# dipping paws in water bowls



## cristofa (Aug 8, 2010)

does anyone have the same problem with their dog digging water out of there water bowl and making a mess with water all over the floor? why do they do this and how can it be stopped? my gran keeps going mad!


----------



## dOg (Jan 23, 2006)

Luckily, my monsters only do this outside, so I guess I've said "No!" inside often enough for it to sink in.


----------



## marcelo (Jul 6, 2010)

Halo dips his front paws in his water before he drinks, yuck!


----------



## armymp1014 (Aug 14, 2010)

ava does the same thing and i cant figure out why.the fist couple times i thought she was doing it to tell me she needed water but i gave her water and then she made a huge mess. she does the same thing in her kiddy pool. if any one knows why i would love to know


----------



## AvaLaRue (Apr 4, 2010)

My Ava does this ALL the time. I don;t know why. It's gotten to the point where I only put the water dish down when the dogs look at in on the counter and bark. Then I put it down, let them drink and pick it right back up.

That's the only solution I have found.

Armymp1014...how old is your Ava? My Ava is 6months.


----------



## cristofa (Aug 8, 2010)

hmm


----------



## JudynRich (Apr 16, 2010)

Both Bella and Mia did this as puppies-I put down a towel and the cat didn't like that so she sprayed it w/ urine-they all out grew it eventually!


----------



## Marissa (Dec 31, 2009)

JudynRich said:


> Both Bella and Mia did this as puppies-I put down a towel and the cat didn't like that so she sprayed it w/ urine-they all out grew it eventually!


I needed that laugh, although Im sure it wasn't funny for you at the time!! Obviously your cat didn't like the towel . My foster dog does this, although its not really dipping her paws in but rather digging and makes a HUGE mess!!! If anyone figures out how to discourage this please let me know


----------



## sagelfn (Aug 13, 2009)

Sage did this as a puppy. I stopped filling his water bowl and only putting in a small amount of water (if he drank it all I filled again with only a small amount of water). If he dug in it I told him uh uh (no) and I picked up the water and put it away until his attention was elsewhere. Eventually he grew out of it...well outside water bowls have about a 50/50 chance


----------



## Marissa (Dec 31, 2009)

LOL yeah I guess outside waterbowls are fair game


----------



## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

both my vet and the behavorist i talked to when my dog did it said they do it usually to splash water on their belly and chest to help cool themselves off and to have some fun at the same time. I wasnt able to break my female of but my male HATES water like a trip to the vet so he never did it. It took a couple YEARS to break my female of doing it inside but outside she couldnt be stopped. Some dogs grow out of it while others never do. You really just have to try training and if that doesnt work, well, find another method like suggested previously of water rashioning. If you control the amount in the bowl and are there when the bowl is emptied, refill til they're done and them empty the bowl. its a matter of finding what works for you. good luck


----------



## bellamia (Feb 7, 2010)

my mia used to do this quite often till she was about 10-12 mnths! so much mess! then she stopped and has never done it again!. she is now 18mnts old. what she will do occassionally though is (it drives me mad but its so cute!), she suddenly decides she wants to drink water where i am sitiing, tv room bedroom, upstairs whereever. so she picks up her full water bowl and brings it to where i am, in the process spilling over my persian rugs and then sets the bowl down to drink only to discover that there is no more water left in it! she looks so shocked that i have to fill it up for her!


----------



## bianca (Mar 28, 2010)

dOg said:


> Luckily, my monsters only do this outside, so I guess I've said "No!" inside often enough for it to sink in.


Same here


----------



## Mrs.K (Jul 14, 2009)

You mean like that?





That was the first day we brought him home. We didn't have a real waterbowl and had to go shopping for him the very same day. 

Anyhow, Zenzy and Yukon do it. With them I believe it's something they got used to because they lived outdoors their entire life, they just don't have manners when it comes up to drinking water. You can clearly see the difference between Indra, Yukon and Zenzy. 
Yukon and Zenzy not only put their paws into the water. Oh no, they bite and literally dive their nose into it. Creating a mess everywhere around them. 

