I have one of the automatic watering bowls and Natalie would drink out of it and when it starts girgling, she would back up and bark at it. It took her a while to get use to it but now it don't bother her. My point is it could be anything that is scaring him so all the ideals on here are great!

Very surprising that a super smart well trained Yorkie like Eddie would have a phobia of any kind.:D

I like the porcelain material too, its easy to clean and no scarry reflections.

Ha, Shawn :) Eddie has his quirks -- I just don't brag about them as much ;p

Porcelain is sounding better all the time. I bought a water bottle, but it's one that attaches to a crate. I don't crate him. I suppose I could tape it to something, but it also leaks. And Eddie isn't crazy about it. I could teach him, but the leaking is an issue.

I had the same problem with the water bottle I used for my bunny. When you fill it, put the cover on and leave it facing down and push the bally thing up with your finger letting some of the water out. That seemed to make the proper vacuum it needed so it wouldn't leak. I returned a few before I realized I had to do this. Try it, I hope it works.

Good luck with Eddie. My Wally was afraid of the stainless bowl also. He saw his little reflection and it scared him :rolleyes:

Thanks, I'll give it a try. My technique of leaving it on its side on the kitchen counter didn't go over too well with my wife.

You could always go to a ceramics studio and have them cast your hands and make a ceramic water bowl out of them....:D

Maybe have the vet check his vision....

Genius on the porcelain bowl hand thing! And I will do the vision check, because it's just odd. He's not dehydrating or anything, it's just sad to see him struggling at it.

Afraid of water bowl
 

Hi
My 7 year old Yorkie began being fearful of her water bowl about 6 months ago. She actually did the same thing about a year ago with her food bowl. That one I figured out. I noticed when she was eating the tiny little charm on her collar hit the bowl and freaked her out. My solution for this was and is to always take her collar off just before each meal. As I said about 6 months ago she started doing the same thing with the water bowl. Unfortunately having her collar off did nothing to calm her fear. Lucy when she will go near her water bowl will get as far away as possible leaning forward just enough to get a sip. I know she is still thirsty because then she backs up and barks at looks at me, LIKE HELP! I feel so badly because her fear is so real. I have changed bowls, locations, raised the bowl, etc. just about anything you can think of. If I bend down and hold her water bowl under her chin she will lap it all up. I even tried for days to come,rely ignore the situation. Everyone saying when she is thirsty enough she will drink. Well yes she will but not enough and she is so afraid, I feel so badly. The fact that she barks while looking at me just kills me. LUCY never barks at anyone or anything so I know thus fear is real. Anybody have a clue what else I might do?

As far as you know she is healthy, right? Not having any seizure like activity where she stares into space for a while or any other strange behavior?

If you are quite sure she is healthy and her vision is good then you could try one of the many other watering devices available for dogs. There are battery operated fountain like water devices. They make free standing water bottle holders for dogs.
If you do an internet search for "free standing water bottle stand" you will find a variety of different ideas.

Other than that you could work with her on her fear. Sit with her and try helping her to see that the water is not going to hurt her. She may have had some experience where she got water in her nose that may have scared her and she now needs some "therapy."

I once had a little dog that would not drink out of a water bowl because he found that if he got in the bath tub after someone took a shower there was water that would drip out of the faucet. That tuned into a lifelong love of fresh water. He would jump in the tub whenever we were in there and wait for us to turn a small stream of water on for him to drink.:rolleyes:

Sounds like someone got spoiled daddy feeding outof hand. Itdoes not take long when its something they like. Thats any breed. We made the mistake of feeding our pap by hand she had to have daddy feed her not mom. She is broke since we have boo. Try giving it to her like you. Did before see if she takes it. This may have already been suggested if so ignore.

Could her hair be getting wet ? And she dont like it. My pap hates wet feet she touches the ground like ewwww. Just a thought

Piper inevitably 'chokes' after drinking. I'm intrigued to hear of these water bottles...Why do they work? And how would I go about teaching/training and/or encouraging Piper to use the water bottle? I learn so much (pretty much on a daily basis) all of which is enlightening and helpful.

my last yorkie went through a period where out of the blue he was afraid of his water bowl. He would stalk it, splash the water out of it, jump back suddenly from it, never figured out why other than he liked licking the water up from the floor after he splashed it out. It drove me crazy since I always had a puddle of water on my wood floor, then he started tipping the bowl over and dragging it around at that point I started doing everything to keep him from being able to move or splash it, I went through about 5 water dishes and several place mats until I came up with a combo that worked. I bought a heavy ceramic dish set that was raised in a metal stand, then I found a rubber place mat with a lip that sort of suctioned to the floor, so he could not drag the place mat around or pull the metal stand off the placemat, and since the rack was placed in the middle of the placemat it made it hard for him to splash the water out, because he would have had to stand half on the placement, eventually he gave up and drank from the bowl like normal. He also went through a period where he would not eat his food out of a bowl or a dish, he was thin and picky on what he ate, so he had to have wet food each day and what a PITA to have to keep putting that on the floor, someone suggested a piece of saran wrap which worked but then he pulled that all over the house, then I would cut a small paper plate to be the same size as the food and eventually I kept letting more of the plate show until I no longer had to trim it, that quirky behavior lasted over 6 months. LOL this is one of the reasons I wound up getting a yorkie mix this time, some of these purebreds sure have some high strung behaviors.

Interesting, I'll have to experiment like that. I'm the OP on this thread of THREE YEARS AGO, and I'm amazed it's common enough that the thread is still going strong!

Surprisingly enough, Eddie stopped being afraid of his water bowl after about six months, then went a couple years with no problems. Suddenly, just recently, he started doing it again! He will bark when he's thirsty and won't drink until I go there and encourage him.

Then, when he drinks, he just slips his tongue in along the corner of the ball and takes a few slurps, then backs away before he goes again.

Drives me bananas that I can't figure it out. Maybe a raised bowl will work.

could he have a tooth ache? cold water on the tooth, gives him a little tingle? IDK