# How does your fluff let you know when the water bowl is empty?



## Sylie (Apr 4, 2011)

Okay, you know I love fluffs. Sometimes I wish they could talk, but then I have to stop and marvel at the way they can communicate without words. I also love to talk (well, write) about fluffs and read about YOUR fluffs. So, let's have a fun thread here. 

Their ability to communicate sometimes astounds me. The fact that each one communicates in a totally individual way warms my heart. Now, I am fairly certain that Brit has never let Cosy's water bowl be empty, I am not as organized. So, it happens around here.

Fifer had the funniest, weirdest and most unique way of getting our attention when we were negligent. He trained DH first. If he needed a drink of water and found an empty bowl he would walk in circles around the kitchen in e.x.t.r.e.m.l.y ssssssssssssssss.....llllllllllllloooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwww motion.
The first time this happened DH thought the boy had gone nutso, noticed his water dish was empty, filled it. Fifer drank. The second time it happened we figured it out. We called it "the water walk." Twice, pet sitters called us all freaked out at Fifer's strange behavior. We said, "His water bowl is empty." That was certainly the most unique behavior I have observed. How on earth did he think of that? But, it worked. Terrible me, sometimes I would let the water bowl be empty just to marvel at Fifer's "water walk."

Ru simply sits there and whines.

Lily would simply stare hard at me and then at the bowl She did the same thing when she wanted a cookie. Stare. Hard.

Ray is pretty smart. The water bowl is on a dish cloth. He pulls the dish cloth with the bowl on top to the center of the room...or close to me. That gets my attention.

MiMi barks her horrible shrill "pay attention Mawmeme." bark, then she sticks out her tongue for a second. I always get the picture.

So, please amuse us with stories of your fluffs unique way of asking for water, or whatever else they want.


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## RudyRoo (Jun 24, 2011)

*cute thread idea!*

They really are incredible in the way they can communicate exactly what they want without speaking! I loved the slow water walk story! I don't have any stories that unique, but Rudy has done several things to "train" me. 

One thing I thought was unique was his "I need to go potty" signal. A little background: I live in an apartment on the second floor, and the stairs are actually inside our apartment, which means that our front door is one floor down and not in plain sight when we are sitting in our living room. Well, when I was trying to figure out how to potty train him, I couldn't figure out what our signals would be since I am just used to dogs going to stand at the door when they needed to go out. Since I couldn't physically see Rudy if he went to stand at the door, I tried several things to help him out (bells, words, scratching the door) but nothing worked. One day I watched him go into my room (opposite side of the apartment), pick up one of my flip-flops, trot right past me as I sat on the couch, and go and set it down at the top of the stairs. After a few days of this, I realized that he was trying to tell me "Momma-put your flip flops on and let's go outside!" He still does it to this day! Now I just leave the flip-flops at the top of the stairs and he brings one to me where ever I am. :thumbsup:


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## Bonnie's Mommie (Mar 2, 2006)

Sylvia, this is real easy - Bonnie's water cup never gets empty, lol. She likes bathroom water (sink, of course) so I give her the bathroom cup, on the floor. I just leave it there, but everytime I go in, I 'give her fresh' as I say to her. IF she doesn't think it's fresh enough, she'll look at me, then look at the sink repeatedly until I get the message.


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## imdll (Aug 18, 2011)

Lu strums her water bowl every time before she drinks. Very musical little girl! Lu drinks differently than any other dog we have had, she leans across her bowl and drinks against the far side of her bowl. If she figures her water is too low (not empty, just too low) then she just continues to strum the bowl until we get the message.


