The Water Bowl Is Full. Why Is the Floor Wet Again?

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Some dogs finish drinking and leave a few drops behind. Others step away from the bowl with the floor already wet around it.

You wipe the puddle, straighten the bowl and carry on. Then the dog gets thirsty again. Before long, the cloth used for wiping the floor has acquired a permanent place nearby.

Putting a towel underneath catches some of the water, but now there is a damp towel to deal with. A mat protects a larger patch of floor, although it does not stop the splash from getting there in the first place.

A spill-resistant dog water bowl makes the water harder to throw around while the dog drinks. A floating plate covers most of the surface, leaving an opening where the dog can reach the water. The plate drops as the water level goes down.

For a dog accustomed to plunging its muzzle into a completely open bowl, that is quite a change. There is less exposed water to push toward the rim, while the dog can still drink as the plate follows the water downward.

The extra piece does mean there is more to wash than with an ordinary bowl. Water gets onto both sides of the plate, so being able to lift it out and clean underneath matters more than it might appear while the bowl is sitting neatly on the floor.

When the Water Bowl Sits in a Tight Spot

A second spill-resistant bowl does much the same job without occupying as much floor. That is easier to live with when the water bowl already sits in a kitchen corner or beside a cabinet. There is little gained from keeping the water contained if the bowl itself ends up where people keep catching it with a foot.

Watch where the wet marks actually appear before blaming the bowl. If the puddle forms around it during drinking, the splash is happening there. A trail that begins after the dog walks away is different. In that case, water dripping from the dog after drinking is the problem to deal with.

With the splash kept inside the bowl, there is nothing much to see afterward. The dog drinks, wanders off, and the cloth that usually gets dropped beside the bowl can stay in the cupboard.