Steve Snell: Hello? Rob: Hey. Can you hear me? Steve Snell: I can hear you now. Rob: All right. Sorry about that. Steve Snell: What's up? Rob: Oh, man. Same ole’, same ole’. How is hunting in Texas? Steve Snell: Hot. It is freaking 85 degrees here right now. Rob: Have you seen any rattlesnakes? Steve Snell: Not yet. Rob: Is that good? Steve Snell: That is good, but they are out. Rob: Wear your chaps! All right. We have got 10 or 15 minutes to talk about dog waterers. Steve Snell: Yeah. I don’t know if I am the guy to talk to you about automatic dog waterers but I will give it a shot. All About Automatic Dog Waterers Rob: Thanks! Why is watering dogs important? Steve Snell: A dog has to have water to live. The question here is when somebody is looking at an automatic way to keep your dogs watered, there are a lot of different options. You have really got to look at your situation and go, “OK. What fits me best?” I like automatic waterers better for summer time situations. You need to evaluate what you are doing differently in the winter. It is just a tricky thing. Dogs need access to water in the winter, but they don’t need access to water in the winter like they need it in the summer. What I love about automatic waterers is as the dog drinks it is refilling itself, so you are not only getting a constant supply of water but you are getting a constant supply of fresh clean, cool water. That is great. You don’t necessarily get that in a bucket situation as much. The thing that I don’t like about automatic waterers is if you are not careful you set one up and you forget about it. That is not a good thing. It ties back in similar to automatic dog feeders. Both things are designed for convenience for people, and that is great, but you have got to keep in mind that the dog is at your mercy in these situations. You have got to make sure that you are checking that. An automatic waterer is a little different story. It is not the same thing there. The concern that I have is if people put up automatic waterers, forget about them, something goes wrong and you have got a dog that has no access to water. In certain parts of the country that is a death sentence. You have got to be real careful about it. It is not something you can just set up and forget about. You don’t put it on autopilot, especially for a dog that is kenneled. It is just a dangerous combination and you have got to be very careful about it. And to me you have got to be almost as diligent. You have got to check it everyday and you have got to make sure that everything is OK, and that the water is clean, and that the product is working correctly. WARNING I had a dog die of a heat stroke a couple years back and it was because she didn’t get access to water. It was just a tragic situation. So you have got to look at what you are doing and how long the dog is going to be by himself. You have got to be really careful about it. NOTE: Personally, I don’t use automatic feeders or automatic waterers as a main thing. I don’t use Automatic Dog Feeders automatic dog feeders at all because I want that interaction of feeding the dog every day. That is an important part of my training ritual with my dogs and it is very important. At Gun Dog Supply we have containers like dog bowls, dishes, pans, and cups in the shopping section: Automatic Dog Feeders & Automatic Waterersand we have Automatic Dog Waterers that start at $15 and go up to about $100 right now, as far as the price range. HOW THEY WORK Conceptually, automatic dog waterers are just little bitty commodes. It is the exact same technology that fills your commode up when you flush the handle. So there is nothing really revolutionary going on here. The difference in $15 waterer and a $100 stainless steel automatic dog waterer is what they are made out of. A $15 one is made out of plastic, whereas a $100 one is made out of stainless steel. There is also a good bit of difference in the parts, from plastic pieces compared to medal pieces and that kind of stuff. Rob: Are all automatic dog waterers connected to a water source like a hose or do some of them have a reservoir? Steve Snell: The majority of what we classify as automatic waterers are connected to a hose or they are directly connected to a water pipe. You can do them either way. The majority of them are set up where you can just screw them right up to a hose. Now we do have one that is called the Critter Cooler Dog Waterer that is a pretty cool concept really. It is about a five gallon reservoir that you fill up and it has no connections whatsoever to any water source. That is your water source. So it allows you to keep a large amount of water where the dog can’t get to it. He can only get to the bowl. So it is a good choice for folks that want to have a large amount of water for a dog but they are not close to a water source. Critter Coolers come in a small 3.5 gallon,medium 5 gallon, and a large 6.5 gallon sizes. Rob: Walk me through the differences between if you are keeping your dog outside in the yard when you are at work versus you are keeping your dog outside in a kennel run. You can start with just a bowl and have a bowl of water, but are buckets better? How Steve waters his dogs BUCKETS Steve Snell: I use buckets