One of the fun things about watching a puppy grow up is that you see their raw instincts, unspoiled by human influence, learned behaviors, etc. The point of “My Doggie Says… Messages from Jamie” is that you can get much closer to your dog by observing its behavior and learning to decode its messages. I’m finding that it’s easier, in some ways, to understand Callie’s (now nine months old) messages, because they are so clear and based mostly on her natural instincts.
Callie has made it clear, from the time she was about four months old, that she prefers fresh, cold water over water that has been sitting in a bowl. How does she express this? Sometimes when I walk her outside for a pee break, she stops at the metal water bowl in the kitchen for a drink. Even though she always has a water bowl in her crate. Her message is, “This water seems fresher and clearer to me.”
After all, dogs are ancestors of wolves, who roamed the forests and learned the hard way that cool water from a babbling brook is better and healthier than water from a warm stagnate pool.
When we interrupt our morning jog for a water stop, Callie prefers to drink water being poured into her water dish, rather than drinking from the dish.
Here’s a short video that shows 1) Callie drinking water as it’s being poured into her water dish and 2) Callie drinking from a water fountain on the path to her boat dock at Lake Arrowhead.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q128IYTyFvk
And here, on the same subject, is an explanation of why dogs like to drink from a toilet bowl.
There are a number of dog and cat “running water” drinking dishes and fountains on the market, to satisfy our pets’ instincts for fresh water.
Based on Callie’s polite requests, I change the water in her crate frequently, so that she always has fresh, cool water to drink. And she shows her appreciation by sending me a big doggie “Thank You.”
