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Originally Posted by orinskye my baby is six months old, and crate trained and pee pad trained...... but i could NEVER take water away from him and just give it to him at intervals  . . . i do feed toby on a schedule but that is mostly because he is a pig, but water !!!  i would never take water away from him |
Really? We have paid proofessional dog trainers to train our dogs and they told us to control these sources, even water. Of course, if your pup is thirsty, you giv them water, but if you know you are leaving right then, you wouldn't give your pup a ton of water, because he'll pee and you won't be there to let him out..unless you put him in his crate and make him hold it.
Our trainers have stressed to us, though , that you should not leave the water out all day for them, just as we don't drink constantly. Also, this establishes your "power" as their master, so that they know you are in control; you control the food and water supply. It is not to keep them thirsty, just to control their bathroom problem. It also establishes a potty schedule; if they know they'll get water at 8 am, 12 pm, 4 pm, and 8pm, they will drink a lot more when they get it, because they know how long it will be until their next water break.
This is not torture! However, if you feel you cannot do this to your pup, then I hope you have another way to control his potty breaks. Either he will control you with his potty schedule (ie; at his leaisure), or you control him and he will do it on your time. This sounds stern, but my trainers have assured me. In fact, they cut off water to the dogs water 3 hours before bed-time, and food 5 hours before! They said dog's bodies aren't like ours, they don't need the food and water as often as we do (humans should eat every 3-4 hours max).
If a pup should drink 2 cups of water per day, it doesn't matter if he does it all day long or only 3-4 times per day; he'll get all of his water!
Don't worry, I am very kind to my dogs!
