# My Mini Dachshund just doesnt like water!



## CharlotteH (May 28, 2009)

Hi all

I have a 13 week old miniature Dachshund who drinks very little water. He eats normally and if you give him goats milk will drink a whole bowl full. However as many times as I fill his bowl up with clean, fresh water (have also tried tepid and warm water) he hardly touches it- is it possible he just doesnt like water??!

The breeder informed us she occasionally gave the pups decaf tea before bedtime and again with goats milk. We have tried this on a couple of occasions and again he drank a bowl full, we are slightly nervous about this though as had read on some pages you should not be giving dogs tea in any form. 

This is making his toilet training extremely hard as he is only urinating 3-4 times a day maximum and it is not following any pattern what so ever (apart from first thing in the morning). We are pre-soaking his food so we know he is getting some fluids from this, but we can stand outside with him for hours on end but he clearly doesnt need the toilet!

Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!


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## haeveymolly (Mar 7, 2009)

Have you tried diluting the goats milk? if you havnt do this very gradual over time, i dont think its that he dosnt like water if he is thirsty he will drink anything muddy puddle anything, i think he just prefers the goats milk.


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## CharlotteH (May 28, 2009)

Thank you for that. I will give i it a go. He is only having one bowl of the goat's milk as part of his breakfast then not drinking anymore all day- would you think that is normal to cause him to refuse any further liquid all day?


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## Fleur (Jul 19, 2008)

haeveymolly said:


> Have you tried diluting the goats milk? if you havnt do this very gradual over time, i dont think its that he dosnt like water if he is thirsty he will drink anything muddy puddle anything, i think he just prefers the goats milk.


Great advice 



CharlotteH said:


> Thank you for that. I will give i it a go. He is only having one bowl of the goat's milk as part of his breakfast then not drinking anymore all day- would you think that is normal to cause him to refuse any further liquid all day?


My dogs don't drink a bowl full of water a day. They always have a full bowl available but probably only have a couple of 'sips' 3 or 4 times a day. Unless it's really hot or they've been running around. They are fed dry food as well.


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## CharlotteH (May 28, 2009)

Did you find it made their toilet training really difficult? We are just having constant accidents day in day out as it is so rare he urinates that we could wait outside all day just for him to go, so if he is in the house he seems to pee anywhere besides the paper we leave down.

Any suggestions would be greatly received!


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## PoisonGirl (Oct 24, 2008)

I think the best way to start toilet training outside is to take the pup out as soon as they wake.. They always need to pee after a sleep. And after eating. Once you can get him peing/pooping outisde after a sleep, he will soon click on.

With the water thing I would just leave the water down and stop giving milk (if it was me) as I think it makes a fussy dog. He isn't going to dehydrate himself on purpose (dogs arent stupid enough to!) so if he is thirsty, he will drink it.

I have seen my dogs walk past the water but drink a whole bowl of the cat's diluted milk. It's not because they are thirsty, it's because it is nice.

xx


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## tyrole (May 5, 2009)

Can't help regarding the drinking but I have managed to train my 13 week old Bichon to wee on command
It was very hard work and in the beginning I spent many an hour outside rain or shine waiting for the wee then saying wee wee followed by reward, It took just over a week to get him to understand the command. Now I can take him out say wee wee and 90% of the time he will go.
It's not easy though.
Still refuses to wee on a walk, likes to wait till he gets home


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## flufffluff39 (May 25, 2009)

He might just not like water thats standing about in a bowl. You can buy these dog bowls that emulates running water. Hope this is helpfull


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## haeveymolly (Mar 7, 2009)

I suggested diluting the milk because thats what we did with one of our other dogs the others were never given milk, by the time it was diluted so much you could only see a little colour of the milk, then i put down water and he licked it a few times not really drinking it i thought he had twigged but he drank it and never looked back. I agree with the other post just give them water a leave them, thats ok but i couldnt do it while i thought i was doing something for the problem he was still drinking so i felt better about that.


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## Guest (May 28, 2009)

my auntie had this problem with her dog - he would only drink milk she filled a bowl with water and placed a splash of milk to colour it he drank it all. A small splash will do no damage.


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