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## Sylie (Apr 4, 2011)

RudyRoo said:


> They really are incredible in the way they can communicate exactly what they want without speaking! I loved the slow water walk story! I don't have any stories that unique, but Rudy has done several things to "train" me.
> 
> One thing I thought was unique was his "I need to go potty" signal. A little background: I live in an apartment on the second floor, and the stairs are actually inside our apartment, which means that our front door is one floor down and not in plain sight when we are sitting in our living room. Well, when I was trying to figure out how to potty train him, I couldn't figure out what our signals would be since I am just used to dogs going to stand at the door when they needed to go out. Since I couldn't physically see Rudy if he went to stand at the door, I tried several things to help him out (bells, words, scratching the door) but nothing worked. One day I watched him go into my room (opposite side of the apartment), pick up one of my flip-flops, trot right past me as I sat on the couch, and go and set it down at the top of the stairs. After a few days of this, I realized that he was trying to tell me "Momma-put your flip flops on and let's go outside!" He still does it to this day! Now I just leave the flip-flops at the top of the stairs and he brings one to me where ever I am. :thumbsup:


OMG I know that boy of yours is amazing. I so wish I could actually meet you both. "Mamma, put your flip-flops on." Wudy, I wove woo.


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## Sylie (Apr 4, 2011)

Bonnie & Lu....so wonderfully silly, but ahem...sincere...and really smart. They are so adorable.


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## MoonDog (Jun 6, 2011)

Ours never goes empty either. With three dogs, one bowl goes pretty fast but my husband fills it every day when he makes the coffee. The water bowl was how I was able to tell my oldest boy Eli was diabetic. I was blaming the hubs for not filling the water bowl and was quite puzzled by the clear liquid in front of the back door...Poor Eli was drinking it all and couldn't hold it until someone got home to let him out. Eli blamed it on the cat of course but we didn't buy it...


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## Cosy (Feb 9, 2006)

On occasion when Cosy's goes empty she paces back and forth and when I look at her she meows. Honestly, she does!


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## Sylie (Apr 4, 2011)

Cosy said:


> On occasion when Cosy's goes empty she paces back and forth and when I look at her she meows. Honestly, she does!


Oh, I can just picture your beautiful little girl going meeeow. And there is absolutely no question as to what she is saying, is there? 

Is it just maybe possible that they are AT LEAST as intelligent as we THINK we are?

Oh, I love Cosy so much.


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## LJSquishy (Feb 27, 2008)

Each dog seems to have a unique way of getting our attention!

Both London & Preston dig in the bottom of their water bowl if it's empty. They have one bowl upstairs and one on the main floor. The one upstairs is the only one that goes dry because it is a secondary bowl (they use the main floor one mostly), and also we have no bathroom upstairs so we have to fill it in the kitchen so I sometimes forget!


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## Snowball Pie's Mommi (Oct 16, 2008)

Snowball's water bowls always have water. We have one in the bedroom on the upper level ... and one in the kitchen on the next level down. We always give him fresh water in the morning and change the water after dinner in the evening. By the way, we use little cat bowls for his food and water. They are the perfect size for him ... and, he doesn't have a wet or messy face after eating or drinking. 

He does have a way of telling me though when he would like something. If he wants me to play tuggie with him he will plop his tuggie toy down right on my feet! And, if he would like some snap peas from the fridge ... he will look at me and go over to the fridge. He will also let us know if he is hungry and if his dinner is a little late ... he will go over into the kitchen area and "Woof!!" ... just once! 

A long time ago, I used to have a black lab named Jecky. One morning while I was still trying to get in a little more sleep ... Jecky kept on pulling the covers down off me. I finally said ... "Jecky ... please let me sleep another fifteen minutes." A few minutes later I hear a clunk by the bed. Bless his heart, he had gone out to the kitchen and brought me his water bowl that was on empty. Needless to say, Jecky taught me a lesson to make sure his water bowl was always filled with fresh water!


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## Sylie (Apr 4, 2011)

MoonDog said:


> Ours never goes empty either. With three dogs, one bowl goes pretty fast but my husband fills it every day when he makes the coffee. The water bowl was how I was able to tell my oldest boy Eli was diabetic. I was blaming the hubs for not filling the water bowl and was quite puzzled by the clear liquid in front of the back door...Poor Eli was drinking it all and couldn't hold it until someone got home to let him out. Eli blamed it on the cat of course but we didn't buy it...


