Billy is 10 weeks old and just came home. He eats well and is already paper trained. My question is do I need to keep out water all the time or only during feeding?

Dogs need access to fresh water at all times, so keep lots of paper handy. Just wondering why you are paper training do you live in an apartment? If you have easy access to outside toilet area I would be making this transition very quick as these puppies grow fast and clean up is going to be more and more difficult.

Just as Labracorn said, dogs do need access to water at all times. I don't think one would want to see a dog that has been on a restricted water intake. My aunt and uncle have a Rottie that they take less than the best care of. This dog spends a massive amount of time in his crate and they don't have a water bowl for him. When he was younger they used to give him water only a few times a day. I got on their case about it. The poor dog was psychotic around water for a while when they did limit his intake. I mean, he'd see a bowl of water and he'd be in it drinking until some one stopped him or the bowl was empty just because he didn't have water available to him. It took him quite a while to adjust to having water accessable at all times - he didn't quite know what to do.

(They now keep one of those huge water containers connected to the inside of his crate. Ya know, its one of those huge rodent waterers where they have to lick the tip with the rolly ball - except its made for dogs).

Also, restricting water could cause problems - water is the most important thing to every living creature.

Restricting water intake can lead to urinary tract problems...there are two kinds of crystals that can form. You want to keep that urinary system flushed out.

That said, we would take the water up around 8 PM when our boy was housetraining. Unless we went for a later evening walk, and then all bets were off.

Also when I feed my boy I always put in the kibble and immediately pour in about 2 cups of water. I want him to stay hydrated. I don't let the kibble soak, I just put it down and he slurps it all up.

Labs are sloppy drinkers, no doubt about it.

Suzie