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About three days ago, my dog approaches the water dish like he's thirsty, but dances around it like he's scared of something. He will finally drink, but after annoying the hell out of me with ten to twenty minutes of whining.

He's weird around other things, like corners on a hard floor, doors that aren't open wide enough ... you know how dogs are. He acts like that around the water dish.

So I figure something happened. Maybe water went up his nose or something and he blames the dish. I emptied the water into another identical dish and he lapped the droplets from the old dish without hesitation, but was wary of the new dish.

Is there something I can do? Are there any other ideas?

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  • 4
    static electricity?
    – anon
    Commented Mar 21, 2015 at 2:14
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    What happens if you offer him water from a different dish, in a different room?
    – Vixen Populi
    Commented Mar 21, 2015 at 6:45
  • @VixenPopuli Mostly the same thing. He'll drink right when I set it down, but then is scared of it again.
    – user3799
    Commented Mar 22, 2015 at 14:47
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    did you wash the dish recently? Some dogs are very sensitive to left over soap that might've clung to the side.
    – Veg
    Commented Mar 24, 2015 at 23:53
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    Does your dog have a little metal ornament on his collar? It's possible the collar thing is hitting against the dish, creating a banging sound and scaring the dog.
    – Globin347
    Commented May 4, 2020 at 1:07

2 Answers 2

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Where is the water dish sitting? I'm going to guess it's not sitting on carpet! Based on the other things your dog is afraid of, I'm going to guess that your dog skidded on the low-traction surface around the water bowl. You can easily pick up a rug or other piece of plastic or rubber (some are designed for food dishes) to put around or underneath the bowl, so the dog has something secure to stand on.

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I am seeing the same thing with my dog. It started this evening when she wanted to go out in a severe rainstorm and she began eating large quantities of grass. She threw up once-grass and undigested dinner- and continued to eat grass. My hunch is that she found some cat poop in the yard this morning- neighbors feed some wild cats - and it made her sick 12 hours later. But the fear of the water dish is new.
In the past I have had to place her dish on a nonskid silicone potholder because the scraping noise is too unpleasant to her. Now I feel I am encouraging my rescue dog to develop OCD.

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    Hi, welcome to Pets Stack Exchange! Please note that this is not a forum; we're strictly questions and answers. The part about scraping noise is a possible answer.
    – Vixen Populi
    Commented Apr 21, 2015 at 5:20

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