Water Question
 

Any ideas on how I could get my little Dolly to drink more water, she just doesn't seem to drink a lot of water,my twin sister also has a yorkie and hers drinks lot of water

You could add a tiny bit of low salt chicken broth.

Oh thanks I will do that

My yorkies do not drink a lot of water - but they get what they need. I read somewhere (in dog fancy I think) you should figure on your dog needing about an ounce of water per pound per day. Not sure how accurate that is, but it seems about right when I figure the weight of my babies and the amount of water they take (mine are 4.5 and 6.5 pounds).

Not to try to scare you or your sister, but my previous yorkie drank a lot more water - I did not really notice it, the dog sitter mentioned it to me (it seemed normal to me, but..) I mentioned it to the vet and turns out she was in the early stages of renal failure.

Could also depend on what you are feeding little Dolly. Can food has water in it and will reduce the water intake.

My advice is to not worry about it. Your pup will drink when it needs to. This was recently covered on an episode of Dog Whisperer. A dog's owner was so distraught over how much food and water the dog was taking in that it actually CAUSED the problem of the dog not drinking and eating. When the dog was at a friend's house, it had no problems whatsoever.

All you need to do is make sure you provide clean, fresh water and food, then just leave your dog to it.

ETA - I notice that Oz does not like filtered water as much as tap water, so now I mix it half and half. But I never try to get him to eat or drink anything, and he is doing great. I think, though, that many yorkies are sparse eaters and drinkers.

My boys started drinking more water when I switched from stainless steel bowls to glass bowls. They have their preferences I suppose just like I do. :)

I think an ounce of water a day is a little low even for a small dog. There are 16 ounces in a standard water bottle, so an ounce isn't much. Not sure how much is ideal.

I do a couple of things. It's the hot weather I put a second bowl of water out for them. Then I will usually tell them to drink water when we come back in from out walks, especially on warm days. It does work. I tell them to, "drink water or get water" and the will do so. I just started doing it one day after a walk on a hot day and they've listened ever since. It's like it made them feel better so they know that when I tell them, it will be something good for them.

Sometimes where we get to playing, I will tell them to go get some water and they will. If I am doing tricks and treating them, I make them go get water also.

They just learned to listen about drinking water when I tell them to. They make just take on lap of it but they go and drink at least. lol

My mom's Bichon was needing to drink more water. The vet said that bowls that are white encourage them to drink more. He also suggested placing more water bowls around the house because if she sees it, she might "think to drink" more than if she just had the bowl in her regular spot.

I agree with this and I do the same with my boys. They know "water" the same way they know "treat." When we are out walking, I will say, "Ready to go get some water?" They start licking their lips and head for the house. :)

I praise them when they take a drink from their bowls. Dad complained jokingly that he has to praise water going in and water coming out. :p

An ounce per pound, but still doesn't seem like much. My 3 go through a gallon a week.

I feed my dog a dehydrate food. I have tried rehydrating it for her but she prefers it dry so I have to find ways to get her to drink more water. I always drink bottled water and never gave a thought about giving it to my dog until lately. I have one of those plastic water bottle caps you put on water bottles to drink out of that you push up to open and push down to close it. It keeps me from spilling water all over when I knock the bottle over. Anyway, I noticed Gracie licking the bottle top a couple of times so I decided to try to get her drink from the bottle. My cats always want to drink out of the bathroom sink or bath tub faucet. Animals always prefer fresh water. So I got a bowl and started pouring the water slowly out of the bottle into the bowl and she liked it! Now she drinks from the stream of water as it comes out as I pour it into the bowl and then she will drink what is in the bowl. She is getting so much more water now and her urine is less concentrated than it was. I can tell because the urine stains on the pee pad is almost clear instead of the darker yellow she had before. It is good to have clear urine. It means the kidneys and bladder and being flushed out as they should be. The little plastic water caps for drinking out of really help to control how much water is coming out of the bottle as she drinks.

Mine drinks A LOT! Especially after play. Maybe try adding a hint of apple juice.

I don't know if this will help, but our friends own horses and her horse wouldn't drink. Her horse then had MAJOR problems vet bills sky high.SOOO many issues. Now, they have to add a little apple juice to make him drink. Hope this helps!

I put crushed ice in her bowl, then add water. She always comes running for a drink when she hears me.