semi OT- water dish

Cali keeps knocking over her water dish. I have tried many different
kinds, heavy ceramic, "spillproof", a non-tip one, etc and she spills them
all. Does anyone know if there is a such thing as a 1 bowl raised dish? It
needs to have a closed front (like this one) because Cali puts her head
under the others to knock the bowl out. I like this one but it has 2

MauiJNP...

Yes, thanks for the link. That is exactly what I was looking for. I hope
it works, thanks again!

Janet B...

well, you COULD teach her not to do that. I have a very large

MauiJNP...

we do work on that too but she's not there yet. She is so fast when it
comes to spilling it. And the other ones, my 1 year old nephew also plays
with, picks up and spills so a raised one would be better for him too.

stainless bowl, the type that flares out at the bottom. almost
impossible to tip (although Rudy has been known to step in it, getting
his foot soaked). All 3 dogs and 2 cats share the bowl.

MauiJNP...

I know which you mean. Cali steps in those and manages to paw he water out
of it.

bowls..........

FurPaw...

Does she tip the stainless-steel type that are flared out at the
base, or just step in them and splash? Dylan liked to splash her

MauiJNP...

she spills them when they are on a placemat because she pulls the placemat
out from under them. that's the only way she can spill those kinds. the
others she tips without the placemat. and she splashes in all of them.

Janet B...

there's your answer - ditch the placemat. Find something heavier for
under the dish - I use a fairly heavy fiber mat (it's about 1" thick)
over a plastic tray.

MauiJNP...

yeah, that was ditched awhile ago, I should have mentioned that. the
nonspill dishes would tip if she had a placemat for them but she doesn't so
she just plays in the water instead.

shore...

I guess I'm unclear on what problem you're trying to solve.
Is it that she's tipping the dish, or that she's splashing
water around?

MauiJNP...

I don't want her to tip a regular dish or play in a nontip dish. I thought
if I had a raised one she could do either.

shore...

Those are two different (but related) problems. For a
raised dish to be untippable seems unlikely to me, both
because she'd have better access to underneath and because
the center of gravity would be higher. As I posted earlier
the only dish that Eclipse doesn't carry around the house is
their really big water dish (two of them, actually).
They're both 5-quart size. With your little guys you may
never have to refill them, either, although you might have a
problem with one taking a bath in it.

MauiJNP...

yes, I could see Cali jumping right in the water bowl! we have to be very
careful when my nephews are in the tub because she sees the water and dives
right in! a few days ago I pulled out the baby pool and filled it for her
outside. now, no potty breaks is complete without a romp in the water, even
though its freezing cold.

The raised bowls may be useful for stopping playing,
though. It would be harder to get her feet in it. Maybe
the ticket is really ginormous raised bowls. If this is
really bothering you a lot, it may be worth experimenting
with getting the raised bowls and trying some combination of
fixing the frame to the floor and the bowl to the frame.

MauiJNP...

yes, I think this is what I will have to do. Buy something and make it work
for us.

FurPaw...

I'll suggest it again - make a platform out of bricks to raise a
flared dish (bottom wider than top). If its width is the same as
the diameter of the dish, she won't be able to tip the dish or
splash the water with her paws, and she won't be able to knock

MauiJNP...

that sounds good. I will have to see if I can make something out of wood
though so I can paint it and make it look nice in addition to useful

the platform over.

shore...

That's a really good suggestion, but allow me to suggest a
minor modification - that there be some kind of rim around
the platform, making it harder for her to lift the bowl from
the platform. It needn't be fussy or elaborate - just
another layer of bricks on their side.

MauiJNP...

good idea

water when she was a pup, but she never succeeded in actually
tipping one of these over.

Rocky...

Rocky always managed to tip over water bowls while ex-penned
(now he has a bucket clipped to the pen). Amazingly, he tipped
tippless bowls consistently - even the big plastic ones with
flared bases. Dang, but it made a mess on plastic tarps in
horse arenas.

A friend suggested that I fill it up upside down. Rocky didn't

MauiJNP...

I'll have to try that

tip the bowl that day, or the next, but--not being one to tempt
fate--by the next trial I owned a stainless steel bucket with
caribiner clip.

shore...

A couple of my dogs like to pick those up and carry them
around. The tipping-over isn't the point, but it's

FurPaw...

Stainless steel? The type shaped like this (side view)?
/\ /\
/ `---' \

shore...

Yes, exactly those.

FurPaw...

I was starting to boggle, but then started to think of my own
dogs' prowess with their mouths - especially Oppie. He easily
crunches up a can, puncturing the sides with his teeth. Of
course we don't give these to him - but a couple of times he
hauled an empty dog food can out of the trash and mangled it
thoroughly. Gave his teeth a good cleaning, at least! And one
day recently, when he couldn't find a sock or glove to carry in
his mouth for his greeting ceremony, he grabbed a 10-lb dumbbell
and came running over to us, happily wagging his tail.

Wow! I'd guess that a toy poodle would have a problem with
getting enough of a grip on stainless steel to carry it.
Especially if it's sized for a somewhat larger dog.

shore...

Maybe the issue isn't the shape as much as the size - a
humungo dish might be worth a try.

definitely a side-effect.

I keep a couple of really big pans of water out all the
time. They're heavy when full and they're one of the few
things that Eclipse hasn't seen fit to relocate within the
house (last week I found a lightbulb in her crate, for
pete's sake - I have no idea where she got it from). I
think it would be kind of an effort to tip one of those
over.

MauiJNP...

oh, those she splashes in, not tips.

If the idea is to raise the bowl so that she can't step into it,
you can make a pedestal out of a few bricks and set a flared-base
dish on that.