Water...

I cannot tell you how awful I feel about this. We've been keeping Rocky on a tie out since he was jumping the fence by the steps. For some stupid, idiotic reason, neither me nor my husband thought to check the length of the tie out. For the last few days, Rocky hasn't had any water. I mean, nothing. He normally spends his days outside, where there is a steady supply of water, unless he's on a tie out. I went to let him in tonight and he was tangled up around a tree. He kept looking towards where the water is but never made an attempt to go TO the water after I took him off the tie out. And you know why? Because overall, he's a really good dog. He knew it was time to go inside and knew he needed to stay with me. I had just mopped the backroom so when we came back in the house, there were still a few wet spots. He went to those and decided that no matter how thirsty he was, THOSE were not drinkable. ;) It was at about that time that the bells went off in my head. I filled his bowl with water. I swear, I've never heard a dog drink like that. He might as well of had a straw. It made me sick to think that all this time, he's been thirsty and expecting us to take care of it for him and we haven't. I didn't give him a lot of water tonight as I was afraid he would make himself sick. He had that bowl and then smaller amounts since then. I'll be giving him some more at least one more time before I go to bed. I can't even explain how badly I feel.