The right water bowl

Picking the right water bowl may seem trivial, but since this blog is dedicated to enhancing the joy of puppies and living with puppies, I want to touch on this subject. As discussed many times, there are indeed both breed and individual differences in behavior, and these will impact your choice (and ease of care) when selecting a water bowl.

But before we go into water bowl differences, let's start with the universal information you need.

• Access to clean, fresh water for your puppy is VITAL! Water should be changed at least once a day.
• At least once a week, or more if soiled, clean the water bowl.
• Use an anti-bacterial soap and make sure you rinse thoroughly.

Also... If the bowl was a) used by other dogs before, or b) became soiled because your puppies either pooped or peed in the water, or c) your puppies are sick (this includes both respiratory and gastro-intestinal illnesses), you should sterilize the bowl before offering it back to your puppies.

• This can be easily accomplished by soaking the bowl in a solution made of 3/4 cup of household liquid bleach to each gallon of clean water.
• After the bowl is cleaned as described above, soak it in the bleach solution.
• Make sure the bowl is submerged and soaked for at least 10 minutes.
• Rinse thoroughly! This is very important. Then allow to air dry if possible.
• I like to purchase 2 bowls and alternate using one and cleaning/sterilizing the other

Okay, back to differences. Differences between size, breeds and individuals translate in differences in how they treat their water bowls. And things to be considered.

1) One of the first things to realize is that most puppies will soon begin to consider the water bowl as a toy. Because of this, I like to use water bowls that can't easily be picked up or tipped over. Bowls like these to the right and left, have a rim that makes it easy to pick up and/or tip over. This is true regardless of whether the bowls are made of plastic, ceramic or metal. The metal ones can become irritating noise makers as well.

Even if they don't have a rim, they can be possible be knocked over, picked up and tossed around.

To prevent bowls being knocked over, I recommend bowls with sloped sides for puppies. The rounded rim also makes it hard to pick up.

Plastic, hard rubber and aluminum and ceramic bowls are easier to clean and sterilize, but ceramic bowls have a higher chance of breaking into dangerous shards when dropped.  However, sometimes a puppy or group of puppies can get ambitious and pick up even a sloped aluminum bowl. In those cases, a very heavy sloped ceramic bowl may be your best bet.  Just be sure that you choose one that is heavy-duty and non-breakable.

Also note that nothing is fool-proof. There will be puppies who can figure out how to knock over bowls that even you have trouble picking up and tipping over. That's why I like to opt for plastic sloped bowls to eliminate both the breakage and noise factor.

2) Size of the bowl is very important as well. Some puppies like to get way into the bowl, putting both front paws (or sometimes all four paws) into the water. Bowls that are too large can be dangerous. Bowls that are too small will mean you have to check them more often during the day.

3) One litter of four Scottish Terrier mix puppies that I had had two male pups who loved to 'dig' in the water dish until it was empty. It was impossible to keep fresh water available for the litter. I used a water bottle like the one pictured below.

This is also a great option to use when housing your puppy in a crate when traveling.

When selecting water dishes, another thing to be aware of is that puppies aren't always careful. Dishes that are lower can get poop and even pee into them. One way to avoid this if it keeps recurring is to get an elevated water dish, or simply elevating the dish by placing it securely on a platform. I have duct-taped water bowls to the top of a small cardboard box weighted down inside with bricks. This makes it difficult to clean the bowls so having multiples is helpful.