5 year old lab started drinking out of the toilet!

[HollyBollyBooBoo]

Our dog has all of a sudden started drinking out of the downstairs toilet bowl! When I first noticed it I checked his water bowl and it was full, but I changed it anyway just incase it tasted 'off', but he's done it a couple of times since, again each time his water bowl is full and he has free access to it.

Why on earth would he start doing this now and should I be worried?

Shut the lid or the door and then monitor his water intake from his bowl would be my suggestion. It could just be a nasty habit.

as long as you flush after use the dog will be fine,mine does this too,actually think it was quite clever to work it out.

My cat drinks out of the loo all the time when DC's forget to shut door! Front paws resting on inner slope and rear paws on loo seat! Looks very funny!

Unless you have one of those hideous things clamped to the bowl that pour blue chemicals in when you flush, why is this a problem? All of ours love drinking from the loo.

The Cat of Glory, who lives in this house, finds loo water very much to his taste and ignores the fresh water in his dish. Gets right in and braces paws against front and back inner surfaces, leaving only the tail sticking out.

I was just concerned because he's started doing it at 5 years of age and just wondered if that meant something or that i should be worried, sounds like I don't need to be though, thanks all!

I read somewhere that dogs do this because the water is colder, fresher as it's more frequently aerated and therefore tastes much better. We think, "ugh, the toilet" but dogs don't think like us, they just think it looks nicer. Maybe your dog has only just discovered it!

Though why our younger dog drinks from our skanky pond is still a mystery to me!