My Beagle Puppy And His Water Bowl

[kermat]

Just wondering if anyone has experienced a similar puppy problem - my beagle puppy Judd sometimes goes a bit nuts in his water bowl - its hard to describe but its like he's digging in his water bowl, he gets his front paws in there and starts scratching and water goes everywhere!! At first when he started doing it we thought maybe it was because he was hot, because it was summer at the time, but it looks like thats not the case now that the weather is cooling down and he's still doing it.

Its not that big a problem, but when he does it to his water bowl in the laundry, water goes everywhere and I have to mop it all up - I was just wondering if anyone else had experienced this or knows why he is doing it??

[Asalei]

We have two beagles and our two don't do this... Can he see his reflextion or something?

Our beags spill water everywhere, but it's the water coming off those big gums as they walk away from the water bowl , not that they've put water everywhere through digging.

My sister's staffy does this though, my sister would come home and there would be a puddle of water EVERYWHERE and she though the bowl was leaking, but one day she saw her doing it. She'd even fall asleep with her hands in the water bowl. BUT, go figure, she doesn't like the beach and freaks out at the water!! Silly Daisy.

[kermat]

Maybe he's just doing it to cool down........ He wasn't too sure of the beach at first but now we take him pretty regularly and he loves it, we even got him into the water swimming on his own!! We were such proud parents that day

[caffiend42]

Try putting the waterbowl a bit higher, so it's sort of at head height

[MolassesLass]

My dogs do it both to cool down (digging in the water splashes it on the tummy) and because it's fun! The only real solution is to put the bowl up so it's at drinking height but can't get paws in. I would provide an outside bowl or paddling pool to do it in though, but that's just me.

[persephone]

It is FUN!! Simple

provide him with a small heavy bowl a bit higher than what he has.

I have on occasion made a drinking container out of 2ltr juice bottle .

scew lid on tight, and remove tag/handle.

Place bottle on one of th flattter sides(front or back)

With VERY sharp scissors..cut a smallish oval shape out of the upper side, so it looks a bit like a tissue-box opening .

place it in a corner , maybe in a baking dish or something...fill with water, and see what happens .

(NO guarantee he wont grab it & tip it over, but it should help with the digging )

My chooks get this sort of drinker too.

[king]

My GSD puppy King has done this since he was nine weeks old...he is now five moinths old and still digging. We bought him a shell pool so he could play in that and leave the water bowl alone but it didnt work now he plays in both

At one stage he would just walk up to the bowl and put his foot on the lip and tip it over, then hubby wised up and put bricks around it and then we finding the bricks had been moved and the water was all gone we filled it up, hid and waited and caught him trying to move the bricks but after telling him it was naughty he hasnt done that again but we still leave the bricks there just in case...

[Rain]

My lagotto puppy does the same, digs his water bowl, stands in it etc. Think he is cooling down and playing in it. Thats why his water bowl is outside.

I tried raiseing it higher makes no difference as he puts his front paws in it anyway.

[snarferama]

Hermes does it too. He's a shocker! He's always digging in his water bowl. He digs at it until there's no water left in there- it's a game He's got his water/food bowl and a bucket now. He finds it harder to dig in the bucket and he hasn't chewed it or knocked it over... yet

It's so bad he doesn't have water in the house (he's got access to outside and inside whenever he wants) if he does get locked inside we have to put his water bowl in a big plastic tub, that way the water can't flick out of the tub works a treat.. just takes up a lot of room!

-Elise

[Arley]

That is what my little one does all the time, she seems to think its the best fun in the world. So glad we dont have carpet hehehe

[rooster78]

Bronson did this as soon as we got him home - it looked cute but I was worried that it would be his habit and that we'd go out one day and he'd tip his water out and be without any water until we got home. Some very wise DOLer suggested a bucket and a brick in it - this way he can't get his paws in and he can't tip it over with his mouth.

I think my guy just wanted to run around with the container in his mouth - when we visit people and they put down a water bowl, he stills digs out the water and runs away with the bowl.

Inside we have a metal water bowl - shallow and large diameter with a rubber lip to stop it moving and he doesn't dig at that. Outside we have the bucket.

[DistinctivelyTish]

Only my GSD did this, I think maybe it was because of her thicker coat (other dogs at the time were a Doberman and Cocker Spaniel). Afraid I don't have a solution; I just kept topping up her water! The bowl was outside, on the grass, so no clean-up required!

Rooster78, my current pup does this too! Except she runs away without digging the water out of the plastic container, lol. This way she leaves a trail of water.

[samoyedman]

Mine did that and still does occasionally. At the dog park he will stick BOTH legs in the big plastic buckets and stand there and cool down :-)

For home, buy one of those big heavy water bowls with a high side. He's never done it since I bought mine. I only clean/empty it once a week (I use Dog Rocks so I top up all the time instead of changing water) and yes its heavy but its better than him being thirsty because he has "dug" all of his water out of his bowl.

[Rhi*Jak*Ed]

I have a 9 week old Jack Russell and she has done it since I brought her home 3 weeks ago. It drives me crazy! I have polished floor boards so at least she's not saturating the carpet, but when she's dug enough water out she then races around, slip sliding in it.

She seems to have a great ol' time. I tried changing her bowl, bought one of those stainless steel ones with the rubber rim but that didn't work. Like someone else has said, I too was worried about her not having any water during the day while I'm at work. So I bought one of those self feeder ones, and as long as her water bowl is in the bathroom where she sleeps, she doesn't dig at it. If I put a water bowl down in the kitchen though she goes beserk at it.

Mopping then becomes a fun job (not!) - she loves to latch onto it and go for a ride around the floor. Hmm ;-)