Here's a new one: Afraid of water bowl?
 

Has your dog every shown reluctance to drink out of its water bowl? I'm not talking about not seeming thirsty -- I'm talking about backing away, barking at his water dish and needing reassurance or coaxing to get him to drink.

Eddie, 7, has been doing just that lately, and I've never noticed it before the last month or so. There have been no changes in his water dish or water quality or even where he drinks.

I've wracked my brain to try to figure out what it is. I've tried changing dishes. I've tried changing sources of the water (we use bottled, but I tried tap). Nothing seems to help. After taking a few sips, he backs away, barks if I'm not there and only tenuously returns to the bowl.

My wife came up with the best guess -- she wonders if he's getting water in his nose when he drinks. Yorkie snouts are so short, maybe there's something to it.

The only change I can think of is that I recently let him drink out of my hands while on a therapy visit to the hospital and forgot his bowl. He was real thirsty and lapped it up, no hesitation. Maybe he's decided that's his preferred method of drinking?

Thought I'd put it out there in case it's not just an isolated incident.

I've had a couple of similar things happen, but I'm not sure either matches what's going on with Eddie. Maybe they'll give you some ideas to help though.

Becca became afraid of eating out of her food bowl a few years ago. Poor little girl, she'd edge forward and then jump back whimpering she was so scared. I changed dishes, locations, everything and nothing helped.....until I tried a metal dish with rubber on the bottom. I figured out that the other dishes were sliding slightly on the smooth floor and making just enough noise that it frightened her.

Then Alexander became afraid of the water bowl a year or so after that. I got lucky when I switched out the shiny stainless steel bowl for a porcelain/ceramic one and that solved the problem. He was in the early stages of losing his sight (old age) and I think the shiny metal was startling him when he drank.

I hope you find out what's going on with Eddie soon.

Did his water bowl get knocked over or into and maybe make a noise that startled him?

Max went through this when we used stainless steel bowls. I tripped over the bowls a couple of times and made a lot of noise. Things improved when we changed to glass bowls. He is still leery walking between the 2 stainless steel kibble bowls (all of the dishes are in the passageway to the kitchen, terrible place, but that is where they like their stuff).

Eddie's thoughts may be different considering he is growling at the bowl.

Max was afraid of his reflection in the stainless steel water bowl too.

The kibble leaves enough "grease" or something to make his food dish less reflective. He prefers eating off of our porcelain plates.

The ideal for us would be to put ceramic on a rubber mat. I should do that.

It sounds like he just likes your hands. lol

..but if he is getting it in his nose, maybe a water bottle would help.

Good ideas, you guys. Thanks! I did notice just now that the rubber liner on the metal bowl has slipped off, partially. Maybe it is occasionally moving on him. And, yes, it frequently gets bumped and could have scared him. I don't know if I have a good alternate location for it, but I'll give it some thought.

I think I'll also try a porcelain bowl. The alternate one I gave him was plastic. Hmm, just saw Crystal's post. Maybe I will try a water bottle too.

The barking isn't aggressive. It's more like the bark he gives me when he wants something from me -- to go outside, to eat, etc. He's asking for help.

Neither one of mine have shown fear of bowls, but we do use a water bottle. Jada would occasionally get choked when I was giving them water from a bowl. The water bottle works perfect for us and an added bonus is no wet facial hair.
I hope you can figure out a way that will work for Eddie.

Really?????

We've been having an issue with Ellie. When she drinks too much or too fast, she chokes and coughs. Actually just talked to her nutritionist about it and we're going to try a few things. Her vet wants me to try a bottle. Was it easy to train her to use it?

What kind of water bottle do you use? Something like this?

Lixit Water Bottle for Large Dogs at PETCO

Oh Mike....Razz says he knows what the problem is. Eddie is trying to tell you, he wants one of those recirculating fountain things. So a trip to the pet supply store is in order, where you can pick up some tasty treats while you're there:p

lol....who knows why they do what they do. I've got one that will eat only in the living room or on my bed, another that prefers her bowl on her bed. Two that will drink out of the pet fountain, the others are afraid of it. I don't dare let a bowl move while they are using it though, as that spooks them all.

Hopefully switching to a different bowl will help Eddie. Good luck!:)

This is the size I use Amazon.com: Quick Lock Flip Top Water Tank With... , but with Lucy I am sure the bigger size would be more effective for you. It took literally seconds to get Jada and Bogie to use it when we first got it. I put a tiny dab of peanut butter on the spout and that is all it took.

Thanks, I think I'll give it a try. And Lucy is too slobbery. I keep her away from the Yorkie water bowls!

My son has a Chocolate Lab that was sick with a fever a couple of years ago. They took him to the vet and they put him on an antibiotic. He had a bad reaction to the antibiotic and started having seizures. It went on for a while because the vet thought the seizures were caused by the fever and not the medication. Anyway, when he was finally getting better he started staring at the water in his bowl and barking at it. They assumed he was seeing his reflection in the water but were not sure about it. When he was sick they had tried to get him to drink more water but this activity started after he was getting better. Don't know what caused it but he did stop after a week or two. That is the only time I have seen a dog act like that.

I try to get Gracie to drink more water by giving her a drink out of a water bottle that I pour slowly into a clean bowl. I have one of those pop up drinking caps on the bottle. She loves it. I know it's a bit strange but it gets her kidneys flushed out.

My old Jazzy was freaky about all sorts of things...one of the things that scared her is when her tag clinked the water bowl? Did you change her collar or tags? When her vision started to fail her she was scared of dark corners and reflective things too.

More good suggestions. Thanks, everybody.

Eddie's tags are attached to his harness, and he doesn't wear that in the house. I thought of the reflection, too, but couldn't solve it short of moving the water bowl. I'm liking the water bottle idea. It might be just "special" enough for him to like it.