How to keep a toddler out of the dog bowl
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The problem
I think that everyone with a baby and a dog has had this problem. How do you keep the baby out of the dog bowls? They are just so curious, learning and exploring everything. It’s very natural for them to be interested in the dog’s bowls, but it isn’t safe.
Pancake really loves water and baths, so whenever it’s quiet for more than 30 seconds he’s probably splashing in the dog bowl. L
Babies can get sick from the bacteria in dog bowls, or even drown if the circumstances are stacked against them, but how do you keep them out of the dog bowl?
I looked everywhere for an answer, I looked into baby proof dog bowls and there really isn’t much on the market. I found a very expensive RFID tracking bowl that connects to a chip on your dog’s collar (Pepper doesn’t wear a collar when she’s in the house anyway) and it doesn’t even seem to work well. Everything else I found was able to be accessed by a curious baby.
The felt bad taking them away from Pepper and she’s not the kind of dog who eats on a schedule. I just leave food and water out for her all the time and she can access them whenever she wants to.
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The solution
You really just have to move them to a place where the baby or toddler is less likely to end up because it really is impossible to watch them and keep them out of trouble all of the time.
I eventually had to just move her food out of the kitchen. I ended up putting it in the closet of the bedroom I use as an office, it’s pretty out of the way for Pancake, although he does hang out in there sometimes, and it’s easy for Pepper to access. When Pancake is in there and starts to get interested in the dog bowls, I can just close the closet doors rather than close off an entire room of our house.
If it’s warm outside and you have a doggie door outside might be a good option, or if there is a room that the baby doesn’t go in that would be another good choice. If your dog eats on a schedule you may be able to only put food out when it’s mealtime and set water up on a similar schedule. Maybe you could even teach your dog to give you a signal when they need water.
The other thing I have to watch out for when having the dog bowls in an out of the way place is that sometimes I forget to fill them. You could counter this by setting an alarm on your phone to check them at the same times every day. I try to associate checking the bowls with something else I do every day. Since Pepper’s bowls are in my office, I check them when I start working, which is early in the morning, during nap time and before bed.
Pepper was smart enough to figure out that I had moved her bowls and she didn’t seem to mind at all. She’s even used to looking for them when we go on vacation and have to put them in a different place.
Having the bowls out of the kitchen mostly keeps them out of sight out of mind for Pancake, although when he does get interested it is easy to just close the closet doors for a while and not really miss out on anything.
I hope this helps you. If any of you have come up with a better solution to this all too prevalent problem, I would love to hear it. Let me know in the comments below!
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