in my kennel runs. I use stainless steel water buckets. We carry a 9 quart bucket and a 13 quart bucket OTHER BUCKETS -- WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE? The biggest thing you have got to watch out for is a situation where dogs could turn it over. You want something that is secure where it is a large enough amount of water that will take care of the dogs for the periods you are going to be gone during the day. I check my dogs’ water at least once a day and usually twice a day. In the summer I check it twice a day no matter what, but in the winter it is not as crucial. NO TIP BOWLS Rob: The no tip bowls is that one way from keeping a dog from knocking their water buckets over? Steve Snell: The no tip bowls are good especially for an inside situation. They are OK for an outside situation. It depends on how many dogs you have got. I think the biggest no tip we have is about 96 ounces. That is a good amount of water. If you are going for stationery water I would rather have stainless steel bucket that is anywhere from four to five gallons. Rob: You clip those buckets to the fence so the dogs can’t knock them over, right? Steve Snell: That is what I do with mine. I take brass snaps Double End Brass Snap <<<< THIS ONE??? or >>> Snap - Bolt Snap with Round Swivel Eye - Brass Plated 5/8 - 3 1/4 Long and I attach mine to my dogs’ kennel runs. That way I don’t have to worry about the dogs knocking them over. A lot of it depends on the dogs, and Labradors are the worst about it, but they like to dig in their water bowls. Roxy likes nothing better than to get into her water bucket and just churn it up, not thinking that four hours from now she is not going to have any water left if she just knocks it all out. So that can be an issue. Generally with my dogs in the summer, a lot of times I put two buckets in my kennels so that they have got sort of a backup. Steve on the road with his dogs When I am traveling with my dogs I don’t leave water in the actual crate with them. It depends on the situation. It depends on the dog. You have got to make sure that if you do leave water in there, with whatever floor structure that you have got, that it keeps them off of it. So when you hit a pothole going 70 MPH down I-20 and the water bounces out, the dog is not laying in it for the next two hours. Rob: Do they have portable bowls? When you water your dogs, don’t you take them out of the trucks or the crates? Steve Snell: Generally when I am traveling with my dogs the only time we will water them is when we are walking them. We will stop every three or four hours and exercise everybody. At that point I offer them water. I do a couple of different things depending on what I am doing. REGULAR STAINLESS STEEL BOWLS I either carry my two quart stainless steel bowls -- some folks like the 3 quart bowls and I just fill them up at that point. BUDDY BOWLS I have started using the Buddy Bowls. Those are the plastic no tip bowls. If you have got a dog that you want to leave water with…One of my dogs right now, she got kind of hot this morning and I left a Buddy Bowl in her crate with her so she had access to water the whole time. I use the Kennel Deck floor system in my dog boxes, so if water does spill she is not going to be laying in it. I am using the Buddy Bowls while I am traveling. It is not that I am able to carry less water with me, but the problem with just filling up a water bowl whenever I let my dogs out is whatever they don’t drink I end up chunking. When you are carrying eight, 12, or 15 dogs with you, wasted water is not a real good idea. It is just one of those things that is just that much more work. But Buddy Bowls are pretty neat, especially when you are only traveling with a couple dogs. PORTABLE DRINKING SPOT We have also got another automatic waterer system that has the green buckets. It is green and we buy them out of Kansas. Rob: The The Drinking Spot Auto Pet Waterer system? Steve Snell: Yes. The Drinking Spot. Thank you. That is a little different from the Buddy Bowl. It is a neat unit. I used one for a while. I was carrying it with me. We were hunting out of a dune buggy in Texas and I left it on the ground. I still think I know where it is, but I haven’t been back to that spot in about a year. It is probably still sitting there waiting on me. I forgot to pick it up. Those are neat in that they hold a higher volume of water. It has got a reservoir and when you stand it up, all the water drains back down inside it. It has just got a hole in there and the water drains out when you lay it down for the dogs to drink out of it. It is a vacuum. When you turn it back up all the water drains back down into the reservoir. Those are neat. I don’t classify it quite the same as a no tip, because the way it is set up, if it does fall a certain way it is going to empty out. With the Buddy Bowls, if you flip that sucker over, you might have a little bit of water come out, but it can stand upside down and none of the water is coming out. So they are a little bit different. But I like the Drinking Spot because it holds more water. I don’t have a good spot in my truck for them to sit, so I am not using it right now. But it is pretty neat for carrying water. There