Hydration and dogs: 7 ways to keep your dog drinking enough water

Labrador Retriever Hydration

Dog owners spend ample time researching what kind of diet to feed the dog, how much to feed, and even what nutrients in dog food are best. Yet of all the nutrients in your dog's diet, water is the most important and tends to be not even on the radar of the owners attention.

Exercise, Climate & Humidity or Anxiety Are Cause for More Water

A dog can lose 6% of body weight before the idea even occurs to them to drink. Like humans who exercise, drinking water before exercise, during exercise, and after exercise is necessary to keep proper hydration. Unlike a human, dogs don't appear to be losing hydration because they do not sweat like we do. They do not have sweat glands in their skin; instead they lose water through their nose, tongue, and paws.

Keeping this in mind, it makes sense that a dog that is exercising, or has high anxiety loses hydration since panting is sweating in dog form. You'll also notice that a dog that is stressed or is showing signs of anxiety will leave a dog paw print on the floor. That's another form of fluid leaving your dog's body.

How Much Water Does Your Dog Need?

The amount of water your dog needs daily depends on the size of your dog, the amount of exercise, the climate your dog spends time in, and what kind of dog food you are feeding. Considering these variables the amount can change from day to day.

Don't consider these cold hard numbers but as general guidelines the amount of water your dog should get on a daily basis might look something like this:

A 7 pound adult Maltese with activities consisting of one 20 minute slow walk and some light indoor activities, would need approximately 1½ cups of water throughout the day to maintain a proper level of body fluid.

A dog weighing 65 pounds would require approximately 7 cups of water depending on exercise, anxiety, climate and diet.

7 Ways To Keep Your Dog Hydrated

The challenge in keeping your dog hydrated is that they don't know when to drink, and most of the time in more strenuous activity or exercise, won't think to go drink on their own. Here are seven things you can do to encourage your dog to drink water, stay hydrated and get out and have some fun.

• Make sure your dog drinks before a workout.
• Take water and a frisbee to use as a water bowl on outings.
• Give ice cubes as treats.
• Put ice cubes in the water bowl.
• Put more than one bowl of water out in another location.
• Put a treat in the bottom of the water bowl.
• Play water games while teaching to drink from the hose.