i guess i can join the club of sloppy dog drinkers..both of mine are slobs...but i have notice one think that makes them different when drinking their water...male only drinks with his tongue keeping his nose out of the water ...the female of course has to put her whole nose under the water like she is trying to smell the bottom of the bowl and then after she is done drinking she stands in it for awhile and then tips the bowl to empty it.. :rolleyes: eating of course is a different matter male chows his down in record time and female eats a morsel at a time..so lady like...

I use a 5qt dish, when I fill it 3/4 full I have water everywhere. When it's 1/2 full they are fairly neat near the bowl. When they stop drinking, however, and turn around dripping water from the bowl back to wherever their destination is, it can get really messy.

I work at home and I've learned to keep my work area clear of any paper objects and have a towel handy in case they come in after drinking. I've been trying to get them to sit after drinking, on the brick area where their bowls are. When I realize they are drinking and can make sure they do what I want I will issue the command and of course give them a treat and extra attention afterwards. Sometimes after drinking they will sit on their own now, or at least wait around for me to bring them a treat. It's hard to be consistent because they drink when they want to and I'm not always ready to make sure they do what I want them to.

One of my dogs does the 'shove nose all the way to the bottom of the bowl' thing too. He also drinks from the bottom of the shower when someone is using it and from the bathroom/kitchen sinks when they are running. =)

when mine was a pup, i left her alone in the kitchen for just a second. when i came back, she had not only dumped her water bowl, but i swear she was dancing in it. what a smile on her face. she did eventually gotten a bit better about it, but still dribbles. maybe there's a hole in her lip?

This is just supposition on my part but I think it is partly the larger heads on the working lines that causes them to be such messy drinkers. We had German Shepherds the whole time I was growing up but they were not from working lines. They didn't turn the floor into a wading pool around their water dish. We now have a show lines female and a working line male. The male makes a huge mess and the water just runs out of his mouth when he raises his head.

I disagree about the big-headed theory - my "messy" drinker is my working-line female Arrow - when she drinks water just gushes out of the sides of her mouth - all over the floor. Then she dribbles it out of her mouth walking straight over to put her head in my lap - soaking me too. She loves to do that. HUGE heavy bowl only 1/2 full helps a lot. Eagle is my male, a bigger fatter head you won't find on a GSD. He doesnt' spill a drop when drinking. Neither dog is "drooly" either. Eagle's daughter, an over-sized female (not drooly either) loves to swim in her water bowl/bucket/dish - she drinks with her entire head in the bucket, comes up for air with her whole face soaked to her ears, then sticks her feet in there and digs out the rest of the water, loves to make a huge mess.

LOL. My male GSD dribbles water everywhere but he is a connisseur of sorts. He won't drink out of mud puddles which other dogs I've had did, certainly will not drink out of a toilet bowl if accidentally left open and certainly won't drink water in his bowl if it's more than a few hours old. He refuses table tidbits, which no dog I owned ever did and prefers his nuggies spread across the floor rather than in his bowl. He is the first dog I've ever owned who didn't like people food except for the raw meat and uncooked bones we give him. I must say there are advantages to that. One, he doesn't eat unhealthy and second, I know I can leave my plate of food on the table and not worry he'll steal it from me.

Have you considered some kind of water bottle? He would have to take his sweet time and water would only come out if he used his toungue to lick it...that close to swallowing it and he just might! That might work until he figures out how to chew open the water bottle itself.(That would be great fun...)