[west-one]

Despite making sure my Baxter has plenty of fresh water in his bowl from the time he gets up in the morning until the time he goes to bed at night he insists on drinking from puddles or from the bird bath in the garden whenever he gets the chance.

I can't work out why he would do this; I change the water every meal time and whenever it gets bits of food in it. I have used tap water, filtered water and have even tried bottled water but he still drinks rainwater when he can.

Does anyone else have this problem? Any suggestions to stop this?

So far it doesn't seem to be doing him any harm but I worry that he may pick something up from doing this.

 

[tccoastguard]

Oh yeah, my new puppy Goose absolutely loves it when it rains. He'll lick up the puddles in the yard, lick the drain spout and even lick the beaded water off the grass! Now admittedly, he doesn't get water available to him 24/7 because we're trying to house train him so... Honestly though, I don't think there's any harm in doing it. In just the two weeks I've had Goose, he's put a lot more stuff in his mouth than rain water. I'm a lot more worried about the twist ties my cat has stashed all over my house! Drinking rain water is more annoying than anything else for me because it distracts him from doing his business when we're outside.

Travis

 

[RosCole]

Its just a dog thing!

Ideally it is better if they don't drink it too much, they can get diareha or giardia (from the bacteria in still water), its not life threatening by any means but just not pleasant.

Seems beagles will eat/drink anything put in front of them! Except our dogs look at me with such disgust if I drop or even try to give them a piece of lettuce!!

 

[janna]

Yep it's a dog thing. Mine try to do the same thing. If I walk them i don't let them, but my husband will.

 

[Dinoz]

yes mine also, i can just put down their fresh bowl of water but they walk right over to some dirty water and lap it up. i dont think it is an issue. humans drink worse in some parts of the world, and a canine stomach is much stronger.

 

[cobismom]

Mine, too. It's got to be a dog thing, I see every dog in the neighborhood either drinking from the puddles or eating the snow...and you know what they say about yellow snow. ICK!

 

[Tucker]

Just keep them away from puddles in the street. Cars drip stuff that could be harmful to your pup like oil or antifreeze. Yes it is diluted, but you never know.

 

[Brien]

We often call Bodie Gutter Dog. Because he too likes to drink water off the ground. There could be fresh water right next to him but he'll still drink water off the ground.

This in conjunction with him drinking his own urine as a puppy made us think he probably didn't get fresh water daily from the breeder. The breeder lives in the country and Bodie and his litter-mates were kept in the barn. So it wasn't exactly clean nor well equipped for dogs. So I think that early experience has stayed with him.

He stopped drinking his own urine after a couple of months, but still loves that gutter water.

 

[BeagleWeegle]

I have mixed feelings about puddle drinking.

Reasons:

did happen does happen* When it's warmer outside and we are at a park (may of rained a day before)Charlie is thirsty *mumma ran out of water * supply many dogs at this time at the park drained us dry* lol, *seeing charlie will not drink out of his waterbowl at the park if another dog had some, so mum has to keep refilling....anyhow, all of a sudden I see Charlie smelling on the ground hard stiffs, all around grass patchy areas,we watch what he's so madly sniffing about, then all of a sudden his nose glues to a spot and he digs, sniffs, digs some more, sniffs UHHHHHHHHHHHHHH water and he licks what little maybe there yeh with a little dirt in it lol, other dogs want some too, start to hord in on charlies find, Other dog owners are discussed, what they are drinking, My outlook is does not bother me, I'm assuming this is what animals do in the wild, to get water if thirsty, it's instict, and have to say it impressed me and I don't care about such puddles.


puddles that are in plain view *exposed*(outside of our home* I have a problem with, well most of you can understand why never know what travelled in plain view lol.


However; even though charlie will dig for water, He refuses to drink from park water fountains where he smells other dogs slobber with the water, or a dog that drank out of his own waterbowl *when gone out*mum has to change it, the only ones he does not mind is dogs that are friends and his brothers, no strangers.


So all for digging puddles haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaha

 

[west-one]

Thanks for the replies; eased some of my fears. I will try to stop him when I can but won't worry too much.

We had the first proper frost of the year this morning; the frozen puddles completely confused poor Baxter, I thought he was going to get his tongue stuck on the ice. He seemed to enjoy slipping and sliding around the park though.