Sam, our 15-month-old chocolate Labrador refuses to drink tap water, we have to take him out to the garden pond to drink. Any suggestions please?
Don't take him out to the pond, then he will drink tap water Seriously, I do notice that my dogs prefer puddle water, but do drink tap water. If you could afford to, you could give him bottled water? I think dogs do not like the 'additives' in tap water.
Hello there, and a very warm welcome to the forum. I do think dogs have all sorts of preferences, and they are very good at training us humans to accommodate them. "I drink from the pond, and in order to get to the pond, I have to cry, then human gets up and opens the door". I think it's pretty much a straight choice with things like this - you spend the rest of your dog's life taking him out to the garden to drink, or you offer him freshly drawn, clean tap water, in a clean bowl - and that's it. And stick it out until he gives up the crying to get to the pond.
Pongo doesn't drink a lot. But we always put quite a lot of (ordinary tap) water on his kibble, so he gets a good amount of fluid that way.
Our new pup doesn't seem to be drinking a lot I'm a little concerned should I be? I show him where it is and he will have a lick but literally 1 lick. We refresh it very few hours
We've noticed that Holly likes her clean water changed regularly. She'll drink clean water or puddle water, but not old clean water.
Have you tested your water? Maybe you shouldn't drink it either. I am not kidding. Mine all prefer their water to be lukewarm or even hot, sitting out in the sun in a bucket to the nice fresh, cold water I give them inside. It's the same water. In winter he drinks inside, outside is frozen.
Just make sure you have fresh water available for your puppy. It could be that I smells different to the water puppy had at his breeders. You could try some bottled water and see if that helps.
Yeah, tap water varies a lot, I remember that being a tip from someone, bringing some of the water from the breeders........I thought that was a bit OTT but there is certainly a lot of difference between water from taps. Lilly is not a big drinker. I always put water in with her kibble even now when she is approaching six years old. She much prefers puddle water, or outside water, better still something running - a stream, or water poured from a bottle (not too high, poured from nose level) You didn't say what food you used - wet food compared to dry - dry usually needs more water.
He is on,wet food at the moment as that is what the breeder was feeding the litter but we plan to change to kibble gradually over then few weeks. He still wees a lot so he is getting fluid from somewhere...so I guess just make sure he has plenty of fresh water available then he will eventually drink it. I'll mention to the vet when he has his next set of jabs see what she thinks Thanks
Lol I hear what you're saying but the water here is fine a little on the hard side but very drinkable
Once you have changed over to kibble, add water to the bowl when you feed him. Mine (Cooper-almost 2 years) doesn't drink a lot of water either....only when he has come in from a run or day care. So I make sure that for breakfast and dinner he gets his bowl of kibble with a lot of water in it and he eats it up in minutes so it doesn't get soggy. At least this way I know he IS drinking water! If Sam is weeing, he must be hydrated. We worry about so many things, don't we!!!??? Good luck.
I'm a wee-watcher. This is easy when it's snowy! I like to ensure it's a nice light colour when they go - if it is, then I know they're well hydrated. I also add water to their kibble and feed it immediately, so it doesn't go soft. They do both have a good drink after walks, but very little else throughout the day.
I've never added water to Juno's kibble and find that she always goes for a drink after eating breakfast and dinner, after she's had her snack lunch and after exercise. Her water is refreshed every couple of hours whether she has had a drink or not and I think that encourage her to drink I know my Abyssinian girl prefers Juno's water to her own
