Yorkie knocks over water bowl

Question
My 2 year old, male Yorkie, Buckley, has been knocking his water bowl over for two days.  This is what he does when the food or water bowl is empty.  We have cleaned it, refilled it, changed the bowl, etc. to find out what he is trying to tell us.  Can you help?

Answer
Hi Andrea,

Who knows why dogs acquire the habits they do? It might be that your dog simply thinks knocking over the bowl is fun.
Does your dog tend to knock the bowls over when he's left alone? He might just be bored. Make sure you leave your dog with something more interesting to do than tipping over his bowls when you leave the house! A "Kong" is a great toy for dogs, especially if you fill it with something tasty. Then, your dog has to spend time playing with the Kong, instead of tipping over his bowls.

Increasing the amount of exercise your dog gets during the day might help, if boredom is the issue. Try it for a few days and see if the bowl-tipping stops.

Your dog may have noticed that bowl-tipping gets your attention, or it could be 100 other reasons.

You can try using a bowl that's designed to be "non-tip". You can also try keeping the bowl on a rubberized shelf liner, they can grip the dog bowl and make it harder to tip.

Best of luck,
Patti