eye watering and coughing

Question
We have 7mo. old male poodle. His eyes water constantly. I went to Pet Smart for Angel Eye and they sold me the eqevalent. It has not worked at all. The drainage is like syrup. I have asked many and all I get is "all poodles have that problem." What do you suggest brand of food. Is there no solution. He also coughs after he drinks water and if he gets a burst of energy and run around the house he will cough and finally stops because he is coughing so much.

Answer
Hello Pat,
The eye watering could be due to allergies from one thing or another.  It could be anything in your dogs enviroment as they can become allergic to many of the same things people are allergic to.  You can give your dog a Benedryl tablet once a night(give in the evening as it tends to make them drowsy) for a couple of weeks to see if this will help with the runny eyes.  If your dog is a smaller Toy size, then give a 1/2 tablet.  You can also have your groomer (or you if you groom him yourself) to shave him close under the eye, and then put some vaseline under the eyes.  This will help the tears fall off of the face rather than stay under the eye.  

You might also try a Lamb and Rice formula food.  Dogs tend to be more allergic to Beef and Chicken products, and cheaper foods usually contain corn which is harder for a dog to digest than rice.  I suggest foods such as Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Nutro(Max or Natural Choice), Sensible Choice, or Bil-Jac foods.  If you want the stats on these, you can type http://www(the dog food name).com  These foods are a bit on the pricy side, so if you need to go to a less expensive food, Wal-Mart has a brand called Maximum Nutrition that is good, Purina is also good and Pedigree is also a good medium price range food.   

As for the coughing, he could have a damaged/collapsed trachea (windpipe) and when he runs he is bringing in more air which would cause him to cough.  Same with drinking, as water passes by the damaged part of his trachea, it would cause him to cough.  If you put gentle pressure on his neck and he coughs because of it, it is most likely a collapsed trachea.  
You might take him to the Vet to see if that is the cause of his cough, and they can give suggestions for easing his cough.  

Give these a try and if you have other questions/comments/concerns, please feel free to ask me.

Thanks for using AllExperts.com,
Kim