I simply put the water dispender into the kitchen where we have more tile floor. I know I can't break them out of it anyway. 

Indra doesn't do it.


----------



## armymp1014 (Aug 14, 2010)

ava get both paws in there and starts diggin as if she was tryin to dig to china . it is very cute untill you see that she has made such a mess that the whole kitchen has to be mopped


----------



## bianca (Mar 28, 2010)

armymp1014 said:


> ava get both paws in there and starts diggin as if she was tryin to dig to china . it is very cute untill you see that she has made such a mess that the whole kitchen has to be mopped


She's just trying to help you keep the floor clean!


----------



## Stosh (Jun 26, 2010)

Seems pretty common, mine used to dig in the water bowl too when they were little. I bought an elevated feeding station so now they can't get their paws in the bowls. Outside bowls- forget about it!


----------



## armymp1014 (Aug 14, 2010)

i was thinking about making a elevated feeding station because the vet told me it is better for her to not have to lower her head to drink. i dont know if that is true but if i can keep from mopping the floor 3 times a day than i am on it.


----------



## Jax's Mom (Apr 2, 2010)

Jax does it 
All the boys in his litter at the breeder did it too!
In the summer months I keep the water bowl out on the deck off the kitchen and they ask to go out to drink/swim in the bowl. I even tried allowing them to drink out of one of the toilets we don't use but they started drinking out of the others so we stopped that. 
Then I tried placing the water bowl in the garage but the door is out of the way and I couldn't tell when they wanted water so it's in the kitchen again... sigh.
I've heard of people installing bedays in their house as dog bowls which is really cool because you can just change the water by flushing  I'd love to put one in the basement for that.
When we were looking at houses, we saw a house that just hooked up a toilet in the middle of the basement to the rough-in that houses usually have (with no walls around it) and everyone made fun of it except me... It was clearly a dog bowl lol.


----------



## Stosh (Jun 26, 2010)

My vet suggested the elevated bowls for Stosh especially because he would take a mouthful then walk away to chew it without bending over. It made quite a mess and he wasn't eating enough, now he just stands at the bowl and actually chews over it. I got one that's 12 inches high, it's supposed to hit the dog chest height but no higher.


----------



## DharmasMom (Jul 4, 2010)

Dharma does it outside. She will also put her whole face in the water bucket or kiddie pool. One of the trainers I talk to at the dog park told me that every GSD he has ever known has done this. They figure out that it is a way to keep cool. The pads of their feet and their muzzles are their "cool spots".


----------



## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

According to the theory of Lilie, some of the main blood vessels run through the legs. By standing in the cool water, it helps cool the body temperature down, but not shocking the system. Following this mind set, I took a plastic 55 gallon drum, cut it in two (a little more than half way down) and filled it with water. Hondo loves it, and will stand in the water for minutes at a time. 

We did try a baby pool, but he had nothing to do with it besides attempt to chew the sides off. The drum seems to satisfy his need to soak. He never steps in his indoor water. Nor does he step into the water bowls outside, he only utilizes his drum for his soaking pleasure.


----------



## CHawkins (Jul 12, 2010)

My pup has started doing this. I am going to purchase heavier feeding and water bowls. She thinks it's cute to spill water out of bowl and carry bowl in her mouth... a def no no! I know some people will put a clean rock in it to hold bowl down.


----------



## Shadow's mum (Mar 13, 2010)

Shadow does this to. We have an elevated feeder in the kitchen with a bath mat under it, to soak up her spills. Shadow will also take a mouthful of water and walk threw the kitchen into the lounge room dripping water every where.  Thank goodness we don't have carpet. I always thought it was all about keeping their body temps down as well, because I've noticed it's worse after she has done a lot of running around.
I wouldn't bother with the rock, it just gives them something now to dive and dig at. Shadow dumps rocks, balls, toys etc into her water- perhaps they need cooling off to.


----------



## Dennq (Jun 21, 2010)

My pup used to do this also. I picked up one of those plastic steps and put his water off of the floor. It stopped immediatly.