First sign of diabetes in all mammals is excessive thirst. How sensitive of you to figure it out early. How is Eli doing? Since our doggies don't typically get a lot of sugar in their diet, as humans do, I wonder how you cope? Now, I think maybe it was the CAT drinking up all the water and then spitting it out to make trouble for that darn dog.:smtease:_If only cats were so devious...or clever._


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## Sylie (Apr 4, 2011)

Snowball Pie's Mommi said:


> Snowball's water bowls always have water. We have one in the bedroom on the upper level ... and one in the kitchen on the next level down. We always give him fresh water in the morning and change the water after dinner in the evening. By the way, we use little cat bowls for his food and water. They are the perfect size for him ... and, he doesn't have a wet or messy face after eating or drinking.
> 
> He does have a way of telling me though when he would like something. If he wants me to play tuggie with him he will plop his tuggie toy down right on my feet! And, if he would like some snap peas from the fridge ... he will look at me and go over to the fridge. He will also let us know if he is hungry and if his dinner is a little late ... he will go over into the kitchen area and "Woof!!" ... just once!
> 
> A long time ago, I used to have a black lab named Jecky. One morning while I was still trying to get in a little more sleep ... Jecky kept on pulling the covers down off me. I finally said ... "Jecky ... please let me sleep another fifteen minutes." A few minutes later I hear a clunk by the bed. Bless his heart, he had gone out to the kitchen and brought me his water bowl that was on empty. Needless to say, Jecky taught me a lesson to make sure his water bowl was always filled with fresh water!


That is exactly what I was pointing out in this thread. They let us know, in no uncertain terms. And I am quite certain that Jecky wasn't just kind of thirsty...he was really, seriously thirsty before he got in your face about it.


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## S&LP'S Mommy (Feb 20, 2011)

The girls have two water bowls. But there are times I forget to fill them up or change the water. Well Sasha doesnt like to drink water that has been sitting for to long. So she will sit next to the fridge and look at me. Now if she thinks dinner is late she barks and I mean barks at me! Like telling me I demand my food now. Lola on the other hand could care less about fresh water or food. She just wants to play all day. If I ignore her she will come by me with her squeaky toy and do a soft growl until I give in and play with her.


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## Sylie (Apr 4, 2011)

We all do our very best, but still sometimes fall just a little short. But our sweet babies kindly and gently and* brilliantly *let us know what they need. But then again there are those times when...such as this very moment...they just go out in the yard and bark and bark and annoy the neighbors...why? The moon is too bright? There is a whining puppy ten miles away? There is nothing better to do? They have _something _to prove? I will continue to spend my life trying to understand...and gaining understanding...with help from my SM friends, who share their experience.
For now....it is bedtime. Good night all. Sweet dreams.
:wub::wub::wub:


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## silverhaven (Sep 6, 2009)

Lola used to pick up her china bowl :w00t: and bring and drop it at our feet. But now she tends to want fresh water a lot and sits in front of us and barks, looking at our water glass that is usually beside us. At these times she is sometimes hopeful for Perrier or San Pell.  Hubby's fault....... 

Penny always seems to just try to drink and I notice she could do with a refill, so far...... 

The slooooooww walk sounds hilarious, they do some funny things don't they?


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## aprilb (Jul 9, 2010)

RudyRoo said:


> They really are incredible in the way they can communicate exactly what they want without speaking! I loved the slow water walk story! I don't have any stories that unique, but Rudy has done several things to "train" me.
> 
> One thing I thought was unique was his "I need to go potty" signal. A little background: I live in an apartment on the second floor, and the stairs are actually inside our apartment, which means that our front door is one floor down and not in plain sight when we are sitting in our living room. Well, when I was trying to figure out how to potty train him, I couldn't figure out what our signals would be since I am just used to dogs going to stand at the door when they needed to go out. Since I couldn't physically see Rudy if he went to stand at the door, I tried several things to help him out (bells, words, scratching the door) but nothing worked. One day I watched him go into my room (opposite side of the apartment), pick up one of my flip-flops, trot right past me as I sat on the couch, and go and set it down at the top of the stairs. After a few days of this, I realized that he was trying to tell me "Momma-put your flip flops on and let's go outside!" He still does it to this day! Now I just leave the flip-flops at the top of the stairs and he tbrings one to me where ever I am. :thumbsup:


