If you have a Lab. in the family, have fun with this..

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Beetle-Kill

Minister of Fire
Sep 8, 2009
1,849
Colorado- near the Divide
I have the best, friendly, noisy, energetic, and FAT Lab on the planet. That being said, my upcoming issue with this beast, is the amount of water leaking out of her head, whenever she drinks water.
A cat could fart in another room and her head pop's up, water all over. While she's drinking, if I even twitch, it's worse- at least a quart falling out of her face as she follows me around.:p
Aaand now, my issue,-
new hardwood flooring going in a few weeks, I need to minimize the water this dog drools all over the place. Could I build a plexi-glass enclosure with a "dog-head" opening, that would keep her noggin in there until she's done drinking? Maybe a harness that, once she's in it, could keep her in her "wet" area? I'm totally open to suggestion, thanks. JB
(I've ruled out a Taser, but that's about it.):)
 
I have the problem x 2 :), not much you can do.
The problem with mine is, If I put 2 buckets of water/food out they will drink it until its empty....absolutely no control.
They get fed twice a day which I supervise till they are done which is about 30 seconds.

You can always feed them/provide water outside on the deck.
 
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You could do as ozzy suggests, but don't leave the water out.
It'll attract vermin and will possibly result in the dog getting lepto.
Back to the problem at hand....we have 3 labs and our Newfie just passed, so you can imagine the fun we had/have with the water bowls.
We have linoleum in the kitchen, and had vinyl put in the rest of the house to facilitate easy cleanup.
BIL complains about his laminate floors and we had hardwood in the last house. The slightest water gets in the cracks (and there are cracks) and you've got a problem....sooner or later.
My $.02.....do different flooring or you'll be PO'd at the dog the rest of it's life.
Or, get rid of the dog. :mad:
 
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I don't have labs now but had them as kids and vividy remember our dogs being very sloppy drinkers. We too had hardwood floors but my mom put rubberized bath mats on the floor under their bowls and would have a few to swap out the dry when they got really wet. We used the really bad dribble puddles on the floor as an opportunity to mop, murphy's oil soap, I still remember that smell :)
 
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You could get those fitted mats that go in the back of your SUV. They usually have a lip all the way around to hold whatever.
My dogs like to get a drink, then start wandering away while dripping water all through the kitchen from the laundry room where the water bowl is.
Fun times, fun times.
 
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No issues here with my lab or the several I have taken care of over the years.

The water is a 2 gallon or so jug that goes upside down into a bowl thing and drains out as needed.

Food though, a few years ago he chewed a hole in a full bag I had and emptied almost the WHOLE thing. Came home and he was laying on his side moaning, looked like a damn trash can on legs cause he was swelled up so much.
 
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Catch as much as you can in that area- not much else to do. Put the dog on a diet. Portion control. A healthier weight may reduce the issue- along with joint issues and every other health issue later in life.
 
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Wife says to put an e-collar on him so when he lifts his head up he'll be the one getting wet. If it doesn't work at least it would be entertaining.
 
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Thanks all. We've only had her about a year, took over for my nephew when he couldn't take care of her anymore. Didn't want to see her go to a shelter, she's a great dog.
Putting food/water outside isn't an option, too many critters running around.
I suppose I'll try the truck mat thing, or a vinyl covering on the new floor with a taller boarder. Maybe a SS backsplash for effect.
We'll see. Maybe a low enclosure she'll have to crawl into, no headroom, she drinks then shoves herself backwards to get out. Hmmm......==c
 
I've seen mats to keep boots on for around $3 at places like Odd Lots.

My golden doesn't slobber all over the place, but I understand that the springer I had when I was young did.

Matt
 
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Use a wide deep bowl with not a lot of water...think 5 gallon bucket sawed off about 8" tall...and only 2"-3" of water in the bottom.
 
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When we had a lab we had mats under the bowl area and kept a sponge mop handy.
Darn good thing labs are usually lovable and loving dogs.

It could be worse, you could have a Mastiff.
They can be trained to come and get their jowls wiped with a towel every time they drink.
Unfortunately they will also put their head on your leg while they wait.
So, you have a river from the bowl to your seat and soaking wet pants.
 
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St Bernard and a Rott, there is not a dry spot in the kitchen. one gets a drink then the other is waiting right behind them. the Rott is actually worse. Solid Hickory flooring, needs refinished again, worst around the dishes the rest still looks good. Part of the joy of dog ownership. The grandkids actually abuse things more than the dogs.
 
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Two lab mixes here. Male is a slob when drinking and eating. Female is neat as can be when she drinks or eats. No comments from the ladies peanut gallery. We have an area where we have bare concrete floor. We have a piece of linoleum under their dishes left over from a job I did. By the time they leave that area and come up the stairs it has all fallen off of them. Do you have any area where you could feed them on a different floor type? Basement, garage, bathroom?
 
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I feel your pain my friend.... Mine has gotten better as when she was a puppy, she would put her front paws in the bowl and dig until the water was gone!
Now she just sticks her head in the bowl and walks around dripping, luckily the kitchen is tile and she usually is finished dripping before she gets to the hardwood!
 
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Same problem here with my lab Duke and our wood floors are slowly getting destroyed :( Its not just hte drinkign either. its the panting like crazy when coming inside after playing in the summer. little drops of water and drool all over the house. we try to be diligent about whipping them up, but they get everywhere quickly and its hard to stay on top of them.

My best advice is to get lots of area rugs to protect the floors.

We have also got duke in a routine of going directly to the kitchen (ceramic tile) and laying down untill he catches his breath to prevent the drooling.

See pic below, mid cool down mode!
20120906_192254 (Medium).jpg
 
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Two big labs here, new wood floor. put the water down as far away from the wood floor as you can. Put one of those inside floor door matts down under the water. We get a few drops a few feet away, but that is about it. Also consider a raised dish. They eat and drink better when they don't have to reach down to the floor to get at the food and water.
 
I hope you're ready for a bit of "character" to be added to your brand new hardwood floors in short order. No matter what any salesguy tells you, no matter how many times "harder than oak" the wood allegedly is, a full size dog will scratch that floor.

I installed new hardwood 2 years ago. I have a lab and a weimeriener. "X times harder than oak, will not scratch". Yeah...right.

As for the water...I swear we get it three rooms away still dripping out of their gullets. Not to mention on the windows if they happen to spot a neighbor dog before they've completely emptied the stash of water.
 
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Bottom line, hardwood scratches no matter how hard it is. There is alot of great laminate flooring ( higher end laminates ) that are scratch resistant and somewhat water proof. I would not put hardwood in any floor with kids or dogs:).

We have laminate in family room where the dogs spend majority of their time. No scratches so far ( 2+ years ) and not water damage due to drooling, knocked over water bowl etc.
 
Simple. Every time they drink, run behind them with a dry towel.
 
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Have you ever seen the feeding bowl stands?
http://www.walmart.com/ip/10402428?...1=g&wl2=&wl3=21486607510&wl4=&wl5=pla&veh=sem

I had something like this with my first lab in an older longleaf pine floored house. Seems to get more down their throat and less backwash;hm
Still had a quality rubber backed doormat underneath to catch drips.

My current problem is making sure the bowls are away from the door when Billybob is peeling out to get after the squirrels.
 
mywaynow said:
Simple. Every time they drink, run behind them with a dry towel.
Click to expand...

Yep, that's all we do. Gave up trying anything else.


I can't understand how our horse could suck up water from a bucket but or stinkin' lab has to try to lick it up! She's lucky we love her......
 
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