deprived of access to water. Some dogs outgrow this "messing with the water bowl" phase and others just don't, so keep your fingers crossed.
> What I did when Axel started messing the whole house with wet paws and toys is I got him a much smaller and flatter water bowl for a while. It kept me busy refilling it but I had less of a mess to deal with as a result. Nowadays at age three+ that is not such a big problem for us anymore.



LOL... that pic looks like Sadie in 3 years. 

What do you think about putting the bowl up on a stool so its harder for her feet to get in it?


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

Either set the bowl up so it's no fun to play with (small heavy bowl?) or be prepared to watch her like a hawk and praise her for proper drinking and correct her for playing in it. Unless you're harsh or badly timed with your corrections, I doubt you'll teach her to stop drinking.


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## BeauShel (May 20, 2007)

Bama did that and outgrew it. Now he just puts his tennis ball in the water then take it out and drip it all over the floor.


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## Heidi36oh (Feb 27, 2007)

All of mine did it and grew out out of it. Chloe used to dip her hole head into the water bowl and walk all over the house dripping wet..LOL


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## colton (Jun 5, 2008)

Being such water loving dogs it's something that generally comes with the territory. Bodhi is always having a "swim" in his water bowl so I just moved it outside. How about putting the bowl on a towel if the bowl needs to be inside? 

Get used to it.....for us if there is water ANYWHERE Bodhi will find it and have a dip! :


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## SadieNDave (Jan 5, 2009)

Good to know. Thanks everyone.


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## Maggies mom (Jan 6, 2006)

SadieNDave said:


> How often do you give them water and how much and so forth?


I offer it to them every 2 hour and I put about 1/2 cup in. Unless its hot out or they have been out playing for a while. Its not depriving the pup or dog. Have you ever see a pup drink it self sick?


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## capa (Jan 7, 2009)

Maggies mom said:


> I offer it to them every 2 hour and I put about 1/2 cup in. Unless its hot out or they have been out playing for a while. Its not depriving the pup or dog. Have you ever see a pup drink it self sick?


Upsss! Didn't mean to step on toes... it's just that not everybody is so good with the 2 hour system. Some people mean well but then just forget...


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## NuttinButGoldens (Jan 10, 2009)

Dakota was a nightmare for this when he was younger.

I used to use a big, wide 2 gallon stainless steel water dish until I got him. He would just go and literally stomp every drop of water out of the thing 

I changed over to buckets. I now use those 3 gallon buckets that you get at Petsmart that come full with their private brand kitty litter (which is EXCELLENT litter btw...). When they are empty I clean them and use them as water buckets. They hold about 3 gallons each, and there are 4 of them scattered around the house.

They are just small enough in diameter that he lost the desire to stomp the water out of them


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## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

Tally also outgrew it. He used to "dig" in his water bowl and make a big mess, but he simply matured out of is. I put a cheap clear vinyl showercurtain inder his dishes for a little while.


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## Poet's Mom (Jan 16, 2009)

Poet diggs in her water. I have her food and water dish elevated so she can't digg in it, but when my DH takes her to the dog park she does it and makes such a mess. Last week a lady walk up to my Dh and said That little brown dog is making such a mess with the water (not knowing she belonged to him), my DH says Poet had perfect timing, just then she walked up to him and he started to rough her up saying whos dang dog is this? They had a good laugh I guess. So glad to hear they grow out of it! I tell my DH - just cuz it's cute when they are puppies - it won't be cute when they are 70#'s


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## moverking (Feb 26, 2007)

For a good laugh, be sure to flip over to Animal Planet's Puppy Superbowl (It's on during the human's Superbowl, but is pretty boring) and watch the "bowl cam"...it's a hoot.
Sorry, not much help....I tolerated the bowl playing with mine and it was out grown....


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