Withholding Water From Dog..

[dancinbcs]

I never leave water in a crate because no matter what it is in, a BC will manage to spill it. Same with leaving water down at night with baby puppies. The water is taken up when I bed them down and put down again first thing in the morning. It helps with toilet training and stops then digging in the water bowl and flooding the pen, laundry or whatever, overnight when I don't want to be mopping it up. Once they are toilet trained and stop digging in the water bowl, they get free access to water 24/7 unless they are crated in the car overnight when travelling.

[fuzzy82]

I don't restrict water for the dogs now that they both have bladder control and are housetrained. I did restrict water in the evening when I first got my puppy and he had limited bladder control and was new to the crate and not housetrained. For an adult dog I don't really see a need to restrict water. It had only happened once that my adult dog needed to pee in the middle of the night, and she then jumped up on the bed and fidgeted and was told to get off, and then went to the door and scratched at it.

I don't see anything wrong with restricting water in the evening if that's what works for you, they are certainly not going to dehydrate over night in their sleep.

[corvus]

Incidentally, I remember seeing on tv once a dog that obsessively drank water and was consequently having accidents all the time. They started only giving him small amounts of water at a time instead of a full bowl, and gave him ice cubes in his water to slow him down. That way he could still have all the water he wanted, but only in small amounts. It did successfully break the OCD pattern. The ice especially broke his focus on drinking vast amounts of water.

[jacqui835]

Nope, I only withold from puppies from 8pm until morning. But even then I won't withold if it's hot etc.

I did the exact same with my dog until we had the toilet training down pat (withheld water from 8pm onwards), but I would specifically take him for a drink at 8pm. Now he can drink whenever he likes, and he never needs to go out during the night.

[The Spotted Devil]

I've never withheld water although, technically, once Em goes to her crate at night (10-11pm) she can't access it. On a very hot night I leave her crate door open and provide a mat and bowl of water next to my bed. Routine helps with pup settling too - last meal at around 7pm (good training session to burn off all that energy), try to have some down time, final toilet stop before bed and a biscuit to go to bed with. Zig's crate is open all the time.

[OSoSwift]

Mine generally have water all the time, but when I go camping I usually feed them reasonable early, where possible, make sure they have a good drink, then take them out for last toilet. I do leave the water just outside the tent so I don't get a wet floor, but they will fidget and carry on if they are thirsty so I let them out, they drink and go back to bed. If I feed them quite early they don't seem to need to get up during the night.

When I had my Dobes it was different, a much stricter routine before and after exercise etc.

Edited February 28, 2011 by OSoSwift

[wolfgirl]

All our dogs and pups have access to water 24/7 and we've never encountered a toileting issue yet in all these years. when pups are young they are taken out before bed then around 4 - 5am then as they get older wait to go to the toilet when we wake or if they really need to go they come and wake us up. Ours have never been crated at night unless we are away and when they are crated for whatever reason they have access to water also.

[Inevitablue]

I have been removing water in the evening to help with toilet training.

I think my 10wo pup drinks excessively, which I am trying to curb slightly. The week before I picked her up was when that heatwave was on, over 43 degrees for 5 days straight where she lived. I'm thinking the constant drinking became a bit habitual. Apart from her morning wee, the rest of the day is just clear water with zero smell.

[PRADA68]

My dogs have always had access to water I don't think restricting it makes any difference. As I get up a couple of times a night for a loo break the dogs follow and they go out at the same time. So it really does not make any difference in our situation. I have always been taught to have fresh clean water down at all times.

[Jed]

The only reason to withhold water is on veterinary advice, with veterinary supervision.

[Odin-Genie]

I don't withhold water. However, since my dogs sleep in the bedroom which has carpet and the door is closed due to AC, we don't keep the water bowl inside the bedroom. My dogs let us know when they want a drink and we open the door for them.

[lovemesideways]

I don't withhold water, but we don't have water bowls inside the house. Namely because Rover dunks his whole face into the bowl and emptys about half of it onto the floor for a 5-6 meter radius around his bowl, plus the dripping as he walks off.

They go to the door if they're thirsty, and we let them out, no dramas.

[Kavik]

I don't have water in their crates as they just tend to spill it, so that means they don't have water overnight.

[Monah]

MIne are crated at night too so dont have water. However they are never 'hot' as they are in aircon if it is hot. The rest of the time they have a neverending supply of water and usually dont even have a drink until they have been up for a while, so I guess they are not thirsty. When I've not used crates, all the dogs have had access to their water bowls, but have never got off my bed to have a drink!!