This is exactly why I don’t think it’s gross.
It wouldn’t bother me. I’m not responsible for other people’s irrational phobias.
I used to play baseball, and we used public fountains all the time. If you are squeamish, you “wash” the fountainhead with your hand while it is running, that’s all. Nowadays, I’m surprised anybody cares about or even drinks public water anymore.
Totally read this in a Niles Crane voice.
I said not gross because his lips aren’t touching the nozzle and most people aren’t touching their lips to the nozzle either. They’re just drinking the spray.
I won’t let dogs lick me on the face, after seeing what they’ll eat, but I still don’t think it’s any more gross than anything else that happens to an outdoor public drinking fountain.
As an aside, one of the parks around here has an actual doggie drinking fountain. Or rather, a dual-species one. The drain from the human part of the fountain flows into an open basin at ground level with an overflow drain on it.
Or any less gross. The nasty kids and shitting birds are gross too. But the OP was about dogs specifically. In any case, I don’t feel that strongly about it, and would drink from a festering dogmouth, birdass, and kidwhizz contaminated public fountain if I were thirsty enough.
Let me get this straight – you see bird shit on a fountain – and you still drink out of it?
even if the dog licks the spigot, it wouldn’t matter. Those things are designed such that its very hard to touch a part that the water touches… there is a little recessed hole, so unless the dog is licking all over it when the water isn’t running, all the parts that water actually contacts are going to remain unspoiled.
Plus, well, I just don’t care. I gave my dog licks of ice cream and licked right after him. 
The bird didn’t shit in the water spout, so why not drink it?
You must have a very careful dog.
The ones I’ve known well don’t have the dexterity to intentionally miss the fountain part itself, nor would they try to do so. And if I saw your dog at the fountain, I’d not assume that it’s the exception.
Gross.
Yup. And I bet wild animals and stray cats climb all over that thing looking for water, too.
That being said, it strikes me as being a really inefficient way to get water to your dog. Seconding the recommendation for a portable water bowl.
Yea, the fountain possibly being dirty in general doesn’t make what the OP is letting his dog do less gross. People letting dogs lick their faces is gross, too, but it’s your face. It’s not your fountain, though, and it’s easy to leave it for the people as it’s intended and bring a water bottle for your dog, or bring along a collapsible bowlas people have suggested. I wouldn’t run around accosting people about it, since it’s not likely to kill anyone or anything, but it’s not something I would do. I wouldn’t rinse a cut or wash my hands in the fountain either. It might not contaminate anyone, but that’s not why the fountain is there.
This really depends on the size and direction of the arc. In my experience these water fountains vary wildly, from glorious 40cm rainbows of water to piddly little mushroom shapes that hardly get off the ground.
If I push the button on the fountain all the way, the arc goes clear to the opposite side of the bowl. The bowl is maybe a foot in diameter. It’s a good arc. Some of the drops of water striking the opposite side of the bowl splash out of the bowl opposite the fountainhead.
There’s another fountain elsewhere in the park where the arc clears the opposite side of the bowl and all the water ends up on the ground instead of in the drain if you push the button all the way.
If the fountain had just a trickle of water where the dog would have to lick the fountainhead to get any, I wouldn’t let the dog drink like that.
What’s inefficient about it? Walk up to fountain. Dog puts paws up on rim of fountain bowl. I push button. Dog drinks. We walk away. No need to fuss with extra equipment.
My assumption was that the dog can get more water in from lapping out of a bowl, versus whatever is drooled/sprayed/missed from a waterspout. My experience with trying to “water” dogs using a low-flow hose’s water led me to believe that dogs might either lose a lot of water and thus take a while to drink, or not get enough water but feel the impatience of the owner and stop.
I see.
After the first couple of tastes it can get to be quite a rush.
Seriously-
not if the pigeonpoo is directly on the spout, obviously. That would be just as gross as dogslobber.
.
It’s the licking-of-one’s-anus habit.
True, but I wash my face once in a while too.
I probably shouldn’t talk, as I let my cats lick my face and such, and they climb on the table/counter. But as others have said – it’s a public fountain. I wouldn’t let my pets drink out of it. I don’t know how clean YOUR dog is.
Irrational? Maybe. But I don’t think it’s all that polite to have your dog drink out of a public fountain. What the fuck is wrong with bringing a bowl?
(My mother works in an elementary school. She sees kids washing their hands in the school drinking fountains on occassion. Once she yelled at a girl for washing her retainer in said fountain.)