Compared to an adult dog, your puppy needs more water. This is because the puppy is still growing and requires more nutrition to be healthy. If not provided with the right amount of water, the puppy’s body will be dehydrated and will have difficulty flushing out wastes. Water, therefore, should be part of the puppy’s daily diet. The problem, however, is that it is sometimes hard to make a puppy drink water. If you are having the same problem with your puppy, take a look at the different ways of making water quite appealing to him.
- Have a reward system. Training a dog to drink water usually involves rewards and treats. So each time your puppy drinks water, give him his favorite kibble or play his favorite game. Puppies, or dogs in general, are easily trained if they have rewards to look forward to. Be consistent in giving rewards, though, to ensure that the puppy solidly develops the habit. If the puppy is already accustomed to drinking water, you can gradually stop giving him treats.
- Give him fresh water. Soiled water not only tastes off. It also is a host to bacteria and disease organisms. If you want your puppy to drink water, make sure the water you provide him is clean and fresh—free of bugs, dirt, and floating objects. Change his water a few times in a day to ensure he is drinking safe water. Also, check that the water bowl is clean. To be on the safe side, wash the water bowl everyday.
- Place the water bowl in a permanent area. The puppy should develop a drinking routine, and for that purpose, you need to place his water bowl in the same place everyday. Just make sure that this place is accessible for him and safe from all causes of danger. A puppy also sometimes easily gets distracted, so his drinking area should be a place where he can take his water breaks without disturbances.
- Make puppy soup. To meet your puppy’s water requirements, you can create a soup-like food for him by mixing one part warm water and three parts solid foods. This puppy soup also helps in the puppy’s digestion since his body still has difficulty breaking down solid foods.
- Make drinking exciting for the puppy. Sometimes drinking water is a boring activity for the puppy, especially if he is busy with all the playing. Therefore, create an activity where he develops fondness to drinking. You can, for instance, play a water game. Also, try to find out the preferences of your puppy, whether he likes, for example, cold water more than lukewarm, or shallow bowl more than deep bowl. To figure such things, you need to make little experiments.
Don’t take your puppy’s dislike to drinking water for granted. If he doesn’t drink water as often as he needs to, he is going to grow weak, and that may mean frequent visits to the vet. So as early as now, train him to drink water.