Outdoor Water Station for Dogs

Roxie and Charlie love to stay in the yard. As long as it is not raining, they always prefer lounging outside to sleeping inside.

We always had an outdoor water station for them at our last rental. It was a big glass bowl that takes about two liters of water, which we refilled once a day. Here in Colorado, the dogs started drinking a lot more water due to the dry weather, and the water we put outside evaporates very quickly.

Soon after we settled in, we started to search for a more updated outdoor water solution for our dogs. We had a few criteria in mind when we started our research:

1. > 1 liter in volume with a big opening.  Charlie drinks a lot of water at a time. And due to his floppy cheeks, he spills just as much. It is better to have a water station that is shallow and big in diameter, opposed to being small and deep. A big opening of the water bowl not only limits spills, but also allows Roxie and Charlie to drink at the same time.
2. Automatic refill.  To keep the water fresh,  we would like to keep the water under a relative small volume but refresh it frequently. An automatic dispenser that refills itself saves our labor. We have a faucet in the sunroom to which we can connect the water station.
3. Can be mounted at knee-height.  Roxie and Charlie have no problem eating/drinking at the floor level. However, we would like to have the option to mount the water station higher.
4. Inexpensive and easy to fix.

After some research, we ordered a low-end automatic water bowl in which the water can be replenished by the hose after each drink.

Two screws hold the top down onto the tank compartment, which houses a float.

It is basically the same mechanism that toilet tank uses. And on either side, there is a vertical edge with two screw holes for the option of mounting it higher.

All the plastic parts can be taken apart and the water level can be adjusted relatively easily by adjusting float adjustment screw.

After reconnecting everything and to the faucet, we turned on the faucet and watched the water bowl filled.

(It was raining when I took the video. So the water sound you hear from the beginning is the rain, not the faucet.)

There it it. We have used it for almost a month, and it functions as expected. It refills when the water is low, sometimes while the dogs are drinking from it. Roxie and Charlie do not seem to be bothered by the noise it makes during refill.

Do you have an outdoor water station for dogs? How expensive is your setup – and is it worth the money? For long-time users, do you notice any pros and cons for your setup? We are pretty satisfied with this $15 little station now, but would like to learn how other system performs. Our tap water is pretty good (from a well). But at some point, we might need to filter the tap water before giving it to the dogs. Anyone has experience with water stations with a filtration system?