# Dog won't drink water from her bowl



## kelchm (Apr 11, 2011)

Hi guys. I have a 10 year old Golden Retriever who has developed very strange water drinking habits in the last 4 months. Over the winter she seemed to start preferring eating snow to drinking out of her water bowl. Eventually, she stopped drinking out of her bowl completely. She would often indicate she needed to go outside, but instead of gong to the bathroom she will drink collected rain water and then come back in.

I have tried changing her water bowl multiple times and I have tried raising it up off the floor. I have even tried using bottled water instead of tap water. Even after coming back from a long walk she will not drink on her own from a bowl. About the only thing that works consistently is holding the water bowl for her while she drinks. When I do this she will typically drain the bowl completely as if she is extremely thirsty. She will also gladly drink from the hose and from a water bottle when I squirt water out of it.

At this point I've tried everything I can think of and the vet says there is nothing medically wrong with her. Any ideas where this might have come from and what I can do about it?


----------



## Pai (Apr 23, 2008)

They make doggie-sized water bottles, you could try that? You smear some honey on the tip and the dog will learn how to drink from it pretty quickly.


----------



## Puddin's Training Tips (Apr 9, 2011)

Glad to see you are patient with her. Have you tried changing bowls? I would try several different types - plastic, metal, tall, flat etc.. Yep. I like the water bottle idea. I've seen bottles made for dogs like the ones made for hamsters where the doggie can lick to make water come out.

My dogs prefer drinking outside to drinking inside. It doesn't have to be rain water. 
So until you figure out your doggie's problem, then I suggest keeping a clean bowl of water outside and take her out several times a day to let her drink out there. I bet it doesn't have be rain water. Just fill up a bowl with hose water. Or water from the faucet in the house.

Oh, some other ideas:
Ice cubes or crushed ice might be more fun than water and she will still get hydrated. 
One of my dogs won't drink on a hike; so the night before I plan to take her on a nature trail, I grind up sardines in water and freeze it. When we have walked a few miles, I give her cold sardine water. Looks and smells gross but she loves it.

And see below for some pupsicle videos:













kelchm said:


> Any ideas where this might have come from and what I can do about it?


Hard to say. Maybe something scary happened one day while she was drinking out of her bowl. You can set up program of desensitization and counter conditioning if you want her to stop being afraid of her bowl. Here is a great video on D&CC





Oops. Sorry. I just reread your post. I see that you did change her bowl. Sorry about that.


----------



## w8ing4rain (Sep 4, 2008)

How about a fountain type water bowl?


----------



## winniec777 (Apr 20, 2008)

w8ing4rain said:


> How about a fountain type water bowl?


I was thinking the same thing.

http://www.google.com/products/cata...sa=X&ei=B6KnTZ9QgsbRAf_Z5fkI&ved=0CGkQ8wIwAA#


----------

