My pups are 3.5 weeks old now and are on 4 small meals a day of soaked JWB and minced beef. This is mashed into a mush with warm water.
Sasha, my bitch is getting more and more reluctant to feed them - I keep their nails trimmed but they now have teeth and I guess 9 pups feeding at the same time hurts!
Anyway, I was wondering about water for the pups - if I leave a dish in their pen then they just swim in it and end up soaking themselves and everything else and if I offer it after meals they aren't interested.
They are probably nursing off Sasha about 4 times a day but she is reducing the time she allows them to nurse to only a few minutes sometimes - she just gets up and walks off with them still hanging onto her!
So, will the pups be getting enough fluids from Sasha or should I be persevering with the water? I'm wondering if there is a way to secure the water bowl to the side of the pen so it's slightly raised?

Now for the poop question!  Sasha is still cleaning up ALL their poop, and since they have been on solids she has got the most awful flatulence - it stinks!  I try to keep an eye on the pen and get there before her but she is in there as soon as she sees them going - it's like she enjoys eating it!! She is a breed that is renowned for greediness and tbh I'm not surprised but I thought they stopped cleaning up when pups were on solids. She obviously hasn't read any of the books :)
Is this normal - will she stop???

They are probably getting most of their liquid requirements either from mum or because the food is soaked. But it would be good if you can work out a way of fixing the bowl onto the cage, as water should be offered too.

I don't want to alarm you, but my girl cleaned up after her puppy until she was about 8 months old or more!!! It was a major performance, praising puppy for pooing in the garden while also trying to casually snatch it up before mum ate it!! She did stop eventually though. :-D

My pups have been weaned on JWB and I've always soaked it but not needed to mash it. I now only soak it for 5 minutes instead of the 15 minutes I started with. They have all the water that it soaks up as well as the food plus the occasional top up from Mum but very rare now. My bitch also clears up all their poo even though they are all but weaned, I have accepted that she will until they go!

My puppies didn't lap water until after 6 weeks. They would only drink from mum and goats milk.

pups dont find water interesting lol and think its there to play in :) what i do is start with goats milk added to water and trust me it dont take them long to work out how to drink ;) then by the time they are ready to leave their drinking just plane water!

As to what to put it in, I've seen some who get a heavy ceramic spaniel bowl with sides that come in and a wide base. Think its a mason cash one. They can't get their paws in it or themselves, it doesn't tip over and only one at a time can drink from it.