Travelling with the dog mid-summer offers a lot of rewards but poses a few challenges: a big one on our trip was getting my crazy cocker-cross Victor to drink water. Not just enough water, but any water. He’d occasionally woof down half a bowl, but only after getting really parched. Trying to convince him to drink water when available was next to impossible while we road tripped recently.
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There’s many tricks for getting dogs to drink, especially on scorching hot days at a dog-centric camping ground. But here’s what I tried: Beef Broth ice cubes.
Specifically, CARU grass-fed beef bone broth for dogs and cats added to water in an ice cube tray and frozen, after I dropped a small dog bone shaped treat in each like these from Milkbone. (They float). In each tray cube, add one half water, one half broth, and one dog treat. (Amazon affiliate links)
CARU’s broth is intended as a pet food supplement, added to dry or raw food or drank on its own by your pet. According to the company, CARU broth (given to dogtrotting for review) is made in the USA with human grade ingredients, USDA-inspected beef bones and contains no salt, preservatives, colouring or artificial flavours.
But hopefully the frozen beef treats will entice Victor to see water as desirable. Give them to the dog one at a time or drop in a water bowl – here’s is the result:
My dog wasn’t the interested (surprise) distracted by the fact he wanted to be
inside. He did notice a few in the water bowl but drank after they melted. Other more curious pups were willing to lick at the broth ice cubes then eat the treats.
The cubes are brown, which the dogs don’t notice. Next time, I’d add a bit more water to make them easier to pop out of the trays.
Otherwise – for my dog – I might just pour some of the broth into the water and entice him to drink more. Even dogs apparently prefer flavoured water.
Love the idea of freezing the both broth…especially in summer! Thanks for the idea!
Tippy is funny about water too. Some days, she won’t drink hardly anything and the next day she drinks all she can get. She prefers drinking out of the faucet to out of a bowl. As for flavored water, Tippy might go for it, but I can’t drink flavored water. I know it is a mind thing, but, if I get water, I want water and if it tastes like something else I just can’t do it. (I know. I’m weird.)
I don’t like flavours either except for lemon … for some reason some lemon in water is ok. I’ve been trying to get my dog to drink more, especially outside. I just discovered he’s more likely to drink out of low shallow dishes than bowls. Surprise.
I saw an episode of some pet show that said some animals (I think it may have been a cat they were talking about) wouldn’t eat or drink out of big bowls because they can’t see their surroundings when they are eating/drinking. Tippy doesn’t seem to have that problem. She is just a very, very messy drinker. I think she gets more in the floor than in her mouth.