 
Amazing! What a smart boy!:wub:


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## aprilb (Jul 9, 2010)

Snowball Pie's Mommi said:


> Snowball's water bowls always have water. We have one in the bedroom on the upper level ... and one in the kitchen on the next level down. We always give him fresh water in the morning and change the water after dinner in the evening. By the way, we use little cat bowls for his food and water. They are the perfect size for him ... and, he doesn't have a wet or messy face after eating or drinking.
> 
> He does have a way of telling me though when he would like something. If he wants me to play tuggie with him he will plop his tuggie toy down right on my feet! And, if he would like some snap peas from the fridge ... he will look at me and go over to the fridge. He will also let us know if he is hungry and if his dinner is a little late ... he will go over into the kitchen area and "Woof!!" ... just once!
> 
> A long time ago, I used to have a black lab named Jecky. One morning while I was still trying to get in a little more sleep ... Jecky kept on pulling the covers down off me. I finally said ... "Jecky ... please let me sleep another fifteen minutes." A few minutes later I hear a clunk by the bed. Bless his heart, he had gone out to the kitchen and brought me his water bowl that was on empty. Needless to say, Jecky taught me a lesson to make sure his water bowl was always filled with fresh water!


Wow-Snowball has you trained!:HistericalSmiley: Jecky pulling off the covers? Very smart!


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## aprilb (Jul 9, 2010)

*Great thread!*

The slow walk around the kitchen is so funny!:HistericalSmiley: My girls get fresh filtered water morning and evening, so the water bowl is never empty. My girls are kind of odd, though.:HistericalSmiley: My Lily is very "persnickity" about going potty. She will not go if I am watching her. If I say, "Lily, go potty", she will sit down by the potty pad and give me a very annoyed look until I stop watching, then she goes. She also says "m-m-mm" when she wants me to pick her up.:HistericalSmiley:On the weekends, we sleep later and the girls are quiet until we start stirring. Then, Rose sneaks under the covers on DH's side of the bed, goes all the way to the bottom, and licks my toes. After I jerk my feet up, she will come up and "dig" on my back hard until I get up, which isn't very long.:HistericalSmiley: I'm just amazed at how smart all these pups are and also how creative and unique each one of them can be.:wub: What a fun thread!:chili:


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## MoonDog (Jun 6, 2011)

Sylie said:


> First sign of diabetes in all mammals is excessive thirst. How sensitive of you to figure it out early. How is Eli doing? Since our doggies don't typically get a lot of sugar in their diet, as humans do, I wonder how you cope? Now, I think maybe it was the CAT drinking up all the water and then spitting it out to make trouble for that darn dog.:smtease:_If only cats were so devious...or clever._


 
Sylie, Eli was drinking so much more than he had been and I just knew. I called the vet and they didn't seem concerned so I asked if I could just bring in a urine sample and have it tested. The vet came back into the room where I was waiting and said, "Go get Eli, I need to teach you how to give him shots." So, here we are, three years later. I test his urine and give him two shots a day, he's on a special diet and is doing GREAT. I don't mind the extra work because he's worth it. :wub: By the way, he's a bearded collie mix we adopted from our Humane Society. We think he's about 12.5 but he certainly doesn't act his age. :aktion033:


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## Bailey&Me (Mar 8, 2010)

HAHAHA these are so funny!!! 

