Gagging issues with outdoor waterers?

[Elizabeth & Cosmo]

Cosmo has a Lixit-type waterer that attaches to a faucet on the side of our house. When he licks it, a stream of water comes out, so he can get water whenever he wants it when he's outside.

Cosmo loves the waterer, and I suspect that he sometimes chooses not to drink inside in order to get the flowing water outside!

The concern that I have is that, after using the outdoor waterer, Cosmo makes a coughing or gagging sound, and over the past three or four days he has even vomited a few times after using it. We have had the waterer installed for at least 6 months, and the vomiting has occurred only in the past few days.

The height of the faucet is a little higher that Cosmo's head, so using the waterer requires him to stretch his neck up a bit.

Has anyone else noticed an issue like this? Does anyone have a suggestion about how to re-position the waterer, or should we just do away with it?

Thanks so much for any wisdom you can share!

Here is what the waterer looks like. I can't remember if Cosmo's is a Lixit brand or not. This is not my image; I borrowed it from a web site for illustration purposes only.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I don't know if the positioning is what's causing the problem or not, but I wouldn't let him use it as it is. Vomiting after drinking water is not good. I tried stretching my neck upward and licking while at the same time trying to gulp water and I can see why he's gagging. Try it, and you will, too.

As to why this just started recently, is it possible that any time of insecticide or lawn chemical could have gotten on it?

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

We tried to teach our dogs to use one of these because it seems like such a good idea.  They either couldn't learn or didn't want to. I decided that ours gets full sun so perhaps the water and pipe are hot..... Maybe the angle is awkward for him. 

[Elizabeth & Cosmo]

Thank you all for taking the time to respond. I really appreciate it!

Karen and Andrea, I think that you are correct in your assessment of what is going on in terms of his anatomy. I will try moving the waterer to a lower faucet on our patio. Regarding the insecticide or lawn chemical, we don't apply herbicides or fungicides to our lawn, and we apply insecticides only to fire ant mounds (not broadcast over the whole lawn) (but the last application was in October or November).

Nancy, we chose this faucet because it is on the shady side of the house, to avoid that hot metal and hot water problem.

I'll try the lower faucet and see if that makes a difference!

Thanks again for your help and advice!