again, it depends on how many dogs you are dealing with. If you have got one or two it is a pretty neat product. Rob: Let’s talk about the materials that these things are made out of. What are the differences in the quality of metals versus plastic? Start off with metal. Metal Automatic Dog Waterers We have got some stainless steel ones. We have got a couple of different stainless steel versions. The nicest one that we sell is the Nelson waterer. It is stainless steel and it is a high grade really well made stainless steel. * The Nelson Automatic Dog Waterer 1200 is our best seller and most popular automatic pet waterer. The Nelson is a really nice unit. It is high quality and high grade stainless steel. They are $100 right now, so they are definitely not the least expensive item out there. It is designed where you can attach it to a chain link setup or to a wall. You can either set up the hose on the left side or the right side. That is true on all the Nelson and Kane units. They are set up where, depending on what you need, you can do it either way. * We have got another one that is similar to the Aqua Buddy that is a stainless steel bowl, but it is not quite as thick. It is lower grade.????????? which one goes here? * We have got Kane waterers that are all metal. They have got a couple really nice ones that are very reasonably priced. The Kanes are galvanized automatic waterers, not stainless steel. Rob: So what is the difference between galvanized metal and stainless steel? Are galvanized metal waterers going to rust? Steve Snell: Stainless steel will rust but it is not as inclined to rust. Galvanized metal typically will not rust, but it will turn. It is not a green color. It gets more like a grayish brown. A lot of that depends on where it is. It is a sunlight factor. * If that is an issue for you and you are like, “Oh I don’t want that,” Kane has got a powder coated waterer.It is galvanized steel, but it has a cooked on exterior that is really bright red. They are very pretty. That is a good mid-price point, high quality product that beats that issue. * Kane has also got a really nice galvanized double waterer -- It is set up where you can put it in between two kennel runs and you put a chain link fence in between it. Two dogs can work off of one waterer. Off the top of my head I don’t know what it is called. I have used one of those and I really like it. It is a neat waterer. It hooks up to the hose, but it is designed to where if you have two kennel runs side by side, the idea behind it is that you put this between the two kennel runs and it has got water on both sides. That way you have got one waterer that two dogs have access to. You have got to make sure that you raise your chain links, so it depends on how your kennel runs are made. The measurements are on the website, but it is probably three or four inches deep if I had to guess, so it is going to fit in certain situations. It works great as just a stand alone waterer. It is galvanized steel and it works really nice. It is a big waterer. I like it. Now one thing you have got to keep in mind if you are going to use it in a double kennel situation is that you have got two dogs sharing the same water bucket. If one of them gets sick the other one is going to get sick too. You want to keep that in mind. A lot of it just depends on the situation. But with most of our customers that would not be a big issue. If you are shopping with us there is a pretty good chance you are taking care of your dogs. But it is something to keep in mind. Dogs chew up plastic stuff Steve Snell: We don’t really sell any plastic bowls. The only thing that we sell that is plastic are some automatic waterers. I am not a big fan of plastic and dogs. It is a bad combination. They can chew it. So if you have got a chewer then you need to stay away from our plastic automatic waterers because you stick those out there with a dog and they can destroy them. They can chew it, and once they start to chew it, then it becomes a problem to clean, even if they don’t destroy it, which most dogs, if given the opportunity, are going to destroy it. We have also got a few plastic automatic waterers. They are very reasonable. * I believe the Aqua Buddy starts at $14.50 or somewhere in that neighborhood. From there it goes up. If you are going to use the plastic automatic waterers, then you have got to make sure that you have got dogs that are not chewers. Some dogs are and some dogs aren’t. We have got some pretty reasonably priced metal automatic waterers, so if you are in that situation then you can just go with those. In our kennel we have got some chewers and we have got some non chewers. I have got eight dogs in my truck right now and I am using the Buddy Bowls, which are a no tip bowl that we sell, which are just absolutely wonderful if you are traveling. You can get a green Buddy Bowl or the white Buddy Bowl. With seven of my dogs I can leave the Buddy Bowl in their dog box. But with Rick my German Shorthair, if you put a Buddy Bowl in with him he is going to chew it up inside of about five minutes. He has ruined three $20 bowls. So you have got to be careful. Lixit Automatic Dog Waterers Rob: What about the Lixits? Steve Snell: We have got two