One thing Bailey does that I find so hilarious is when he tells me "in his way" that he wants to play fetch. If I'm sitting on the couch, Bailey will go get his ball, climb up on the back of the couch and then throw the ball right at me...usually hits me smack dab in the face! No subtle hints for him :HistericalSmiley:


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## michellerobison (Dec 17, 2009)

Having 5 it's a job keeping it full!
They'll paw at it or put their face in it and look at me.. Sasha is the vocal one..she makes the "wooo woo noise" She yodels at me. Bitsy does the "gimme dance",jumps around on her hind feet.


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## Katkoota (Feb 18, 2006)

Bonnie's Mommie said:


> Sylvia, this is real easy -* Bonnie's water cup never gets empty,* lol. She likes bathroom water (sink, of course) so I give her the bathroom cup, on the floor. I just leave it there, but everytime I go in, I 'give her fresh' as I say to her. IF she doesn't think it's fresh enough, she'll look at me, then look at the sink repeatedly until I get the message.


:HistericalSmiley: same with my two, Sylvia.

I had a giggle at Bonnie's way of sending the message to mommy  gotta love her :wub:


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## Hunter's Mom (Dec 8, 2008)

Hunter's bowl is refreshed in the morning with breakfast and at night with dinner. If he is being left home alone it also gets refreshed at that point. But, if for some reason the bowl goes dry - he will simply run between the kitchen (where it is kept) and whatever room we are in until one of us gets up and says "show me" and he will take you right to the kitchen (looking over his shoulder to make sure you are still coming). He does this when his diner bell goes off (his food needs to hydrate and so we set a timer) and he also does it when he wants a treat (he doesn't ALWAYS get that)!


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## almitra (Apr 24, 2009)

Squeegee pushes it with his nose til it's way off its usual spot and I almost trip over it when I walk into the kitchen...LOL!!!


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## imdll (Aug 18, 2011)

Cosy said:


> On occasion when Cosy's goes empty she paces back and forth and when I look at her she meows. Honestly, she does!


 
It's fun to hear that someone else's little one meows. Lu meows sometimes when she plays. It cracks me up! We tease her occassionally about her identity crisis.


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## kodie (Aug 24, 2004)

This is a GREAT thread!... lol..
I would say that kodie's water bowl is barely ever empty... but when it is... he just keeps licking it obsessively!!!! :blink:

Kelsie... her bowl has never been empty...


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## Snowbody (Jan 3, 2009)

Tyler's bowl is never empty. It's a bayou bowl so it holds a lot but I also refresh it every day. But what he does do a lot when he wants something, is head butt me on the back of my leg with his nose. :blink::blink: It's the funniest thing. He'll follow me in from the bedroom to the rest of the house purposely hitting just above my ankles and below the shin (his height) with his nose usually until I get to where the treats are. He also gets our attention with what I call his "Schnootzes" which are his little attention sneezes. My DH calls him, "El Exigente, the demanding one." I think that used to be the slogan in a Savarin coffee commercial. (sigh - what ever happened to Savarin? Anyone else remember it?)


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## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

I refresh the big water bowl when I feed the fluffs their breadfast and when I feed them their dinner.

But, in our group, it seems that Lacie has been elected the "spokesperson". She is the one to tell me when the group wants something. She usually does this by scracthing my hand very lightly with her paw until I'm paying attention. Then she will sit and stare at me until she's possible that she's got my attention and then she will walk to the area she wants something from (example -- she will walk to the pantry if they want treats).


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## MalteseJane (Nov 21, 2004)

Alex had us well trained. His water bowl was always full since he was on lasix and we were super careful about that. But since he had home cooked food it was not out all day. When he wanted his food he knew very well how to ask for it. Lyn like Lacie he would come and scratch our hand with his little paw to get our attention.


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## Rocky's Mom (Apr 10, 2010)

That's hilarious! Rocky's water bowl is never empty..we have a deeper one maybe? He also is not a big drinker, he takes sips during the day. He does let me know when he's hungry. He'll stare at me and lick his lips...seriously.:HistericalSmiley:If he wakes up from a nap and does that, I know he's thirsty. He'll go straight to his water bowl. 

