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Water - Limited or no?

2K views 10 replies 11 participants last post by  Megora 
#1 ·
Our pup will be 11 weeks tomorrow. We are still working on housebreaking although he does seem to be getting the hang of it. One thing that's become a question of mine is his access to water. I've read that water should never be limited—even as a puppy—but I've also read the opposite. For the three weeks we've had him, we've given him water at each of his three daily meals and when he's playing outside. Other than that, we keep it pretty limited to avoid in-house accidents (the little guy can go several times in a matter of minutes!). However, over the past few days, he's seemed a little constipated and his stool has had some mucus in it. I've read this could be due to not having enough water. This morning, I left water out for him to have it at any point; however, he's had two accidents in the house after I just took him out! I definitely don't want him to be thirsty.

Suggestions on how often to give water? What's been a good balance for you?
 
#2 · (Edited by Moderator)
I have water available at all times from 5am to 8pm. Final outing is around 10.

Generally, if water is freely available, dogs will drink a little at a time so you just bring pups outside a few minutes after they have drunk. If water is rarely available, they might very well drink an entire bowl in a single sitting.

That said, dogs need water. Once my dogs are older, water is not refilled after 10 until the next morning, but is refilled until then. But with 4 goldens, they don't usually drink more than 3 bowls between them in a 24 hour period - if you feed kibble more water is also needed (i feed raw so that has water content as well).
 
#3 ·
Our pup is 5-months old and has access to water all day. At bedtime, typically around 11PM, she is in our room with no access to water. However, she is given it again for the day around 6:30AM. We haven't noticed it making her go more- and while she will still have a sporadic, random accident- she does quite well with having access all day.
 
#4 ·
Initially, I kept water available to my puppy all day, except after 2 hrs before bedtime. Now I just leave water out all the time. Puppies need to drink water throughout the day in my opinion. Plus, drinking a ton of water with a meal might increase the risk for bloat. Also, I feel sick to my stomach if I drink a ton of water when I eat a meal, so I feel like the same probably applies to my dog.

My approach to puppy ownership is that avoiding "in house accidents" is my responsibility, not my puppy's. I wouldn't intentionally withhold water to prevent my puppy from peeing in the house. You avoid accidents by taking your dog out as frequently as they need to go. Even if thats every 10-20 min. If I want to teach her to hold it, I put her in her crate. The only way my dog can tell me she is thirsty is by drinking. She should have the ability to drink water any time she feels thirsty and is out of her crate, just like I have access to a water faucet. It's my responsibility to provide her with every possible opportunity to learn that outside is for pottying.

Also, its VERY common for puppies to pee several times in a few minutes. They aren't good at emptying their entire bladder at first. So when you take them outside, you generally want to keep them out and walk them a bit, and give them a chance to pee a few times to make sure their bladder is very empty. I would rather take my dog out more frequently than restrict their access to water and risk them getting dehydrated. It definitely causes constipation, but makes them feel crappy and also can be dangerous.
 
#5 ·
Kaizer has always had water available, except we picked it up 2 hours before bedtime when he was a puppy. He never drank too much water at one time, so I never noticed him needing to go out more often, but we also stuck to a really really strict potty schedule. We took him out after he woke up, after he ate or drank, after he played, after he chewed something, after he got excited, and every 30 minutes otherwise. I wouldn't have noticed if he needed to go more often or not because we were going out so often anyway.
 
#7 ·
My breeder with held water, in fact when I picked my girl up at 12:30pm she had not had water since 6:30am. This was her way of avoiding puddles on pick up day. But it also explains why my pup came with a UTI. Those little bladders need water to flush out their system.

I leave water down at all times. Sipsy sort of cuts herself off at 8pm. We usually take a walk about 7:30pm and one last potty break around 9pm. All my pups start dropping like flies around 8:30pm.

Even with the UTI she was pretty much sleeping through the night and accident free by 4 months. I will say the 4/5 weeks of house training were exhausting as I choose not to use a crate. It's hard to train a pup to "hold it" when they have a UTI, they feel the urge to go all the time. So we went out... all the time. A few weeks is a small price to pay for a lifetime of love.
 
#9 ·
I only lifted the water an hour or two before bed - and only for the first week or two. I didn't leave water in her crate when I went back to work (when she was 12 weeks old), but she always had water when she was out.
 
#10 ·
For just the first few weeks I would take the water away about 45minutes before bed time. We live in Arizona and even with the heat we spent alot of time outside so I would never limit his water. I always figured if the puppy had an accident it wasn't the puppies fault it was my fault for not understanding when he needed to go outside. Also a great alternative at bed time is a ice cube if u think he's thirsty.
 
#11 ·
With Bertie - I limited water a little bit. But that was primarily because he would zero in on his water bowl and knock it over while trying to climb in... :)

Our collie needs limited water because he does not "know" when to stop drinking. He will drink a whole bowl of water. And then he will have minor accidents... he's a 12 year old dog so we aren't going to "change" him. We only can verify there is nothing wrong with him internally. :)

Otherwise - no. We have water bowls all around the house for the goldens and the cat. They all drink whenever they are thirsty - and usually that's throughout the day and even during the night.
 
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