different Lixits: Most people are going to get the Lixit automatic dog waterer for faucets which is designed to screw directly into the faucet just like a hose. You could probably customize one if you wanted to and have it in a preferred place, but you are really better off for it to go straight into the faucet. That way there is not a hose for a dog to chew on or anything like that. We also have the Lixit dog waterer for pipes which attaches to a quarter inch water pipe, which most people do not have. To me a Lixit is a little different concept than an automatic water bowl in that the Lixit is not filling up. It actually attaches to your outside faucet. It has a lever on it. The dog presses the lever and water runs out. It is an automatic water source. In a lot of situations it is better than a bowl. You don’t have to worry about algae. You don’t have to worry about any bowl getting knocked over. It actually attaches to your exterior faucet. The dog presses it and the water runs out. It is very similar to a water fountain, but the water is not coming up. It is running down. Most dogs that use them love them. There are some tricks to getting dogs to use them. You actually have to kind of teach them. It is not like an automatic waterer. An automatic waterer is pretty self explanatory for a dog. You put the bowl out there. If the dog is used to drinking out of a bowl, it is not really a stretch for a dog to learn how to do it. A Lixit actually takes a little bit of training. You attach it to your exterior faucet. You turn the faucet on. No water is running until the dog presses the lever that is on the end of it. What you do is you take peanut butter and you put it on the end of the lever. The dog starts to lick the peanut butter and the water starts running out. It is a pretty easy fix. Most dogs love peanut butter, so you can train them to do it. This is something that is really cool about a Lixit; a Lixit is actually a really good back up water supply for some folks. If you want to have a bucket but you are concerned about your dog not having access or are concerned about your dog knocking over your water bowl or something like that, a Lixit is a really good secondary source in those situations. It is real reasonable too. I think they are $6.95 or something like that. They are really inexpensive. One thing you have got to keep in mind about the Lixit is it is not something that you can use in the winter. You have to be careful about other automatic waterers in the winter when temperatures get to freezing. Heated Automatic Dog Waterers & Freezing Rob: Let’s talk about watering your dog in the winter. To use a heated automatic waterer, don't you have to have access to both water and electricity, so you would have to be able to plug it in? Steve Snell: Exactly. You have got a combination of water and electricity with all of the heated products, which is not something that a lot of people are comfortable combining. You have got to be careful about that. You have got to make sure that you are putting your dog in a situation where he can’t mess with the electricity. The same thing applies there. You need to really evaluate your dog and go, “OK. I have got a three or four month old puppy who is a chewing fiend.” You don’t need this product. You are going to have to do something different for your dog in that situation. Let's talk about heated waterers. You have got two different options here. We carry the Osborne heated water buckets. Those are really nice. It is just a water bucket, but it is a heated water bucket. The Osborne is not an automatic waterer. It is just a heated bucket. So you don’t have to have access to water, but you do have to have access to electricity. Kane has a heated dog waterer It is a red bucket which I have not used. I would have to experiment with it a little bit. I don’t know enough about the Kane to say. My understanding is that the Kane is an automatic waterer that has a heated option , but I need to double check that. What will work best for you? It depends. You have got to look at your situation with your dog and your kennel set-up. Watering dogs on the road -- in crates? Rob: What about when you are on the road with your dog and you are moving around? I have seen these crate waterers that attach to Vari kennels Steve Snell: We have got a couple of different things. Most of the Vari Kennels, the pet quarter crates, come with a little plastic bowl, but they are not very good. We have got the Coop Cups, which are stainless steel. Those are real nice for your crate. The thing you have got to watch with those is making sure that you get a big enough bowl and you don’t put too much water in it so you are not spilling water all over the place. Keeping things clean (Algae is nasty) Rob: Do you put the buckets in the shade? Steve Snell: Algae growth is the biggest thing that you have got to watch out for, and this applies to everything that we are talking about. You have got a couple of things. First off, I want my water buckets in the shade so the water stays cool. The disadvantage of having a stationery water source like a bucket is that the water is going to get warm as the temperature rises. So you want to keep it in the shade to keep the