Hi all, I wonder if anyone can throw any light on why my 11 week old german sheppard bitch pup keeps on stepping in her water bowl and then grabs the bowl in her mouth and tips the bowl over throwing the water all over the place. while amusing at first this behaviour is fast becoming annoying. More so as she will insist on doing the same with our other dogs water bowl which is in a different room. I thought it was something to do with reflections in the water,whether it be light source of her own reflection. I even tried changing her bowl from a small stainless steel one to a larger plastic one. But still she does it. Any ideas. please.will be  gratefully received. Thanks.

I don't know why she does it, maybe for attention? How about buying the stands so the bowls fit snuggly in and she won't be able to get it?

If you don't fancy getting a stand (which works very well), have you thought about the large (& heavy) ceramic bowls?  She might find it a bet more difficult to pick up!

Sarah.

She's playing.  Use a heavy bowl that she can't pick up then she'll probably just paddle in it and scoot the water out with her paws. 

Thanks all so far, for your replies. I will try a heavier bowl. She's very mischievious. And gets into everything. But I don't know what i'd do without her already.Again thanks all.

Get one of the metal stands that take the water bowl off the ground. Cured mine.
Have a look here http://www.luxway.freeserve.co.uk/catalog.htm

Hope that helps
Sandra

hi gsd sam,
My GSD also did this as well as digging the water out all the time, it was annoying but he did grow out of it he is a year old now and has not done it for months.

Hi Our GSD used to do that all the time too,but the ceramic bowl cured it,she couldn't pick it up. My lab pup has a ceramic bowl,and if she drops  a bit of food in she scoops the water out. I have it on a tea towel for stability,and to prevent the drips from her mouth going all over the floor,and now she is grabbing the tea towel and dragging it and the bowl across the floor.I have bought a raised feeding bowl set on e-bay,so hopefully,that will cure it

i have two gsd and the only way to stop this is to buy a stand for the bowl no matter how heavy the bowl is they will pick it up or knock it over. I had a lovely stone bowl but she emtied it and carried it to the garden and dropped and no more lovely stone bowl :-).

Cordelia

Well I think the message is clear .I need to invest in a stand. A visit to the pet shop is in order I think.
Many thanks to everyone for your advice..

Hi - my pup has always done it and I thought and did exactly the same as you :D - When we went to a puppy class one night the trainer brought out a bowl of water and all the pup's did it :D - Mine, a GSD, a Rottweiler and a golden - all paddled and tried to knock over :rolleyes: - Think they are just playing??  Your right though, it gets a bit boring once you've mopped the floor about 10 times :)
Sarah

I don't know about your breed but i know my large breed recomends that the bowl be raised off the ground to combat bloat (although i suspect that's even open to debate) so it may be a wise investment anyway i know my ex mum in law has one for her GSD.

The latest studies on bloat by Purdue actually implicate elevated feeding with torsion/bloat.  The latest recommendations are to feed from the floor.

i have a double stand for my adult which contains the water for them both and i feed bowl. Fo my pup i use a terracota plant pot (one of the big ones) as i did not think the single stands looked sturdy enough.

Cordelia

Tohme you haven't got a link to that have you? :)

http://www.vet.purdue.edu/epi/bloat.htm

Well it's interesting reading (not finished it all yet) thanks tohme off to finish reading it.
It's going to give me something else to worry about now though lol. You think you're ok because no close dog relatives died from it but that's clearly not the case :(

Hi,

Alfie my Rottweiler used to do this as a young pup - good game!!  I then bought a stand and at first he did still try it but then scared himself by tipping the stand over as well - what a racket...........  Never did it again!