Hi all,
Just a little query about our 6 month ES. He has a habit of guzzling copious amounts of water later on the evening, usually just before last walk or bed. If I don't refill his bowl he will bark until I do and if at bedtime will not settle until I've done so. Sometimes I refil it about 3 times before he will settle. He has plenty of fresh water during the day and always close by. During the evening after dinner he flakes out in our hall until it's garden time before bed, he doesn't seem to guzzle water as much at any other time of day, even after food.
We used to think it was the few treats he has before bed that made him thirsty but he quite often will guzzle water before they're put in his bed.
I don't begrudge him anything but I'm sure it's not helping us manage the 5am wake up call! He's done so well with housetraining!
I wondered whether it had anything to do with the timing of his evening meal? He currently eats at 7am, small lunch at 1pm and dinner at 7pm. He has a mix of JWB and Hills science plan as this works best for him.
All advice greatly received.
Many thanx  

I too have one that is a drinker and we notice that he particularly likes to drink after a long sleep.  We now have the heating on and/or we light a fire in the evening and I think he just wakes up a bit dry.

If you are concerned about the early morning wee then it can be helpful to wake your dog and take him out mid evening as well as last thing at night.  It helps to make sure he's completely empty but also if he's thirsty after his sleep it allows a bit more time for it to travel through his system.  You could also bring his last meal forward a bit, presumably you'll be dropping his lunch soon so he'll probably be hungry earlier than usual anyway.

It took us ages to get the last hour or so in bed and interestingly it was a 3 day stay in kennels that sorted our boy when he was 6 months old.  From waking us at 6am every morning we were then able to sleep til 8am last Christmas.  Once the kids went back to school it was 7.30am and has stuck there ever since!!

Hi D a B

thanx for that. i did wonder about the heating being on etc. over night he sleeps in the kitchen which is considerably cooler than the rest of the house. we used to have all doors open to circulate the heat in our draughty old house but because of pup some need to be shut so the hall gets hotter than anywhere else and that radiator doesn't turn down. funnily enough he doesn't sleep next to it either, prefers to watch us throught the lounge stairgate!
quite often we have to wake him up (takes a while!)for his last wee, usually it's around 10.30 or later if we're watching a film/weekend etc. but his wake up rarely changes.
although i am pleased that there is rarely any accidents now sometimes a puddle and a lie in would be more than ok!!
lunch will be slowly phased out soon, it's already gotten smaller!
Will also be introducing him to the lounge soon to join us in the evening so that too is more airy.

> From waking us at 6am every morning we were then able to sleep til 8am last Christmas.

'6am - oh what luxury!!'

Unless it is a really tiny bowl, if you are needing to refill it three times it sounds to me more like your pup has gotten into a habit; rather than actually being that thirsty.  If the heating was making him extra thristy he would be drinking more throughout the day; not just in the evening. 

If you are feeding him dry food I would try soaking it in a bit of warm water for his last meal of the day, which should cut down any real need for lots of extra water.  Even if wet, I would add a small amount of water. 

I would also give him only a small amount of water in the bowl in the evening last thing before his bedtime for a couple of days, regardless of barking for more.  If he does not drink more water than normal in the morning than his excess drinking in the evening was out of habit, and not need. 

One of my dogs always has a drink after he comes in from his last garden visit of the evening, it's definitely a habit, but for him its just a quick drink and not to excess.  

thanx C

i do think it may be a combination of heating and habit. heating is very low during the day which may account for lack of extra thirst. we used to soak food in water, but have reduced it in all his meals to slow his eating down a little and to encourage healthy teeth etc. maybe we should go back to adding it at evening meal only. he has an average size bowl but i only half fill it as he likes to paddle!

I don't believe that anyone should restrict water for a dog.

i have known dogs especially puppies to get into a habit of drinking because theres water there, not because they are thirsty. they usually grow out of it. im NOT encouraging anyone to restrict water, but at the same time, to realise they shouldnt need to fill a water bottle several times.

This is not about restricting water - it's about changing what is most likely a habit for a puppy to gulp down an excess quantity of water at a particular time of day.  Limiting but NOT eliminating water at a particular time of day. 

One of my fondest puppy memories was of a Yorkie I owned many years ago.   I watched her walk up to the water bowl (a large one, because I owned an adult GSD too) and start to drink, and drink and drink.   I was about to stop her, but was curious to see when she would stop .. it got to the point where I was sure her bladder could not possibly hold it - and sure enough, she stopped, looked up, walked back two steps, and proceeded to pee a giant puddle on my kitchen floor :-)

First and last time she did that ... and I'm sure someone will tell me how dangerous it was to let her drink that much ... but still, it makes me smile to this day.

thank you all for your kind advice. Last night pup had dinner slightly earlier and i added more water than normal. he flaked out for a few hours while i went shopping then went into garden for wee and poo after a guzzle at 9pm. he had his last visit in garden just after 11 and went to bed like a good boy (Father Christmas may come after all!). My husband had his first lie in for months - 6.15am wake up! hopefully if we stick to this, so will our pup.
it's funny really because our pup adores water of any kind and today at the end of our walk we stoppped as usual for a drink. 2 buckets of water that had frozen over night still had some ice in so in our pup went, paws and all and fished out all the ice before having a good paddle and drink!

Well done on the lie in!!

Did your pup eat the ice?  We have one that will break the ice on puddles just so that he can crunch what he hooks out, he also likes ice cubes; the other dog won't touch the frozen stuff at all.

This might be worth a try if you ever feel you need to slow the drinking a bit - add ice cubes so that he can still get the water he needs but in a new format :)  The only thing you need to watch for are the cubes that skid on the floor, you may find you have small puddles under the furniture.  We thought we had a leaking fridge til we twigged that our eldest was scooting his left over cubes under there...

> I watched her walk up to the water bowl (a large one, because I owned an adult GSD too) and start to drink, and drink and drink.  

I smiled too at this one.  I had a very large bowl of water in the kitchen, enough for 2 Bearded Collies and a Border Collie.  Brought home a new Yorkshire Terrier puppy back last year.  Heard splashing in the kitchen.  She was STOOD in the bowl, and paddling her front paws up and down with delight, as the water slopped out in big waterfalls - she loves that game!  (little bugga)

She was STOOD in the bowl, and paddling her front paws up and down with delight,

what a cute picture!

ha ha! thats sounds just like when we got our little chi,he went for a drink of water (bowl is big enough for a gsd) and ended up head first in it because he was trying to stand on the edge of the bowl! poor boy!

I can't help wondering whether your puppy might also have a health issue causing this excessive drinking. 3 bowl sound an awful lot and even if there is almost certainly a behavioural aspect as well. I don't know, just wondering. Drinking too much is not normal and should trigger a little alarm bell somewhere... Diabetes is one of them. I'd ask my vet if I were you.

thanx for your concern over pup's health. He has seen vet recently as he had a lot of loose poos but all seems well now - probably due to eating something whilst out as he isn't fussy! (some kind of funghi/mushroom springs to mind!) he's also being treated for gunky ears which is fairly common for english setters! since i last posted he hasn't been drinking quite as much and i think the mid evening garden visit and earlier dinner is certainly helping. as i said before the extra drinking only seems to happen a few times late evening and if it carrried on during the day i would certainly be worried and consult vet.
I think, just for the fun element, we might put some ice cubes in his water but shall probably wait until the holidays when i can be armed with mop and bucket!