How much water to you give your corgi?

We have a 1 qt. bowl that we refill for Machete, until he's acclimated and housebroken completely, then he'll have access to the pet fountains the cats use as well...but while we're vigilant about taking him out I wonder are we giving him enough water?

Should he have unrestricted access? Some sources say no water 1 hour before bed, others 2-3. But also we don't want a dehydrated puppy, and it's fine now, but in the summer it's going to get super hot and we'll want to make sure he's ok and hydrated at all times.

Also, the adult dogs at our breeders had water dishes clipped to the gates of their crates. I would probably like to do that when he's older and in warmer weather, but is that just inviting disaster for a new pup (even if he never does mess his crate)?

(also, yes, I tried the FAQ and searching, but the search function on this site is very basic and doesn't even really use boolean operators properly)

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Permalink Reply by Yuki & Ellie on February 4, 2013 at 11:21am

Neither of my dogs have access to water during the night (Ellie stays in her crate and Yuki voluntarily stays in our bedroom with us) and both have been perfectly fine. During the day, however, they're free to drink as much or as little as they want. If I see that the water bowl is empty, I just fill it up again. However, I should note that I'm home all day and can take them out whenever they need to go. If you have to crate him during the day, others might have better information relevant to you.

While Ellie was still a puppy, I took up her water bowl 1-2 hours before bedtime and made sure I took her out last thing before bed and first thing after I woke up. She did have a few accidents in her crate for the first couple of weeks, but that quickly stopped once we both were used to the routine.

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Permalink Reply by Anna Morelli on February 5, 2013 at 6:56pm

@ Akbar. We are also in a dry climate, right now humidity is 19% and we run humidifiers.

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Permalink Reply by rae on February 8, 2013 at 6:53pm

i'm a bit concerned about summer, cuz the humidity is bonkers. but i've been looking into crate fans and cooling mats and such. ugh, blizzard or no, i dread the summer humidity out here.

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Permalink Reply by Lemmy Winks on February 4, 2013 at 11:50am

Lemmy had access to water at all times during the day, but we crated him at night(9- 10pm), with no water, until 6-7am when it was time to get up. We got him in winter though.
We got Pilot during the summer, and he was locked in the bedroom with us for bed times, and there was always water. He'd whine if he had to go potty and we'd slide out of the bed and take him out at any hour he needed lol.
Accidents are un avoidable unfortunately lol, I love puppies but I hate potty training lol it takes so much patients and time lol.

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Permalink Reply by Aric Michel Cramer on February 9, 2013 at 10:43pm

Yeah, the more puppies at once the tougher too!

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Permalink Reply by Beth on February 4, 2013 at 12:08pm

Usually with puppies the general rule is free access to water all day, then pick it up about 2 hours before bed and no water overnight so he can learn to hold it.

We had Jack in an ex-pen during the day and he would paw all the water out of his bowl and lie in the puddle. :-) SOooooo we had to pick up the bowl and we got him a giant hamster bottle-type waterer which they lick to release water. That worked, and I'd put the bowl down when I was home during the day.

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Permalink Reply by Cathie on February 4, 2013 at 12:26pm

I think if he has free access to water all day, it's probably fine to take away the water bowl over night. He's not going to get dehydrated in that short a time, unless he's sick.

That being said, it's easier and less mentally stressful for me to give Sky (now 11 wks old) access to water at all times. We're home all day and we take him out a lot. He's "paper trained" and we're working towards full outdoor potty training in time, as his holding capacity increases. At night he's penned in the laundry room with open crate, water bowl, papers. I would rather pick up the wet papers in the morning than worry about him being thirsty during the night, or get up at 4:00 am to take him out of his closed crate. That's just me.

I think it depends on your housebreaking routine. Everyone's situation is different.

As for crating him with a water bottle when he's older, if it works for your breeder it would probably work for you. It's a management issue. You have to know how long they can hold it. You have to be there to let them out of the crate, or accept the possibility of a wet crate if you don't make it in time.

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Permalink Reply by rae on February 4, 2013 at 2:07pm

yeah, i'm leaning towards free all day and he's excellent about going all night without making any messes. he goes to bed between 9 & 10 (depending on the day he's had) and is up about 7 am. we just keep refilling the dish for now, but i have taken to putting his water supply in a quart bottle (as mentioned) to gauge how much he's going through in a day.

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Permalink Reply by Shanna Lien on February 4, 2013 at 4:57pm

I think that you are on the right track. We crated Boo for the first year and she never had any problems with dehydration at night. We did all free all day access throughout the day and especially after walks and exercise outside.