Water dish dumping

[Sirrahsim]

I am going to have a million questions because I know next to nothing about dogs. I've always fancied myself a cat person!

Is it usual for a pup to stick her feet in her waterbowl and overturn it? Is there anything I can do to discourage this? As I understand it serious training will have to wait until she is a little older but what behaviors might I be able to correct?

[jackie]

Tito did it when he was a puppy too, I think it is just a play thing. Not too sure how to correct it, maybe get one of those bases that raise the bowl off the ground and stabilize it?

[Cinder & Smoke]

Is it usual for a pup to stick her feet in her waterbowl and overturn it?

Quite normal!
Dawgs, Kats, they're ALL wired to think of the water bowl as an Approved Entertainment Center!

First Shepherd Pup Casey, and BOTH Kats (when they were Kittens) could NOT wander past
the water bowl without responding to the hidden voice within the bowl that called out
"Hey - Lil Kid - come here and *splash* a bit!"

I swear that for the first 6 months the Pup and Kittens ALL walked around
with soggy paws - and the kitchens were always awash from overturned bowls!
They all seemed to enjoy sitting at the bowl and reaching over with one paw to *SMACK*
it down on the surface - no matter HOW wet they got from the resulting tidal wave!

[Lori Jordan]

It sure makes a mess dont't it lol!

Lacy is still doing that,and she will be 5 years old in July.

She started this thing were she would bring me down the waterbowl to let me know it was empty,Well now it is a game to her,So she will dump it right after i fill it.


Hopefully the pup will grow out of it,Lacy has poured water down the basement stairs umpteen times.

[Taz_Zoee]

Zoee never tipped her water bowl. But I think they make bowls that are "supposedly" tip proof.
Here are some links I found:
http://www.amazon.com/No-Tip-Mirror-Finish-Poodle-Cocker/dp/B0007ST8Y4/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1202665326&sr=1-8 ]mirror finish[/URL]
Stainless Steel
They are basically the same dish, but I guess the idea is the bottom needs to be larger than the top. But I'm sure water can still be splashed out, it just might be a bit more difficult to actually turn over the whole dish.

[Cinder & Smoke]

I think they make bowls that are "supposedly" tip proof.
I guess the idea is the bottom needs to be larger than the top.

... it just might be a bit more difficult to actually turn over the whole dish.

We thought that too ...

Casey would "herd" the "tip-proof" water bowl into a corner of the kitchen ...
then spend as long as it took to <wedge> her nose under the big base ...
as soon as she got her nose under it <<FLIP>> and there was soggy kitchen carpet AGAIN!

[Sirrahsim]

LOL I guess I will just put her bowl on a cookie sheet and keep towels handy

[k9krazee]

As I understand it serious training will have to wait until she is a little older but what behaviors might I be able to correct?

First of all, Congrats on your new puppy.

Secondly, serious training does NOT have to wait until she's older. I'd start now when she's small and managable to learn the basics. The basics would include walking nicely on a leash (much easier now than when she's 50+ pounds!), learning to sit, stay and lay down and a good solid recall. She also needs a ton of socialization at this point and I'd start taking her to parks, pet stores, etc..that is assuming she's done with her puppy shots. I would also HIGHLY recommend enrolling her in a puppy class. Not only will she start learning basic commands but you'll also learn how to train her and she'll get the much needed socialization from the other dogs and people.

Good luck! She's a cutie, and I'm excited to watch her grow!

[Twisterdog]

I have a lot of dogs in the boarding kennel that do this. Get what is sometimes called a "spaniel bowl" ... named because the sloping sides help to keep spaniels long ears out of the water. They sell nice big stainless steel ones at Walmart here. These are much more difficult, but not impossible, to tip.

I agree that it is NOT too early to start training. Tell her no when she starts to play in the water, distract her with a toy, and praise her when she diverts her attention to the toy. You can also start teaching the "Leave It!" command here.

[BC_MoM]

I love training puppies... their brains are like sponges!

Anyway... this is typical puppy behaviour, as already mentioned. Jersey LOVED to do this, but grew out of it. Her knew thing is pick her favourite toy, drop it in the bowl, take it out... and bring it to me to play fetch.

[Sirrahsim]

Do you know of any goo dresources for me to look into that will teach me HOW to train her? I bought "Puppies for Dummies" but it doesn't really have anything that is specific to puppy training. She has had one combination shot that says: "canine distemper-adenovirus type 2 coronavirus-parainfluenza-parvovirus vaccine, leptospira bacterin... Since she has had that can I bring her out to Petsmart or wherever?? I'm calling the vet when they open to schedule her initial eval and spay and all that good stuff.

[Cinder & Smoke]

resources for me to look into that will teach me HOW to train her?

She has had one combination shot that says: "canine distemper-adenovirus type 2 coronavirus-
parainfluenza-parvovirus vaccine, leptospira bacterin ...
Since she has had that can I bring her out to Petsmart or wherever??

A formal "Puppy Class" will be good for both of you - YOU learn the How-To of basic training;
and Puppy learns to socialize with other lil Dogs and other Humans in the class.
The Pup won't be ready for Agility when she *graduates* from "Kindergarden",
but she should tag along pretty well on a leash and be responding to some basic commands.

Puppy shouldn't go ANYwhere till her new Vet has reviewed her vaccination record and
possibly given her the second round of Puppy Shots. ASK the Vet!
Most Training Classes won't allow non-vaccinated pups on the property -
how many sets of shots they require varies ... again - ASK the Vet.

Some might not think too much of "The Doctors Foster & Smith" ... but they DO collect
some pretty informative materials - Here's one compiled from many sources that
speaks to the Puppy Shots issue >>>
http://www.peteducation.com/article....&articleid=960

Read their presentation; then discuss it with Pup's New Vet.

[K9karen]

LOL I guess I will just put her bowl on a cookie sheet and keep towels handy

Thanks for unknowingly bringing back funny, loveable memories of Cody!

I thought it was 'cause he was a water lovin' yellow lab/golden retreiver that he tipped over..more like FLIPPED over his water bowl all the time! I had jokingly mentioned it to the trainer in class, and when Cody headed over to the community water bowl, she'd yell out "Karen! Keep an eye on him"! Many lessons were spent with my mopping up the floor!

I bought a "boot mat" to put under his bowls, but water still gets on the floor. *Sigh* The "Bounty" manufacturer loved me.

I looked at it this way "could be worse". and thankfully, it wasn't!