I’ve got a bit of a problem - my dog’s keeping pets. Well, not keeping them as such, but he’s happy to feed them…
My malamute has a reaction to campylobacteria. It’s a common bacterium that my vet’s explained to me is usually among dog gut flora, but gives him gastro problems that range from ongoing diarrhoea to the time it landed him in the vet’s emergency ward for three days with an IV in his paw.
I can cut down the problem by cutting raw meat out of his diet, but there’s another vector I can’t seem to stop.
He won’t protect his water or his food dish, and the neighbourhood mynahs are using them as a bird bath and snack table respectively. Being birds, they’re less than scrupulous about their hygiene, and it’s pretty common for me to find bird excrement in the bowls when I go to refill them.
I take the food bowl inside when he’s not using it, but I can’t realistically take the water bowl away from a malamute when he’s outside all day in the summer heat. I’ve seen devices that attach to a tap and let the dog control his own intake, but the only tap is installed too high for him to reach.
Does anyone know a way to keep birds out of a dog’s water bowl that doesn’t involve the scattering of arsenic-soaked birdseed or the injudicious use of firepower?
Have you tried covering the dishes with a top big enough for the dog to go under? Birds like to have a vertical escape route.
Another possibility is a stainless feeder that hangs on a fence (we have one of these), where the dog has to push a panel open with his nose to get to the food. The birds can’t push it open, and if you get a particularly muscular crow, he still risks getting stuck in it.
This isn’t going to make me popular but if you kept both the bowls and the dog inside your home where they than this won’t be a problem, with the added benefit that you won’t annoy your neighbors. If your dog has issues inside your home and that’s why you keep it outside, you could try actually training it and seeing if that works.
And some people believe that very large dogs like malamutes are outdoor animals.
That being said, I second the suggestion about putting some sort of cover over the bowl, as was said birds like a vertical takoff ability. It also keeps random leaves and stuff from falling into the bowl =)
Not to pile on, but if the dog is making noise because of anxiety/abandonment issues, the neighbors may be at the end of their patience. I have heard of too many cases where exasperated or simply malicious neighbors resorted to poisoned dog food or injudicious use of firepower to solve their “problem” for me to be comfortable leaving any dog unsupervised where the public can interact with him or her.
Is it possible to have the dog inside? What are the dog’s issues, and can they be worked on?
I know a malamute is able to endure weather, and they can be independent-minded enough to endure a certain amount of solitude. I’m not saying no malamute can ever be outside. But in this case (based on what I’ve read so far) the factors weighing against it (heat, persistent reinfection from animal vectors, animosity from neighbors, anxiety on the part of the dog) would seem to indicate the dog might well be better off inside, and probably needs some behavioral work as well.
And those people are wrong and shouldn’t get a dog they feel is too big for their residence. There are exceptions to this rule, working sled dogs, for example, are kept outside, but in that situation you have multiple dogs living together. It sounds like the OP’s dog doesn’t have any companionship, has repeatedly gotten ill from its housing and annoys the neighbors because it lives outside. Do you really feel this appropriate?
Thanks for the suggestion about the ‘faucet extender’ - I hadn’t heard of such a thing before - and the bird netting’s not a bad idea. I’d thought of that, but I can’t work out how to prevent birds from getting under it (they’re urban mynahs - not particularly averse to confined spaces). I might see if I can make up a framework to put over the dishes.
For those who’d prefer to take part in the pile-on, do you see that bit about how he’s an exclusively outside dog? It’s right next to the bit where you ask me if there’s a reason he’s fed outside rather than putting “the bowls… inside [my] home where they should be”.
Can he be trained to drink out of something other than a dish? I found this page which shows little dogs drinking water out of a hamster/gerbil-like water bottle contrapation. I realize your dog is a little bigger, but maybe there is a similar big dog solution out there.
And I guess you’re guilty of judging me, then so the circle can go around until everyone gets dizzy. Look, the OP asked for ideas on how to prevent birds from using his/her dog’s water dish. The obvious solution to this is to keep the dog inside. This is healthier for dogs in general. Leaving a dog outside all day without supervision (which the OP’s post implies) can cause a host of behavioral problems (among other things). The OP also mentioned that he/she was having issues with neighbors about the dog. In these kind of cases, the problem is usually noise, primarily barking. Dogs will often bark their heads off when left outside, when they are bored and when they don’t get enough physical and mental stimulation. So again, not leaving the dog outside can help with this kind of situation. Additionally, some dogs can make enough of a racket inside their homes to annoy neighbors. Training can help obviate this. These strike me as common sense replies to a person who wants to make sure their dog doesn’t get sick and who, hopefully, doesn’t want to irritate their neighbors.
Another poster disagreed with me and said large dogs should be kept outside. I absolutely disagree with this and I do look down on people who do this. Being kept outside without receiving enough phsyical/mental exercise is a great way to develop behavioral issues or to compound issues that are already present. Dogs often get dumped in shelters because of this in which case, taxpayers get to pay for someone else’s irresponsibility. Note, I’m not talking about the OP’s dog here I just wanted to further expand on my answer to the other poster.