temperature of the water down. Rob: The shade is going to change over the course of a day. Steve Snell: That is kind of a separate thing, but you do want to look at your kennel situation and your water situation and go, “Well OK. This is in the shade at eight o clock in the morning, but what is it at high noon?” That is a factor that you have to look into. That applies everywhere. If your dog is in the backyard and you have just got a bucket for him, then you want to make sure that all day long it is in the shade. There are two factors that come into that. First off, for a dog in a kennel, you have got to have adequate shade for them no matter what. The fastest way to kill a dog is to leave them where they have no shade. The other side of it is number one, you want to keep your water at as cool a temperature as possible. But the other factor is algae growth. All water has algae in it and sunlight makes it grow. So if you leave a dog water bucket, an automatic waterer, a dog bowl, or any water source in the direct sunlight long enough, it is going to turn green. That is something that you have to watch out for. We will occasionally have folks who don’t really realize what is going on, but there water bucket is getting a certain amount of sunlight. Their automatic waterer is getting a certain amount of sunlight also. The next thing they know is the bottom of it is green and they have got algae growing in it already. Rob: Is that in the treated water from the city already? Steve Snell: Treated water is not supposed to have it, but you are leaving this outside and stuff is floating through the air. I am not an expert on algae. I couldn’t tell you how it gets there. But I will tell you this. You fill up a bucket of water and it gets put out in the sunlight, it will be green very quickly. Most algae is not that harmful, but I don’t want to drink it, so I don’t want my dogs drinking it. Rob: So it helps to keep it out of the sun to keep the algae from getting nasty? Steve Snell: Algae is just like any other plant life. It has got to have sunlight for that photosynthesis. The trick with algae is keeping the water bowls out of the sunlight. It is also keeping them clean. So with your water buckets and your automatic waterers, you have got to clean them out on a semi-regular basis. It depends on how much sunlight they have got access to as to how often you have to do that. Rob: Is that daily? Steve Snell: No, not at all. On a stationary water frame I dump it and fill it up at least every other day, depending on what time of year it is. If you have got an algae situation, the fastest way to clean it is with bleach. You can do it a couple different ways. We have got a new product that we are selling called the Whizzy Wash. It is a beach cleaner. It is brand new. It is a beach based cleaner. For years I just used regular beach. I never used Clorox because you can buy cheaper bleach just to clean a dog kennel, but bleach will kill that algae. In some situations the bleach wipes will work. Dump your water bowl out, wipe out the bottom of it, rinse it off, and fill it back up and you are in good shape. ... Rob: Walk me through the different type of dog situations. You have a dog that is an inside dog at your house that may stay in your house when you go to work. Steve Snell: With the exception of the Critter Cooler, we don’t really have anything for inside use. There are a couple of products on the market that are indoor automatic waterers and they are like little water coolers. We don’t have anything like that. The Critter Cooler is designed where it can be used inside or outside. Most of our stuff, you could use it inside, but they are really not designed for that. Rob: The odds are somebody is not going to keep their dogs inside for 10 days without checking on them. Steve Snell: Well you better not. ... Rob: What else about watering dogs? We have about 30 minutes here so far. Anything we didn’t cover? Steve Snell: Nothing off the top of my head. I really need to look over it, because like I said, we have got so many different of them. -- -- -- LINKS TO ADD TO INTERVIEW: metal automatic dog waters dog watering system heated dog waterer dog water bowl heater automatic dog watering dish automatic dog water stainless steel dog kennel automatic water. automatic water dishes automatic dog watering dish Sections or things without a price -- use for PLURALS Brake-Fast Food Bowl -- Plastic Products -- things with a price -- use for SINGULAR Stainless Steel Dog Bowl No-Tip Food & Water Bowls - 32 oz. No-Tip Stainless Steel Dog Food / Water Bowls - 64 oz. 5-Quart Stainless Steel Bowl Dog Food / Water Bowl Renegade Collapsible Roll-Up Dog Food and Water Bowl by Mud River Stainless Steel Water Bowl / Kennel Cup with Hanger - 64 oz. Tazlab Aqua-Fur Collapsible Water Bowl No-Tip Stainless Steel Dog Bowl - 96 oz. BESTSELLER: Nelson Automatic Dog Waterer - Model 1200 Nelson Dog Feeding Pan - Model 1400 Lixit Medium Cage Crock -- 20 oz. Lixit Extra Large Cage Crock -- 30 oz. Lixit Jumbo Cage Crock -- 40 oz. SMALL Critter Cooler Heavy Duty Cover LARGE Critter Cooler Heavy Duty Cover MEDIUM Critter Cooler Heavy Duty Cover Critter Cooler Ant Bath 8 oz. 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