I realize labs are always starving, but is it normal for them to ALWAYS be dying of thirst? Apex drinks water like he's been stuck in the dessert for 10 years. We're dealing with some loose stool issues, which are slowly starting to get better so we don't want him to be dehydrated. We go to bed around 10:00 so we pick his water up around 8:00. When it's raining he will literally whine at the door pretending he has to potty just so he can lick the wet grass. He will dry out his water bowl 2 or 3 times a night from 5:00 to 8:00. He's tested negative for any parasites 3 times in case that makes any difference. Labs are new to me so is this normal???

Just keep an eye on his intake. Drinking too much can be harmful in the long term. My younger lab Mokha has psychological polydipsia where he will drink himself to harm if not supervised.We have to measure his water daily. When he was drinking to excess he was urininating 5 or 6 times and hour sometimes even more and it was impossible to toilet train him. If your dog starts having trouble with excessive urination you might want to limit the water you put out. Mokha had a lot of medical tests to rule out any physical cause and it was determined he just loves to drink. He will drink if stressed or tired or basically just because he walks past the bowl. Does this sound like your pup?Hope not.You could try just putting much smaller amounts of water in the bowl and distracting the pup if he continues to approach the bowl. We taught Mokha a command "that will do" which signals to him that he has drunk enough. It is very useful when we are out and about or he would drain every puddle we see.My vet said he needs about 60-80ml per kilo of body weight per day of water. Obviously on a warmer day we put out the larger quantity for him.In comparison my other lab doesn't drink much at all. I worry she doesn't drink enough. What's normal for a lab. I don't think either of mine are "normal".

I see from your posting that Apex was born in 3/09. So your dog is about 10 weeks or so old. Yes, they will drink a lot at this age. What I have done is to just put a little water in the bottom of the bowl and let him/her drink it. Don't let them see you put more water in it...I think it's like eating. When you put the water bowl down...they think they should drink it all. Another suggestion is use two different bowl if you are not already doing that.

Our pup is older, at 6 months but he too drinks A LOT of water. I have tested him for parasites, etc. as well. We are also dealing with some diarrhea issues. My vet isn't concerned, and I am waiting to jump to any conclusions until the diarrhea is a distant memory (one can dream, right :)) Diarrhea or even loose stool can be degydrating if there is enough of it.

Kodiak thinks he always needs to drink too, I had a friend over that gave me a hard time cuz his water bowl was empty and I said that he just emptied it twice. He said always have a bowl full with water but we limit him unless we think he is thirsty or if he has food :)