Our two beloved spaniels, Oscar and Felix, are rather quirky. Given that they were originally found living by themselves in the wild, they were used to trying to find food, shelter, and water in the outdoors.  In the couple of years since we got them, they’ve become truly wonderful, sweet, loving pups, although they’ve maintained several of their original quirks.

The most maddening to deal with…their refusal to drink water if it’s inside the house. One of the two will sometimes drink from a water bowl inside the house, but strongly prefers drinking “outside water”.  The other?  There were a couple of days last fall, after I’d put the birdbath away for the winter, before there was any “delicious” snow to eat for a water source, where Oscar was refusing to eat much.  Even offering some of his most decadent, beloved treats…like some fresh cooked chicken breast…resulted in a turned up nose.  Wondering if the issue might be water, we placed a pan of water outside.  When we let the two outside, Oscar timidly approached the water, and then proceeded to guzzle the entire pan.  We let them back in the house, tried food again with Oscar, and he downed an entire bowl full.

It’s been maddening to try to get them to drink water, but my bird bath outside has always been their preferred drinking source, from the very first day we got them. However, that bird bath recently broke.  The only solution? Replace it with what’s got to be the world’s most expensive dog bowl (video at the bottom)!  I truly love this fountain…it’s from “Henri”, called their “Phoenix” fountain. It’s got a unique, modern style, has a big deep reservoir that holds a lot of water, has a wonderful shallow pan on top that the birds love to bath in, and most importantly, it’s very low and accessible for the pups!  And expensive, and back-breaking solution to get the dogs a reliable drinking water source!

This is from the very first day we got Oscar (left) and Felix (right) from the rescue group. Almost immediately they found the joys of the bird bath, and for the last 3 years, it’s been their primary summer drinking source. Alas, this is the same bird bath that recently broke, requiring a replacement with the NEW world’s most expensive dog bowl.