Restrict a puppy's water?

[Gillian]

Hi Everyone!

I'm well aware that keeping hydrated is the most important thing you can do for a dog during the summer (And really always), but I've been reading a lot lately about housetraining and have read in many places that a puppy should not have free access to water... my vet disagrees and says not to restrict water. But, what if you have a puppy who drinks and drinks and drinks and pees every 20 minutes because of it?? Just curious what your thoughts are...

(Maizey still has a UTI so we are not restricting her water.. she needs to get better! I was just curious about your opinions on healthy pups who drink a ton!)

[Adrianne Matzkin]

When they were little, water bowl got picked up at 7pm.
For the UTI - do you give Maizey craisins? My girls get them several times a week in their dinner. I am not a vet but was suggested by mine when Charli had her puppy UTI.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

We did the same thing....picked up the water at around 7:00, and then just offered a small drink right before putting them in for the night. I also watched during the day, and if I saw that they were just continually draining the water I'd wait a little while between "bowl refills". Puppies absolutely need to drink a lot though, so I'd be careful not to restrict too much. "I feel your pain" on the peeing every 20 minutes....we went through that stage with both of our guys. It does get better though. Murph is now 7 mos, and he's able to drink whatever he wants and only needs "pee breaks" about every three hours.

[April Cliber]

I agree, no water after 7, but let her have as much as she wants during the day. Think of it this way, it's more opportunities for her to practice going potty outside. :o)

[L.M.]

When our pup was very young we started to restrict water when we ran into the same problem you are having. (In the heat of course we gave him what he needed.) But we found that he really only drank a lot when we fed him...so that's when we gave him water. As he got older, we restricted water only at certain times...if we knew we were going out and would be crating our pup we would pull the water away a few hours before. Restricting before bed is a must. I don't see a problem with restricting water for a very young puppy because sometimes he/she will drink ALL THE TIME and like you said...then it pees ALL THE TIME. My vet said the same as yours, but in regard to food also...he said let him eat/drink whenever he wants...I didn't take his advice about that either and our big boy who is now 1 turned out just fine and was housebroken by the time he was 4 months. =) Hope this helps!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

We went through the same period with Vern. He loves his water and I never restricted him. Now, that he is almost 7 months, he still drinks a lot of water, but doesn't need to go out nearly as often. I have also always kept water in the bathroom at night for Fudge and him and neither have ever had an accident at night.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

We picked up the water bowl around 8pm. But that only lasted the first month or two, max. She was potty trained after that and the amount of times she peed fell drastically after 16 weeks.

[Pat & "Tucker"]

Does your puppy have access to food all day or does he eat at certain times? The dry food certainly makes them drink.

[Gillian]

She does not have free access to food and has been on chicken and rice for weeks so she's not on dry food either... but we will be transitioning to puppy dry food soon!

[Pat & "Tucker"]

Thought maybe the dry food was making her drink so much.

[Amanda and Quinn]

Yep, we restricted water at night until Quinn was housebroken too. My vet said this wasn't a problem, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. You won't have to do it for very long.

[Richard Crowe]

We have always pull the water at around 7 pm for both our Maltese rescue puppies and we did that for Holly when she was a puppy. We thought that we had a "Goldenpuddle" instead of a Goldendoodle until Holly was four months old. She would go outside, pee twice and then come back in and wet again. We called the breeder who said that this behavior was not alarming and that it would pass.

Thank gosh for a house with all tile floors! We are lucky in that our climate is mild enough to make tile floors comfortable. They sure aid in house training. Or rather to keep our sanity until house training is accomplished. We use a Hoover Floormate to keep our floors clean.

Suddenly, at four months old; Holly discovered where to go to the bathroom. More importantly, she discovered where NOT to go potty. She has not had an accident since then. It was a night and day change. There was no tapering off. One day she was peeing everywhere and the next day totally house trained.

We have a rescue Maltese who was on medications which made him very thirsty. He would drink large amounts of water and, although he was house trained, would let loose on the floor if we did not immediately spot him by the front door. At first we thought Holly had a relapse in house training since the puddle was so large. However that was only from Porsche.

After, the medication was over, he had just gotten into the habit of drinking large amounts (with the resultant need to urinate large amounts). We don't restrict his water intake but when we see him gulping the water, we just say "That's enough Porsche!" he immediately stops drinking.

He is at the point right now that we would trust hime enough to allow adoption - if the right family came along.

[Camilla and Darwin]

We did the same thing as most everyone else. We let him have all he wanted during the day, and at 8pm, picked up the water bowl.