Dog Feeding Station

Brent Dowell

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Or, as I call it, the slobber catcher. Not sure it belongs in a forum with the name 'ShowCase' on it, as it's really just a quick little slap it together type of thing.

I know we have quite a few dog lovers here, so I'm guessing at least one other person has this problem.

Our little lab girl, Starbuck, has, among other issues, a drinking problem.

She doesn't go to the bowl and just lap up the water. She completely submerges her snout, blows bubbles, and picks up mouthfuls of water, carries it over to you and dumps the water in your lap, if you are sitting down. Needless to say this makes quite a mess around the bowl.

We started off by putting the bowl on a rubberized rug. Well, all that did was trap the water between the rug and the floor and started causing floor problems. So then we used a big blue rubbermaid storage container. Just not very attractive.

So I put this together. Just a simple tray with cherry sides and a birch ply bottom. The finish is automotive fiberglass resin :eek: I wanted something that could hold the water and take some abuse.

DogFeedingStation.jpg
 
We purchased one of those plastice elevated feeding stations (about 12" off the floor) and found that our pooch has much less trouble drinking (used to snort a lot:rofl:). I bought it as an experiment just to see if it would make a difference. Now that we know it does, I've been thinking of replacing it with something from my shop.

Finished with automotive resin...... should hold up well!:D
 
I've seen those raised stands. My fear is that with my little rambunctious girl, she would knock the whole darn thing over!

That being said, I could always put together a little stand for this tray to push it up off the ground.

Not a bad idea.
 
Great idea! My dog has a similar sloppy problem and we're always mopping up water around the bowl. Thanks for inspiring my next weekend project!
 
We have a drip tray for the dogs also, only in our case, it's the kitchen floor!! The sides consist of the kitchen cabinets, the island, and the transition to the carpet on the Family Room side. :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl: Bad thing is when we slip on the slobber water. :eek: Jim.
 
Our little Starbuck is, how should I put it, 'Special'.

And By Special, I mean there's something with this little girl that just aint right:rofl:

But she makes me laugh. And she's smart as a whip, it's just that she's got "Exuberances". She does everything with gusto. Eating, Drinking, Doing her tricks, Retrieving. Even when it comes to barking at things that aren't there.

I've been working on taking her to town, but she just barks the whole time I'm in the store. I'm hoping if I take her to town enough, she'll get over it some year, but I'm not going to hold my breath...
 
dog troubles

well brent i see your starbuck is spoiled a bunch:) now fer you dog folks heres a question fer ya? why would a dog grab a mouth full of food from the bowl and carry it to the living room to eat it then go back and get more? if i see him do it he will go back to where he belongs if i speak to him but the better half doesnt make hiom do it and so he trys to get away with it when i am there too.. he never used to do that just been in the last 6mounths my parents dog does it bad .. and it bugs the daylights outa me justplain messy with him he doesnt even eat all he takes leaves half of it in betwwent rtrips on the floor
 
Our Rat Terrier (Bandit) carries food in her mouth to the living room (if that is where we are eating that night) or the dining room (if we eat at the table). Never does it during the day, just assume she wants to "eat" with the family. :thumb:
 
One of our previous labs used to do the food thing. She'd pick up a mouthful and carry it to somewhere else to eat it then come back for more.

I don't mind her carrying food, but I don't get why she thinks she can do the same with Water!
 
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my wife just happenned to be hanging up some clothes and asked me what I was reading so I showed her your feeding station and she read about it.
She wants to know how to build a feeding station for me. She says I leave a trail when I eat, cleaning up after a dog would be 5 times easier.
 
Brent, I personally liked your youtube wrasslin match. I think my Freddie would like a dog to play with but the wife says she gets to pick out the next hound. She's taking her own sweet time about it, too:(.
 
I built this a few years ago in my kitchen in which I dubbed it the "Dog Center". My wife wanted a spot to place pans next to the stove but this was where the dog ate. We solved both problems by building the dog center here.

It has shelves in the back for the dog leases and grooming stuff, then has two heights to accommodate the big and little dogs...and in the case of the Basset Hound, a big dog with very short legs. :) It also contains the slober too, and the big dog had a bad habit of bunting her empty bowl around the room in the middle of the night when she was thirsty. Recessed into wooden holes, those contained bowls cured that problem.

Our dogs have full access to their food and water, but if you wanted to "hide" it, you could put doors on it and give them access only when you wish. Its worked great in the 4 years its been in use.

Kenworth_Eating4.JPG
 
Another way we have customized our home for dog living was to build a special cabinet to house the garbage and dog food. It looks like the rest of my cabinets, but when you pull on the handle the whole front tips out at you. As it does, the waste baskets tips out with the door so you have access to them.

Ours contains two, one for the dog food and one for the trash. This keeps the dogs out of the trash and from stealing food. This was not so much an issue with the Black Lab, Miniature Schnauzer or the Basset Hound, but the Beagles liked their food.

I don't have a picture of the inner workings of the cabinet, but you can see how its seamlessly integrated into the existing cabinets. It can be seen on the other side of the refrigerator, where the oval throw rug is. Incidentally there is another identical cabinet on the foreground side of the refrigerator and that is where we store our recyclable stuff.

Cabinets4-281x204.jpg
 
Labs are known to exhibit that puppy-like exuberance for two or more years.

Great project and one I need to consider for our cavaliers. They seem to gulp down water in large amounts, and they don't carry it around in their mouths at all. But their ears are so long and floppy that they can't drink without getting a couple inches of their ears drenched and so drip water all over the place. :)

Of course with cavs, I would have to add a pair of hand holes to give it that Butler's Tray sort of look. :)
 
2 or more years? Not sure about that. One of my last 2 labs managed to maintain that 'exuberance' for probably 12 years...

This little clown seems to be on the same track....

Yes, I do believe the Cavaliers might require something a little more refined :thumb:
 
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