We’ve been through a lot of messy drinking dog bowls to try to contain the damage and protect the floors and walls from our eager water drinker. Since none of the many messy drinking dog bowls resolved all our concerns, we researched and tried alternative solutions for sloppy drinking dogs.
After experimenting with a variety of scenarios and situations to help our own circumstances, I’ve come up with the following tips and observations for when your dog is a messy water drinker. I hope they help you as much as they have helped me.
Solutions for Sloppy Drinking Dogs
Damage to Floors
- Solutions for water damage to floors by messy drinkers have been pretty well covered. Just take a look at Amazon for their “mats for dogs water” and you’ll come across plenty of them.
Damage to Walls
- Laugh if you will, but the main solution we’ve come up with having to do with damage to walls is to simply put up some Contact paper (otherwise known as peel-and-stick or self-adhesive paper) on the wall surrounding the water bowl. Believe or not, this worked beautifully. It was inexpensive, and it now comes in many colors and designs. Some of the designs look like distressed wood, black wood, brick, marble, or even matte-finish clear! If you go this route, be sure to test the stickiness out in an inconspicuous location on your wall to ensure it is removable without causing damage. I recommend leaving it there a week and then coming back to check and see if it is still sticking nicely, and that if you pull it off gently, there is no damage.
Your Pup’s Well-Being
- Make sure there is always water available. If your dog has been outside chasing butterflies on a warm day, it makes sense that they may come in and gulp down the water. Having an abundance of fresh water available to them can help avoid the need to consume it immediately.
- Also, consider where you water your dog. Does he or she do better with it in private, like a quiet corner? Or do they really like to be able to keep an eye on things and want it to be out more in the main flow of the home? Sometimes a dog will rush to drink, I think to be able to hurry up and spend time with its loving owners. Test out a variety of locations to see what works best for your dog.
Dog Bowl Solutions
In addition to the water bowls for sloppy dogs that I wrote about in a separate post, there are other types of bowls that can help to eliminate water from damaging your floors and walls whereas those usually focus on limiting the water in some way (pressure applied, by amount at a time, etc)
- One, in particular, we haven’t tried yet but I’m itching to (though the water trays and Contact paper have been proving to be an easy win, so far) is the Neater Feeder Deluxe with Leg Extensions. It has a lip around the edges to catch water splashes along with a drainage dish for easy maintenance. Plus, its dishwater safe.
Dog Behavior
- There are some suggestions to put ice cubes or toys in your dog’s water to have them drink slower but, to me, this seems like it would either potentially be unappealing for the dog to have too cold of water, and two, that the toys may just become a nuisance or more confusing than anything. Plus, who knows what bacteria you may introduce by including various toys and such in their water. If you’re going to consider this, then just consider some of the obstruction based water bowls.
- Sometimes your dog may outgrow this behavior. If you adopted your dog from a shelter or he’s a rescue, he might have this behavior of gulping the water to have been able to cope with living situations prior to being adopted by you.
- If your dog gulps after or during trips because of being thirsty because of having to wait too long between times for a drink, consider stopping more frequently for water breaks and/or bringing a travel bowl and a bottle of water to avoid your dog having to get thirsty in the first place. They even have all in one devices that can fit in your cup holder.