----------



## CaliBoy (Jun 22, 2010)

This is just a wild guess. But out in the wild dogs may have to dig for their water. It is instinct that if they find a stream or river bed that has dried up, they can dig and find some water just below the surface. Soooo, I wonder if the "digging" into the water bowl isn't part of an instinct that, once they have "found water," they start digging into it to make sure there will be a steady supply!


----------



## Konotashi (Jan 11, 2010)

OMG, I'm glad Ozzy isn't the only one! What sucks is, we have two of the huge auto-waterers with the jugs that you fill and they're right next to each other. He'll SIT in one of them, and have his front feet in the other one, drinking out of it. And he digs in it and plays in it and just has a blast. We don't get onto him for it though; we have tile. It's water. No big deal. lol

However, when we're upstairs in my room, he has a collapsible cloth water bowl that I put only a little bit of water in at a time and he doesn't play in that.


----------



## vat (Jul 23, 2010)

How old is your dog? Both my pups did it but they stopped at about 6-7 months old. I just kept telling them no!


----------



## CainGSD (Nov 15, 2003)

I have used a livestock feed bowl and placed their water bowl in it to contain spills.

Currently, we keep their water in the crates and Dazzle has a bucket that attaches to the wire and I keep it up higher so she doesn't seem to have theh urge to dig in it. Doc continued to dig even with the elevated bucket so for now he has a dog sized Lixit bottle that is attached to his crate. I am so hoping he will grow out of his need to dig to China.


----------



## GSD Mayhem (Aug 27, 2010)

My 5 month old Hans likes to paw the bottom of his water bowl outside and inside. Being part sponge, he also likes to lay in any of his spilled water. He also feels it is important to "bring" his water bowl when there is about 1/8 left. Of course a full bowl of water is very useful in blowing bubbles and filling up his nasal cavity just to watch it drain out on the floor. Extra towels are kept in strategic locations to mop up the spilled water.

These behaviors are already tapering off and I can tell that he is just discovering the world and how it works.


----------



## aarontfan (Mar 24, 2010)

Lulu does this too. She also likes to drop her toys in and then carry them around dripping water. I never thought about picking up the bowl, I guess because she is ALWAYS drinking water. I will try that and see if it helps keep the drool trails to a minimum!


----------



## Dennq (Jun 21, 2010)

GSD Mayhem said:


> My 5 month old Hans likes to paw the bottom of his water bowl outside and inside. Being part sponge, he also likes to lay in any of his spilled water. He also feels it is important to "bring" his water bowl when there is about 1/8 left. Of course a full bowl of water is very useful in blowing bubbles and filling up his nasal cavity just to watch it drain out on the floor. Extra towels are kept in strategic locations to mop up the spilled water.
> 
> These behaviors are already tapering off and I can tell that he is just discovering the world and how it works.


.


----------



## Frank (Sep 3, 2010)

I noticed this the other day from my 8 week old puppy Bella.

She started dipping her paws in the water bowl and watched the water drip from them.

She then decided to pull the bowl towards her and thought it was good fun seeing the water splash out from the sides onto the kitchen floor.

She did this about 8 times until the floor had a nice big puddle of water, thankfully we have stone tiles so it was easy to mop up.

When the wife came home from work I told her of Bella's new trick but she wasn't as amused as me and decided to fill her bowl with only small amounts of water!


----------



## bigD103 (Oct 20, 2011)

Our 10 week old puppy decided to knock over the gallon jug on the top of his water bowl and proceeded to running around and sliding in it. He has now figured out a way to keep himself entertained and Me and my wife appalled at the same time. Cute but annoying.


----------



## PaddyD (Jul 22, 2010)

I think of it as a puppy thing, just testing the 'environment'.
However
Dogs sweat through their paws and it probably feels good to get their feet wet.


----------



## ratchetsmom (Nov 14, 2011)

OMG....Ratchet did this last nite for the first time and I was like WTH.....I really do not like cleaning my kitchen floor but thanks for the help anyhow. (but cute regardless IMO)


----------

