should i worry about my puppy drinking from the potty

**xkill911** · 07-28-2011, 02:39 PM

my lab puppy loves to drink out of the potty! he does it on his own for some reason, he has a fresh water bowl right next to his food bowl but insists on drinking from the potty.

I have tried to stop it but he just sneaks into the bathroom when I'm not looking lol.

should I really put a stop to it or is it no big deal? our potty is pretty clean, well clean as a potty can be i guess

**deidra** · 07-28-2011, 02:45 PM

I would just start shutting the lid. If you put chemicals in the potty to clean then he goes in there and frinks out of it you could have a problem. My 2 boys were the same way so everytime they went towards the bathroom I would say"get out of there". Then told the whole family to shut the lid when done.

**Tanya** · 07-28-2011, 03:39 PM

I wouldn't let him. shut the lid of the toilet and/or the door.

not sure how old the puppy is but if still very young it shoudl always be in site and actively supervised by human. young dogs can get into alot of trouble very quickly.

**HersheyK's Dad** · 07-28-2011, 03:56 PM

Only real solution is to shut the lid. Mandatory if you use chemicals in the tank or bowl.

However, I have a book in fron tof me right now, titled: Why do dogs drink out of the toilet? Not kidding, I really do.

To summarize the answer.
(1) Because they can.
(2) The water is cooler.
(3) It gets refreshed regularly, so it doesn't get stale.
(4) It is never empty.

**xkill911** · 07-28-2011, 04:06 PM

thanks all. I know it's not ideal, I wouldn't drink out of the potty, but I don't think it's going to hurt him either, no chemicals except when it's cleaned

I will try to get my family to start closing the lids, but with 3 males in the house it's going to be tough lol

**BigBrownDog** · 07-28-2011, 04:46 PM

Originally Posted by xkill911

thanks all. I know it's not ideal, I wouldn't drink out of the potty, but I don't think it's going to hurt him either, no chemicals except when it's cleaned

I will try to get my family to start closing the lids, but with 3 males in the house it's going to be tough lol

They can learn. I had the same issue (and same number of males balking at having to close the lid) until my Lab was diagnosed with diabetes - which had been making him terribly thirsty. He would literally drink all the water in the toilet. It's been a long time that his diabetes has been under control but the habit of closing the toilet lid has stuck.

**bett** · 07-29-2011, 02:47 PM

i'd keep the lid down

**HeySquirt** · 07-29-2011, 04:17 PM

We keep the lid down... and boys can be trained. We have a good variety of guests at my house and they all no that if they leave that lid up they will be hearing about it from me.

**Spike's Mom** · 07-31-2011, 06:27 AM

What do you have for a water bowl? Spike refuses to drink out of a steel bowl - he's been thirsty when he comes home from daycare too and I'll have to have them keep an eye on him (they use steel buckets but he's never been so "picky" there before). I also tried to give him tap water in his ceramic bowl and he just ignored it in favor of poland spring (we have a water softener so I switched when he was having the kidney problems).

**xkill911** · 08-01-2011, 12:37 PM

Originally Posted by Spike's Mom

What do you have for a water bowl?

just a round plastic bowl, nothing special. we keep it fresh with water but he just ignores it. every time he comes in from potty'ing he runs straight for the potty and he'll lay there at the potty till someone opens it

I'm working on changing it