HELP: Water Bowl Watergate!!

[RocketDog]

Ok, so I know all of a sudden I've started several threads. BUT:


I have heart pine random-width wood flooring, flown all the way from New Hampshire to Spokane. Installed and finished myself, with a lot of blood, sweat and tears. So, you've guessed it: Rocket is a water buffalo with his water! He plunges his entire muzzle into his bowl, biting and grabbing as much water as he can at one time. (I know this is common with large dogs, I've read about it on here but!) He makes a GIGANTIC MESS.

And actually, my wood floors are holding up fine; (yes, I'm a tease, lol) but you can NOT walk by his bowl, or into the room, without tons of water EVERYWHERE. He drips a giant mouthful when he's done. Unsuspecting kids/guests or sock-wearing feet are ambushed. It's terribly dirty--we wipe and wipe and wipe, and then he comes in to see what we're doing and decides he's thirsty again. So it goes...

I am married to Felix Unger, which I just ignore, but honestly, it is really bad. The way my house is set up, we can't move his bowl anywhere else. He has a lipped mat that keeps most of the water in, but it collects like a 1/4 inch several times a day! The dripping out of his mouth is awful...it's like he's dropping a mouth of water all over.

Can I train this out of him? Do I need to just ride this out and let him mature? This has honestly never been an issue for me with any other dogs...it's kind of hilarious, until you slip in the water and land on your bum.

[doggiedad]

my last GSD was trained to lick his mouth
before he walked away from his water bowl.
my dog would take a drink and one of us would hold
him in front of the bowl untill he licked his lips.
he licked we praised and treated. my dog didn't have
free excess to the bowl. we gave him his water. once he learned
to lick his lips before moving away from the bowl he had 24/7
excess to the bowl.

now i have towels (dish towels) on the floor. he drinks,
i put my foot on a towel and move it around. the towels
are on the floor 24/7. i also keep a towel (bath towel)
beside the front door and the back door. when i need to dry
him off or wipe him off the towels are ready.

[Stosh]

I have a bath mat under the water bowl that I can wash regularly. I've also encouraged Stosh to drink over the bowl, then walk away rather than taking mouthfuls of water with him.

[mleun481]

We have the same problem with Major. We ordered the Neater Feeder and a mat to catch the water as he walks away. The Neater Feeder made a huge difference.