# tipping the water bowl



## mersgolf (Dec 9, 2008)

ok, i had to laugh at this, my 1yo gsd decided to stick his foot in his water bowl and of course tipped it over...well when i stood up to go to the kitchen to clean it up he got a little excited and ran right back to the kitchen...onto the now puddled tile floor 

and as you can imagine down he goes with a nice thud. i know you probably shouldn't laugh but i figure it kind of serves him right lol


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## Lakeguy929 (Jan 4, 2008)

Our Sasha is notorious for that, we even had to wire her outside pail to a stake. I don't know why she insists on tipping her water over every time.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

they go through the bowl tipping stage. my boy did it before he was 1 year old. you want to clean it up immediately. you can take the bowl away. it doesn't serve him right to slip on the wet floor. he could hurt himself slipping on the floor. you could serve him right by cleaning it up. when my dog went through the bowl tipping stage i placed a towel under the bowl. i also picked his bowl up. i would let him have some water and then pick the bowl up. i thought that served him right.


> Originally Posted By: Mersok, i had to laugh at this, my 1yo gsd decided to stick his foot in his water bowl and of course tipped it over...well when i stood up to go to the kitchen to clean it up he got a little excited and ran right back to the kitchen...onto the now puddled tile floor
> 
> and as you can imagine down he goes with a nice thud. i know you probably shouldn't laugh but i figure it kind of serves him right lol


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

this is my 4th Shep. everyone i owned tipped their water bowl. i think that's a Shepherd thing.


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## mersgolf (Dec 9, 2008)

just so we're clear doggie dad, as i said in the post as i was getting up to go clean it up he ran into the kitchen...its not like i left it there for hours or would want him to be hurt

its obvious he wasn't hurt and its obvious i wasn't serious about it serving him right. it was just a cute silly moment, and while online i thought i'd share it with you all...then you take your choice of words and perceived tone to lecture a relative new poster and what becomes the result? you end up running those new posters off the board.

choose the way you reply to people a little better, i realize you probably just see it as helping someone, but all you've managed to do is make me feel bad about sharing one of my moments with the community.


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## Elmo's Mom (May 21, 2007)

Don't feel bad. I would have been laughing too. 

Elmo used to spill his water as a puppy too. Then, he went through a phase where he used to carry his water bowl into the living room when we weren't looking. Surprisingly, he spilled less water doing that! We ended up getting one of those bowls that fits into a stand so he couldn't lift it.


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## ncgsdmom (Jun 24, 2008)

One of mine, TJ, must have the cleanest paws of any GSD around!!







Has to alternate feet in the water bowl when she drinks, and loves to tip them over. Have managed to get her to stop tipping the inside water bowls, but the water bowls on the deck are a lost cause. Her favorite game is knocking the ice blocks out of the water bowls!









Here she is....busted red pawwed!!


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Occasionally mine tip the bucket if it is inside the sun room. Generally, water is NOT ALLOWED inside. They can just carry themselves outside for a drink. 

But they do not NEED to tip the water, I have had Jenna suck up a good mouthful OUTSIDE, and then go through the doggy door, through the sun room, through the baby gate AND the hallway to my bed where she deposited it. Hmmmph!

I just don't see these things on Gloria Stillwell it's me or the dog, and I haven't heard that Cesar addressed this issue either. I am suspecting that it is a Breed-specific issue. 

I don't know what I am complaining about: better water than a poocicle.


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## Smy3pitas (Jan 26, 2006)

Mers,

Welcome! I have been on the board reading for years. It is a great place! I swear shepherds have the most interesting personality!! We have an almost 9 month (Sarge on 12/24) He loves to step into his bowl and get his paws wet. this past summer we put a xtra bowl of water upstairs and Sarge tipped it and went running around. Yes, he did slide and yes knowing he was not hurt, IT Was FUNNY! With our last shepherd, Shadow







I did not know what he liked more??!! He would love to paw at his water and suck down his food. He also LOVED his ball. So what would any smart shepherd do??!!?? he put his ball in his food bowl and eat around it, then pick it up and splash it in his water. (it must have been dirty) Then he would grab it and in picking it up he would grab the ball and similtameously(sp?) suck water into the ball, so then he would run around and it would look like the ball was tinkeling??!! Enjoy it, boy do they make us laugh!


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## Smy3pitas (Jan 26, 2006)

tried to put a picture up.


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## Snickelfritz (Feb 21, 2007)

> Originally Posted By: Smy3pitasMers,
> 
> He would love to paw at his water and suck down his food. He also LOVED his ball. So what would any smart shepherd do??!!?? he put his ball in his food bowl and eat around it, then pick it up and splash it in his water. (it must have been dirty) Then he would grab it and in picking it up he would grab the ball and similtameously(sp?) suck water into the ball, so then he would run around and it would look like the ball was tinkeling??!! Enjoy it, boy do they make us laugh!


This is what my dog does too







she loves to "wash" her balls! Bad thing is everything else gets washed as well when she squirts it all over the place! LOL.


