How much water?

[Zen]

How much water should my puppy be getting a day? I put out her dish with about a quart of water for her both times a day when we feed her, and let her drink her fill before she goes out. Should I be bringing her some before every time we take her out? Currently we take her out at 7am, 11am, 2pm, 530pm, and 9pm because we are trying to get her trained to our schedule, and because shes a little big for our apartment and we want to make sure she gets plenty of exercise. The main reason I don't just leave water out for her is because we are trying to get her house training done, and well, she has a habit of shoving her nose in her water and dripping water everywhere around the house :P

[Binkalette]

I would never with hold water from a puppy.. It seems silly to prohibit her from drinking just so she will pee less/when you want her to. The only way to make sure she is drinking enough is to make sure water is available to her. If you want, you can take the water up a few hours before bed, to make it easier for her to hold during the night, but I would not take it away any other time.

We tried this for about 2 days with Zoey when she was a puppy.. Only putting her water down for 'x' amount of time 'x' times a day.. I knew it wasn't working when she crawled up on the end table and started drinking out of a vase of flowers. Puppies need water.. and they need it when they need it, not when you want them to.

EDIT: I just wanted to add, another reason for not with holding water like that is kidney/liver problems. There is this myth floating around about dogs, that if they eat too much protein they will get kidney failure and die. The truth of this myth, is that if a dog doesn't drink enough water to allow his body to process the protein, he may suffer kidney/liver failure.... Here is a pretty good page about it: http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index....e=protein_myth
and one about water in general: http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=water

[DogPaw]

If the dog isn't getting enough water she could also end up with a UTI. I always make sure my dogs have water at all times. As for shoving her nose in and dripping water all over, it's just water, my GSD would play in his water dish when he was a puppy. I did however take up the water dish a few hours before bed time.

[Herrick's Mommy]

Our puppy drinks a lot of water, and like Binkalette said, it's best not to withold their water. We had a small water bowl for him, but we would have to fill it up many times a day, so we ended up getting him the bowls that have the little gallons attached to make sure that he would always have plenty of water. As far as the dripping goes, it's just water and our mini drips a lot, which is fine by me and we have carpet all over. I know sometimes its a bit hard to take them out, but what we have found is that as long as we stick to a schedule, he knows and we usually take him out every 2 to 2.5 hours.

[skelaki]

You don't have to leave the water down at all times but offer it to her several times a day allowing her to drink her fill. She does not need water all night so it's perfectly ok to tak it up about 2 hours prior to bedtime. You're not rationing her water this way, you're just scheduling when she drinks so that you have a better idea as to when she'll need to be taken out.

[DogPaw]

You don't have to leave the water down at all times but offer it to her several times a day allowing her to drink her fill.

I believe that the water should be left out at all times. There is no way of knowing just how much water your pup needs. I've had pups that drink a lot and some that don't. Leaving the water dish down allows the pup to drink when she wants/needs a drink. I have never thought of putting their water dish up at any time other then at night when they were young.

[Michiyo-Fir]

I think you can just leave out a bowl of water for whenever she wants it. If you think she will pee too much then only remove it like 2-3 hrs before bed time.

Unless she's one to drink the entire bowl in one sitting, I would just leave it out. I actually have 3 bowls of water in different locations for my dogs.

[DogPaw]

I think you can just leave out a bowl of water for whenever she wants it. If you think she will pee too much then only remove it like 2-3 hrs before bed time.

Unless she's one to drink the entire bowl in one sitting, I would just leave it out. I actually have 3 bowls of water in different locations for my dogs.

She may start drinking all the water in one sitting if she knows that the owner is going to ration the water.

[Michiyo-Fir]

She may start drinking all the water in one sitting if she knows that the owner is going to ration the water.

Well since the owner is rationing the water right now anyways the dog may be doing it already.

I know a few people that leave water out all day and then remove it before bedtime and I haven't seen a dog that drinks all the water before bed because they think they won't get any until morning.

I personally just leave water out all the time day and night since my dogs are already potty trained and have no problems with potty schedule but I know some people that are trying to house train their dogs do limit water before bedtime.

[DogPaw]

I agree. I have always left the water dish down except for a couple of hours before bed. The op said she was only giving the dog so much water a couple of times a day. If thats the case then when the dog is given water it may be rather thirsty and wants to make sure she gets as much as she can while the water is there. And drinking lots of water at one sitting is not good for the dog. My pup is housebroken now also, so the water stays down 24/7

[Terradactyl]

Maybe you guys can help me......I have a 3 month old chocolate lab. He is 100% potty trained (hasnt had an accident in the house in a few weeks) He is crate trained and he only goes in his crate when we are not home. Mostly about 3 hours a day. He has water down all day long and drinks maybe a bowl of water a day. We started picking up his bowl about 8pm so that we could take him out about 10 or 1030 when we go to bed. He sleeps in our room with us. The last few days, he has been waking up crying after about 4 hours. When I take him outside, he is so thirsty that he licks the concrete, the grass, the humidifier.....etc. If I give him a small bowl of water at 2am he will drink the whole thing. He will not sleep until he gets something to drink and he used to sleep all night. Should we leave the water down a little bit longer? He doesnt act so thirsty all day so I dont think its a medical problem.....any help is appreciated. Thanks, Terra

[DogPaw]

I would imagine he is waking up because he has to potty not because he is thirsty. I would still put the water dish up at 8. When he wakes up at 2 am and goes out to potty, I see nothing wrong with giving him a small amount of water. That should satisfy him until you get up in the morning.