Dog Walker Tales

A Quirky Column about Dog Walking Adventures in the City of Dog-Owning Love

Water Bowl Blues

So, while hanging out at Seger Run—the dog run down behind the Superfresh around 10th and South—I discovered a whole new truth to the saying, “You can lead a horse to the water, but you can’t make him drink.”

Here’s the story: I walk into Seger Run with this dog that I’m dog sitting for the summer, Murphy. Murphy is a Maltese—a tiny little dog who often shakes, shivers and quivers in the presence of forceful, uptight men... or scary dogs.

So, when we get into the dog run, Murphy doesn’t wander far from the bench on which I’m sitting. He keeps milling around behind the bench, under the bench, alongside the bench and, occasionally, he takes a few steps out in front of the bench.

I start thinking that maybe I should pick him up and transplant him in other parts of the dog run to sort of give him a gentle push into the world of doggie socialization. What’s more, it’s really, really hot out and Seger Run’s got this fountain water bowl thing all the way over by the fence that divides the dog run from the tennis courts.

“Hmm,” I think. “Murph’s got to be thirsty. I’ll take him to the water bowl and let him walk back on his own. Kill two birds with one stone.”

Proud of my solution, I scoop him up, head over to the fountain and set him directly in front of the water bowl.

“Look Murph! Water. See? Water.”

Murphy sniffed the water a little, then started circling the fountain. Good enough. I wander back to my bench, quietly leaving him to his own wares. And he seemed fine for a few minutes. I would glance up. He’d still be sniffing around the fountain. On my last glance, I see Murphy lifting a leg.

“Oh no!” I think. “He’s gonna pee in the water bowl. Don’t pee. Don’t pee. Please don’t pee.”

Just then this woman, who presents as if she's the Mayor of Seger Run, yelps.

“Stop! Stop! That dog’s peeing in the water bowl. Oh no! Don’t let the other dogs drink from it. Stop! Stop!”

“I’m sorry!” I jump up from the bench explaining that, more than likely, Murphy didn’t have enough urine left in his system to really pee in the water bowl. It had to be a dry lift.

"I'm pretty sure he's all peed out if that makes you feel better."

Nonetheless, Miss Mayor frantically looked for a way to empty the water bowl fountain and refill with new water. Other dog walkers gathered 'round. It became an event. A fiasco while Murphy sat there innocently, unaware of the chaos he created.

In the end, we all decided Murph hadn’t tainted the water bowl after all. Even if a drop came out, it would’ve have been one part pee to a million parts H2O. We could all live with that.

So, the moral of the story: You can lead a dog to the water bowl, but you can’t make him drink from it. But, just maybe, you can make him pee in it.

Photo via mrjoro on Flickr