Other things he does is the "come follow me" motion with his head. He'll stare first and then whip his head to the left and walk away. :goof: He makes us laugh all the time and he gets his point across. When he wants to play, he comes over to you, barks and then goes to get a toy and puts it in your lap. They really know how to communicate don't they? At night, he mumbles near our bed if he wants to go out to potty. He "talks" to us and we answer him and talk to him..My daughter says he's not a dog...he's human in furry skin. :smrofl:


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## Snowball Pie's Mommi (Oct 16, 2008)

aprilb said:


> Wow-Snowball has you trained!:HistericalSmiley: Jecky pulling off the covers? Very smart!


Actually, it's kind of a routine now, too. Play before breakfast. 

Evening walk. Come home and play with tuggie, etc. ... before dinner. Eats dinner. Has his teeth cleaned. Does his poopies. And, then relaxes for the rest of the evening.

I do find with Snowball that a routine is very important. And, I like it, too. Things just seem to go more smoothly that way.


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## Deborah (Jan 8, 2006)

Rylee has two beautiful *Bayou Dry Face Water Bowl CR* bought from Pampered Pet. The bowl is designed to keep the water in the bowl not on her face and beard. I have to put my finger in the bowl to make sure water is in it. Rylee has never had an empty water bowl.

When she has to go potty she does something interesting. She will find me and go around and around in circles. The other option is to spin around the door to be let out.

She also doesn't like it when my husband and I do not go to bed at the same time. She finds me and the circles start.


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## Matilda's mommy (Jun 1, 2005)

Miss Bow barks:w00t: and barks:w00t:
matilda hits the bowl with her paws:innocent::HistericalSmiley:


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## SuziLee (Aug 17, 2011)

Sorry for jumping in when I haven't introduced myself, but I just saw this thread and have to say how much fun it is to hear about all of your fluffs' different quirks and personalities!

I'm dying to see the slow walk! If Duggy did that, I think his water bowl would "accidentally" go dry sometimes! :innocent: And I love that Lacie is a spokesfluff. Duggy is in a similar field --- he works part time at his father's public relations office! 

I change Duggy's water pretty often throughout the day, so he's never really had to tell me to fill it. But one of the really cute things he does do is if he wants to be picked up, he sits down. But he plops down facing the opposite direction with his butt towards me, and then gives me the cutest little upside-down look! :wub:


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## Kara (Apr 29, 2007)

Haha, that is so cute.

Milly lets me know by using her paw to move the bowl around the kitchen, and then whinging while lying next to the bowl until I get up and fill it for her.

I know when the bowl is empty with Murphy cause he leaves wet footprints around the house as he goes to the shower for a drink.


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## coco&nina (May 8, 2008)

Coco will scoot the waterbowl around until I refill the water. Gizmo will stand by it and bark. Lilan doesn't do anything. She'll just wait until it's refilled. She's really slow..... or maybe she's smart and let the others do all the work lol


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## Canada (Jun 4, 2009)

I have two stainless steel bella bowls side by side
and two lixit water bottles for them to pick from.
I find it makes them drink more which is great. 
They LOVE water bottles!
I like having the two Bella bowls because they can drink one fast,
and sometimes Tucker drops a toy in one.
(Allthough it's funnier when he drops a toy in the potty or in the shower!!)


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## petula (Sep 18, 2007)

These are great! We have so many bowls around that there's always a water option, but our dogs are getting very picky about super-fresh water. Farley sits at the refrigerator for cold water from the fridge door or he'll sit and stare intently and huff at whatever I'm drinking. For a while I would tell him he couldn't have tea, chocolate milk, coke, or whatever else I was drinking, and then I'd say, "But you can have some water," and refresh the bowl. Silly me, not realizing that was his point! He must have thought it took me forever to understand.

But our favorite is when he wants treats. Somehow we ended up using a small bar room built into the house to store all the treats (probably because it's hardly ever used for anything else). There's nothing unusual about the way he begs, but we love to joke about how he sits at the bar and cries.


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