I have a guilt tonight that makes me feel like a bad pet owner (mommy) and makes me want to cry…….>>?
April 18th, 2010 | 
Author: Is this normal???
So….I feel stupid right anyways….I was wanting to post this in the ‘parenting’ section but couldnt figure a way to explain myself without saying my baby is a dog…and they just wouldnt get it.
I’ve been following guides that say for puppies its good for them to eat on schedule 3 times a day and after feeding time is over, you remove the water/food (after about half an hour, I usually leave it out an hour, because time flies). I’m in the middle of house training her, she’s doing well, but yesterday was the first day that she did not have an ‘accident’ indoors. (I spent a large portion of the day outsite, and as normal, kept the door open, so there was little chance).
So tonight I was doing some work from home on the computer, and my sweetheart Lilly, who is 3 months old, came over to me a few times whimpering/wining…I thought she just wanted attention…because the last few days had been a little out of order because my husband was gone for a few days, and I had my younger sis stay with me, and I just thought she wanted attention. My husband said well maybe she has to go #2 so let her out in the back yard and she went to this section of our property where we have firewood and some bbq products (large catering pans/etc) along with some junk we are going to be giving away. So she goes through this crazy weird maze, between storage tubs, and down low under and over and finally gets to this space where I couldnt see her and thought she was going number 2 and I brought my flash light out (which was handy dandy nearby in her pet cabinet outside) and saw that she was drinking out of a some moldy container with dirty water (its been raining a little bit lately, and I had no idea this water was there, we’re in the middle of puppy proofing everything, I thought it was all puppy proof aparently I was wrong) and so I just felt like such a bad mommy…..I know many of you will (possibly) say that its no big deal…or that I should take her to the vet, but I think she’s fine, I just have this horrible guilt trip … I feel like such a bad mommy, even though she is litterally spoiled with love, attention, training, health, excercise, food….I just felt bad that she was so thirsty she had to find this horrible water……are there many peopel that have experiences like this ??? Although they know they are good parents to their animals??? If you could help me deal with this, please, and thank you…
hey we all screw up with our little darlings. when you take her out to potty keep her on a leash and when she is done doing her thing praise her up and down and give her a treat (always give treat outside). since she’s only 3 months you should keep an eye on her when its dark out (leash)
its the guilty feeling owners that are the best !
good luck
Posted in Home Storage Cabinet
hey we all screw up with our little darlings. when you take her out to potty keep her on a leash and when she is done doing her thing praise her up and down and give her a treat (always give treat outside). since she’s only 3 months you should keep an eye on her when its dark out (leash)
its the guilty feeling owners that are the best !
good luck
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Your dog will be fine — but i have to wonder why you take her water up after she eats?
I do know that, when dogs are being housebroken, we will take their water up a few hours before bed time, but i’ve never heard of taking the water up after a meal. I don’t see why it’s necessary
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Just two things to say really:
1. Remove water a half hour before bed while housebreaking. Other then that your pup should have access to clean water at all times.
2. Take your pup out on a leash for now. Any number of things can happen to an off leash puppy.
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Alright mom, chill out lol! Your baby is fine! Don’t take her to the vet…that would be a little to over the top lol. Old stale water can carry giardia which is a parasite that goes into their intestines. It can cause vomiting and runny poop. If you see signs of this several days down the road just make a vet appointment and they will do a stool test. My dog does this kind of stuff all the time. When I was walking him, he LOVES to drink rain water that is in puddles and I freak out because you don’t know what car chemicals are in it. But they are animals not people and they don’t react to stuff as bad as people do. So don’t worry! One time I was dumb and let go of my dogs leash so he could play and run. Well he went crazy and ran away when it was 18 degrees out. Hes an akita so loves cold weather but I couldnt find him. He still had his leash so in the am I found that someone had tied him up outside my apartment to a bush. He was so happy to see me. My poor baby…now that is bad parenting haha.
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If it was just old rain water she’ll be ok. For the future, just leave her waterbowl out at all times. There is no reason at all to put it away.
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You shouldn’t feel bad but you shouldn’t remove the water too
remove the food but always keep the water……I mean always
ahh by the way if ur baby doesn’t get diarrhea and still active then it’s fine…..don’t worry
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No need to feel guilty… sometimes things happen. I beat myself up once when i was busy doing other things and I didn’t take my baby girl out right when she needs to do #2 and had to do it by the door. Sometimes things happen and all we can do is make sure it doesn’t happen again.
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It’s not your fault that she drank the water, and it’s not because she was horribly thirsty.
My dog has always seemed to prefer muddy rainwater to fresh water, so one time I actually did a test. I took his bowl of fresh clean water outside and set it by a puddle and he gladly slopped up the puddle instead.
I don’t know why!
When you’re housetraining your pup, might I suggest a crate? It makes it easier when you can supervise her instead of having her running around.
When you’re housetraining, you shouldn’t leave water out all the time. That makes their urinary habits unpredictable.
When you monitor their eating/drinking habits, you can also make sure you have them outside in time to let them do their business.
Stop feeling guilty! If it helps, go get the can and look it over. Call the vet if you’re worried(if the can has leftover debris like paint varnish, bug killer, etc.
Sounds like you’re doing an exceptional job with Lilly.
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My dogs have access to iced cool fresh water indoors everyday through out the day. They give us the signs that they want to go outside and head straight to the planters to try to drink the rain water that has collected. They will also drink from their outside bowl that is cleaned and filled daily in the morning rather than drink from their inside bowls. I understand removing the food bowl, but just keep the water bowl out for her so she has access to clean water whenever she wants or needs it.
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I would have to say I’m like you my boston terrier is our baby. My husband and I don’t have any children yet we’re still young and I freak about everything. My mom jokes that when we do have kids,my kids will fart and I’ll think something is wrong. You aren’t a bad mommy because she drank the dirty water. Even though they are our babies they are still dogs and dogs are somewhat pretty hardy animals. She will be fine. My Bailey boy has eaten parts of toys and drank dirty water off our deck and we try our hardest to catch him. We’ve had our issues with him with allergies and anal glands and it seems like I’m always taking him to the vet. And for the food and water thing I have heard of people doing this but I disagree in a way. If you were thirsty throughout the day wouldn’t you go get something to drink? A dog can’t really tell you they’re thirsty. We have Bailey’s food and water dish in our kitchen and we also spend most of our time hanging in our bedroom so I have a 2nd water dish for him in there that stays filled. He is now almost a year but hasn’t had an issue with accidents in months. Just take Lilly out every so often just to keep showing her that is where she is supposed to go potty and there shouldn’t be an issue with accidents.
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I once seen a group of jack russell terriers running in a pack on the beach, it was humbling to see they all had a great friendship. I wish my dog could be more social.
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I really hope this is a joke…
Your on a guilt trip because your dog drank some water from outside???
Christ, i wish everyones problems were like yours!!!
What a terrible thing to go through, lets hope the dog never cuts herself or gets sick… your husband will have to talk you down from the roof if that were to happen!!
PS, you didn’t give birth to the furball, you aren’t her mommy…. not unless you let her father hump you.
Seriously, get over it.
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