hi

just looking for a little advice...

we have gorgeous dalmation moby that keeps messing with his waterbowl... he's so determined its scary... i've tried a stainless steel bowl- he'll dump the water out and then drag it all across the bricked garden.the neighbours are getting p#ssed off with that noise.... i've tried plastic lidded bowls and he'll somehow manage to get the lid off and use it as a frisbee :-( then when he's finished with the lid he'll empty the bowl over himself and use that as a toy too. the non lidded once, he just chews the top off.... i've gone through 8 different bowls already....

he has loads of toys to keep him occupied outside but yet he'll enjoy messing with the waterbowl more than any of them.. got a little bone shaped plastic one just yesterday, and he spent the 1st ten mins nudging it till he managed to knock it over and then proceeded to chew the bottom of it. he just wont/can't figure out that if he empties it then he'll have no water :-(

am at wits end? anyone got any advice? or better still any recommendations for a non destructible water bowl?

thanks
mikki

What about a ceramic bowl - heavier and non chewable?

We use buckets in our house to be honest.

hiya

we do have a ceramic bowl for his food and again he drags that around unless we pick it up straight away :-(  might give buckets a try, thanks

> might give buckets a try

just remember that buckets hold LOTS more water than a bowl..........you may find that the puddle the bowl left has turned into a lake and you/he is paddling.

had this with 2 of the 3 GSDs I have had, one used to put his front feet in the dish and go surfing round the kitchen. They both grew out of it........eventually.
Is there any way you could use one of the crate type bowls that you could hook up onto something.

If you're concerned that he chucks more water than he drinks you can add some extra water to his food or give him some ice cubes

Re the bowls.  I have a couple of outside water bowls to make sure mine are topped up - one is a large ceramic heavy one and the other a big stainless steel (washing up bowl size!!) one that sits in a wooden raised holder.  This holder is a handmade one that I bought at a yard sale and it's brilliant, it holds the bowl so tightly they couldn't get it out if they tried! If you PM me I can send a pic if you like but it's made from marine ply and the top part has a hole cut out for the bowl to sit in.
 
Indoors I have clip on feeders (hoops that the bowls fit in).  Mine are attached to the outside of their crates but you can get freestanding ones too.  It is possible for a determined dog to get these out but I don't know if they'd bother.  You can attached rubber strips to prevent the bowl from rattling whilst they eat and this might also make it more difficult for your boy to hook the bowl out.

Alternatively there are non spill bowls used for travelling - maybe one of these could help, particularly if it is weighted.  HTH :)

what about a raised feeder that way the bowl is not actually on the floor for him to tip over, my boy used to get great pleasure in paddling in his water bowel when he was a pup

Mine did this -I now use metal buckets, outdoors only. But my big dogs are outside all day, if they were inside a lot I'd have a problem as I wouldn't want them without water of course. I remember somebody once said get the heaviest ceramic bowl possible and put it inside a plastic box.

I have tried all sorts with my dogs and have given up. I tried heavy spaniel ceramic bowls which worked for a while until he discovered he could lift it and turn it upsides down flooding the floor! I tried the rood refresher one which stopped them paddling in bowls but my boys doesn't seem to be able to drink fast enough from it for some reason. I then moved the water bowl outside as they had free access to the garden most of the summer and tried a biggest and heaviest ceramic bowl I could find and it worked well for a while but he managed to lift it and it smashed. I then tried a bucket which got knocked over and carried round the garden! I took the bucket to the local garden centre and found a very heavy ceramic pot with straight sides that the bucket fitted inside so I bought it thinking I've got it sussed. It worked for 4 maybe 6 weeks then somehow they managed to tip the whole lot and the ceramic pot cracked. :-(

I still use the bucket but I really need something that won't tip, that can't be carried around, that can't be used as a paddling pool but my boy can get a good drink from. My girl is really good now and leaves the bowls so I'm hoping that my boy will eventually grow out of it.

Someone did suggest that I fix a frame that would snuggly hold a bowl to the wall but I'm worried that he will damage the wall trying to get the bowl off. Someone else told me that I need to train him not to knock his bowl over, but 10mnths down the line we've made no progress. My 2 do have high feeders which their bowls fit sniggly inside but they still manage to get the bowls out when they are empty so I dare not try water in them!

What about one of these non-spill ones? They look fairly chunky so might not be able to pick it up?

We have automatic fillng water bowls, there used for livestock too, they are attactched to a wall.

We have tried these, he can't seem to get a big enough drink from them although my bitch can. He seems to prefer or need deepish water to drink from as he started tipping or lifting his bowls when there's less than a couple of inches of water in the bottom.

Do you have a link or photo for the automatic fillng water bowls?

We bought our automatic filling bowls at North Eastern Farmers in Forfar or Harbro now, there actually for horses, sheep, mine are black, very tough plastic, and have lasted so far 5 years.
I clean them out 3 times a week or more ,as the Danes fill them with slobber!

Thank you, will try and have a trip down to Forfar tomorrow or Saturday and investigate.

> I still use the bucket but I really need something that won't tip, that can't be carried around,

one idea that horse people use is to get an old car tyre that you can wedge the bucket into the middle of, even seen one field where they had to have eyelet bolts in the fence post and a cable thru holes drilled into the tyre to anchor it to stop it getting 'moved' :-D
Chris

I can second the non spill - road refresher bowl!

Had a very determined water bowl tipper and posted on here about it. The road refresher was recommended and was an instant success. Didn't have to clear up lakes since that day :)

What about the bowl clamps used for kennels, they can be bolted to a wall (outside and I suppose inside too.

I was wondering about one of these but thought it would be safer on an outside wall - less risk of him trying to paddle in it and taking it down plaster and all.