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## BrennasMom (Mar 2, 2008)

Brenna doesn't tip the bowl over, but I've noticed she loves to drink with her feet in the water. During the spring/summer we had a trough type thing in the yard for the dogs and she would climb inside and stand there drinking. Any time she walks through a puddle or wades in water she tries to drink it as she walks. Maybe there's just something about drinking with wet feet? haha


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## ozzymama (Jan 17, 2005)

Ozzy doesn't do the water bowl anymore, even at that he wasn't too bad about it. But don't leave a toilet seat up! Everything he owns will be washed in the toilet. He's a very clean little boy!


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## Helly (Mar 31, 2008)

Jackson won't tip his bowl over, but if that bowl is empty he will pick it up and bring it into the living room and lay it down.


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## Grims (Jul 3, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: doggiedadthey go through the bowl tipping stage. my boy did it before he was 1 year old. you want to clean it up immediately. you can take the bowl away. it doesn't serve him right to slip on the wet floor. he could hurt himself slipping on the floor. you could serve him right by cleaning it up. when my dog went through the bowl tipping stage i placed a towel under the bowl. i also picked his bowl up. i would let him have some water and then pick the bowl up. i thought that served him right.
> 
> 
> > Originally Posted By: Mersok, i had to laugh at this, my 1yo gsd decided to stick his foot in his water bowl and of course tipped it over...well when i stood up to go to the kitchen to clean it up he got a little excited and ran right back to the kitchen...onto the now puddled tile floor
> ...



oh come on lighten up. 


Axel did the same thing, so I got him a 6 gallon trough style one thinking it be to heavy for him to tip over when it's full...well I lucked out he has no interest of even playing it it...he simply drinks like he's suppose too!.


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## SunCzarina (Nov 24, 2000)

We laugh about it too, Otto trips the water off the stool, it goes BONGGGGG on the floor. He doesn't enjoy throwing that one around for some reason but he'd spent an hour chasing his steel food dish around on the kitchen floor if I let him (it's tip proof but that doesn't stop him from trying)


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

> Originally Posted By: Mersjust so we're clear doggie dad, as i said in the post as i was getting up to go clean it up he ran into the kitchen...its not like i left it there for hours or would want him to be hurt
> 
> its obvious he wasn't hurt and its obvious i wasn't serious about it serving him right. it was just a cute silly moment, and while online i thought i'd share it with you all...then you take your choice of words and perceived tone to lecture a relative new poster and what becomes the result? you end up running those new posters off the board.
> 
> choose the way you reply to people a little better, i realize you probably just see it as helping someone, but all you've managed to do is make me feel bad about sharing one of my moments with the community.


stop being so sensitve. there's absolutely nothing for you to feel bad about.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

my money is on Axxel. have the towels handy. the trough is going to Tipsville. LoL.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

my boy tipped his bowl more than once. then after brainstroming with the GF we decided to place the bowl on the kitchen counter after drank from it. i don't think we train them note to tip their bowls. i think they grow out of it. i'm going ask around and see if people with other breeds experienced the same thing.


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## SunCzarina (Nov 24, 2000)

You could just keep it in the sink.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

how did you get that picture of your dog? i guess he didn't hear you coming? my neighbor has a GSD that took the dishes out of the sink. she placed the dishes on the kitchen floor and licked them clean. none of the dishes were broken.


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## IliamnasQuest (Aug 24, 2005)

Before I got Trick from the breeder (12 years ago) I was warned that she was a "water dog" - and sure enough, she tried to climb in the water dish and had to get into every puddle, creek, lake and river she could! It didn't go away either. I managed to teach her not to get into her indoor water dish anymore but she is still crazy about water and loves to play in it. When I have the big water dish outdoors in the summer she'll still play in it.

The funniest thing I ever saw was my old cat who also loved to play in his water dish! If I used a small bowl, he would carefully stick his paw in, tug the dish and tip it over so he could watch the water roll along the floor. This was also the cat who loved to watch the toilet flush .. *LOL* .. he liked the spinning water! He would also join me in the shower when he was younger.

Even as an old cat, he'd push right between the dogs and join them at the communal water dish. By the time he got done drinking, he'd be covered with water from the dripping mouths of the shepherds. And when he was REALLY old (19 years, just a few months short of his death) he caught and killed a mouse in his pen (I had him separated from the dogs at that point because he was weak and easily knocked over). And he took that darn mouse and put it in his water pan, where I found it floating around. He was SO darned pleased with himself. Nineteen years old and still able to kill a mouse (and it was a clean kill - the mouse had teeth marks on it, so I know Raven didn't just hold it under water until it drowned .. *LOL*).

So the whole water bowl thing isn't just a shepherd trait. Raven always thought he was part dog, though. And since he was raised with shepherds, he was part of their "pack".

Melanie and the gang in Alaska


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## Smith3 (May 12, 2008)

I read this thread before I got Koch and she loves doing this (well she can't tip it over because she can't flip the bowl!

But, we feed her in her crate and she flips all her kibble on the ground of the crate before eating it lol


So glad I am not alone!


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