Splashing in the water bowl

I have a puppy that is 9 weeks old. We also have 2 cats. The cats have a bad habit of pawing at their water, and they scratch at the bowl, and splash it all over the place. I don't let the cats do it I shoe them away when I catch them doing it. It seems like the puppy has picked up on their behavior. He will put his paws in the water and splash around. I am constantly refilling the water bowl and cleaning up the floor. I've tried to just put a small amount of water in the bowl, but he will drink it up fast, so now I'm filling it constantly. It's hot out so I don't want to limit the water he drinks. I tell him "paws out" and take his paws out of the water. Is there anything else I can do?

Hi D and welcome puppies can sometimes see their reflection in the water or 'bits' floating on it and try to paw them.

I would look for a large round stone (too big for the puppy to pick up) and place that in water bowl

Puppies usually grow out of their curiosity with the content of water bowls

Not sure how a rock would keep the dog from sticking his feet in the bowl? He's not moving the bowl around, he's splashing around in it. When she was a kitten, my cat would stick her foot in the water before drinking it. She eventually just stopped doing this. Perhaps a taller/deeper bowl may dissuade him from trying to get his feet in there? Could just make it worse though!

It's a pretty big bowl now, I got a big one hoping I wouldn't have to size up as he got bigger. I think I may try to get a stool or something so it's up higher. Hopefully he won't feel the need to knock it over!

Tommy our spaniel used to love tipping the water bowl over and paddling. We stopped this by using a travel water bowl called a drink n tidy. It also has the added benefit that floppy spaniel ears and also our bassets ears stayed dry!