I have just looked up a few threads on here about dogs drinking from puddles etc.  I am concerned that my dog rarely seems to drink from her bowl but always drinks from every puddle she finds (usually weeing in it afterwards)  I have left containers outside in the garden with rainwater in because I would rather her drink that - however if  I let her off the lead she will continue to drink as she finds water.  Is this normal?   I think that I will try putting rainwater in her bowl instead of tap water.  However chlorine does disperse if the water is left to stand.  She is a collie born on a farm so is this something that the breed tends to do?  The only way that I am going to stop her drinking is to keep her on the lead all the time.   The risk can not be that great surely?

Hi Ceejay, mine have always drank from puddles on walks and rarely have any upset tums and have all lived to a good age. I think this is natural behaviour and don't see a problem with it. I do see a problem with keeping your dog on her lead for the rest of her life to avoid it, for a farm bred collie especially this would be torture and asking for all sort of behavioural problems. I too have water bowls outside that fill with rain water. But my dogs also do drink inside, I've found the dog-it water fountain a great hit. The dogs seem to love drinking from it :)

nips doesn't drink from every single puddle he comes across but for all that, he regularly uses puddle water to refresh the parts that, in the house, he insists on refreshing with absolutely clean, fresh water - even the tiniest speck of dreck being enough for him to turn his nose up at!

round here the puddles are mainly muddy rainwater with the occasional dash of cow pee or other diluted waste product to liven them up and he's come to no harm at all from his enjoyment of them. however, we did encounter a positively radioactive looking puddle yesterday and he was reluctant enough to walk round it, let alone drink from it so i think most dogs have an element of self-protection!

if you live in the shadow of a nuclear reactor or a landfill site then i'd be cautious about any standing water. otherwise i wouldn't personally worry enough to keep a dog on a lead for puddle drinking reasons alone. indeed, you could store up a whole different set of problems by prohibiting off lead walking.

The main thing is to prevent a dog drinking from puddles by the road where anti-freeze from cars may have leaked :( Can be fatal :(

Daisy

I dont let my dogs drink out of puddles when we're out walking,(i dont even give them tap water at home,spring alternated with distilled water for us )..I always bring their water bottle/bowl attached along so they can have a fresh drink whenever they want,if i didnt i think i would have a hard time stopping them sipping out of puddles :rolleyes:
I wouldnt put your dog on a lead because of it,for the reasons the others have stated.Would he listen if you did a sharp "AH AH" whenever he went near a puddle? Whenever he goes for a drink from a puddle offer him a drink from a water bottle.

I have a dog who drinks out of puddles, ditches any mucky looking water - she also eats cow/ horse/ fox poo - probabally other too if she could find it, she picks up any old rubbish and carries it - I would be going ah ah all the time.  I think if I let every hazard worry me I would never go out of the door.  Anti freeze - that is a new one  I had just read the posts about Weils disease and that had alarmed me.  I just wondered how often dogs do get affected by these sort of hazards.  It is very enlightening reading this forum - extremly helpful too.  Thanks for the replies. 

Ceejay

Anti-freeze is extremely toxic but has a sweet taste which can be attractive to animals.  I remember hearing on the news recently of someone being jailed after putting a small amount of anti-freeze in a work colleague's coke as a 'joke'. The colleague almost died and has been left requiring 24 hour care for life following this 'joke' :( Definitely something to be careful of!

I don't stress too much about my dogs drinking out of puddles in areas where there is no vehicular traffic. After all, I put fresh bowls of water down for them several times a day and they will still choose to drink rainwater out of a dirty bucket at the bottom of the garden I do carry a bottle of fresh water but often they will show no interest in it and moments later they'll be slurping from a puddle instead :rolleyes: Besides, they both love swimming so they are naturally going to ingest some amount of water whilst swimming in lakes/rivers. Their vaccinations are up to date and they are wormed regularly. Like someone else said, if you stressed about every thing that carried a risk, you'd never get out of bed :)

My dog loves any water other than that in the bath or from the hose :D  The muddier the better as far as she is concerned and I don't see how I can stop her drinking it as she is walked mostly off lead and walking through our park to the woods there are lots of muddy puddles between the goal posts.  She also likes smelly ponds and streams for diving in.  I have yanked her away from puddles next to roads as you can see the rainbow effect and so obviously contaminated.  As she is on the lead next to roads it isn't a problem stopping her.  At home we all drink water from the same tap.  I am not convinced spring water is better for us healthwise.