How much water do you need to stay hydrated?  The blanket answer is 8 glasses.  That’s for us humans.  What about our dogs?  How much water do they need to stay hydrated and what if your dog is overly active?

How Much Water Should My Dog Drink?

Make it simple and it helps to do the right thing.  Find out what your dog weighs and figure 1/2-1 oz of water per pound.  My Weimaraner is 65 pounds.   That means she should have 36-65 oz of water per day.

This is the simple formula.   Of course activity and weather can make a difference so common sense needs to be taken into account.  In other words, the low end of 36 oz is not sufficient if you have taken your dog out on an hour plus trail hike in warm weather conditions in the 65 lb. example.  Make sure to go to the 65 oz end of the formula, especially if your dog has had an all out session, like my Weimaraner tends to do!

Checking for Proper Dog Hydration

Dogs are not able to say they are thirsty and the situation can be easily overlooked by an owner not realizing you have to not only lead your dog to water, but in many cases you need to show your dog to drink it as well.

You can check for proper hydration in your dog by:

Check for a Dry Nose

If your dog’s nose is dry it’s past the time that water should have been consumed.  Time to lead your dog to water, and encourage the action of drinking it.

A dry nose is not the only sign of a dehydrated dog.  Keep in mind your dog can have a wet nose and still be dehydrated or on the verge of really needing to drink.

Elastic Skin

Skin loses elasticity as it loses moisture.   There’s a good reason to stay hydrated yourself as well.   Skin without moisture will remain wrinkled. Ewww… maybe a little water drinking could save a whole lot of dog owner botox treatments!

Check the back of your dog’s neck by pinching the skin between two fingers.   When you let it go if the skin goes back to laying flat your dog is hydrated.  If the skin remains squished or wrinkled your dog needs to get some water intake going as soon as possible.

Checking the Gum Tissue

One can get technical about this or one can think about it in easy terms.  When you run your finger over your dog’s gums, if it feels a bit slimy, you have a hydrated dog.  If the gum tissue isn’t slimy, your dog needs to drink and is on the dehydrated side of life.

The technical way is by using a method to check for capillary refill time. To do this when your dog is hydrated pull the lip up and press your finger firmly against the gums until the tissue appears white-ish in color.  See how long it takes for the gum tissue to fill to pink again.

Now you have a baseline to see if your dog is dehydrated in times of activity.   If when you remove your finger the tissue looks gray in color or takes a long time to refill to pink, your dog is dehydrated.

So there you go, you can choose to use the slimy method or the capillary refilling method.  Either will help you determine how much water your dog needs.

How To Get Your Dog To Drink

It is true that sometimes you can lead a dog to water and yet they won’t drink it even if they need it.  You can make this a habit by enticing your dog to do it, which is a fun way to say:  train your dog to drink.

Tricks are the best way to train dogs and ourselves to do anything.  After all, if it’s fun you’ll do it, and so will your dog.

Use a treat to entice your dog’s nose to the water bowl, drop the treat in the bowl and as your dog takes a little water in while going for the treat, put the word “drink” to it.

If your dog likes ice cubes you can do the same trick.  Drop the cubes in the bowl requiring your dog to drink to nab the “treat”.  I use ice cubes as a full on treat and my dogs love it.  A very sly way to encourage your dog to drink more water.

Done enough times it will become a habit and you can fade the treat by offering it sometimes and not having it others.  With repetition your dog will automatically start to drink.  When you say the word at the moment your dog is drinking you are pairing the action with the word repetitiously.  You’ll begin to illicit the automatic reaction to drink when you say the word and your dog is in proximity of the water bowl.

Another quick fix for some dogs is to add a little beef bouillon to the water mixture.  Lab type dogs can’t help themselves.  They’ll drink in the hopes of food appearing!

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As author and creator of 5K Training Guide | Running with Dogs, Treading for Dogs and K9 Cross Fitness Classes in Kailua Kona Hawaii I encourage you to make that change you want so badly today!  Get out and get fit with your dog!