The Best Water Fountains for Dogs

Providing your dog with access to clean, fresh drinking water at all times is an absolute must. Proper hydration is essential to good health and, just as you wouldn’t want to drink from a glass of stagnant water that’s been sitting around for hours, your dog will also prefer refreshing, cool, clean water throughout the day.

Studies show that animals prefer to drink from running water sources over stagnant drinking water. This is a natural preference carried over from their wild ancestors that instinctively knew that running water is much safer than stagnant water.

In addition, running or moving water naturally becomes more oxygenated, making it taste better and stay cooler than it would simply served in a bowl. Many dogs dislike drinking from bowls and, as a result, only drink when absolutely necessary. If you feel your dog isn’t drinking enough, simply providing a fountain almost always results in better drinking habits.

A pet water fountain is the best way to provide the freshwater your dog prefers. Dogs are very sensitive to the chemicals we add to our water supply, so invest in a fountain that filters the water, keeping it pure, cool, and free of dirt and debris.

So, we’ve scoured the market to bring you the Best Water Fountains for Dogs.

Factors we considered in choosing the Best Water Fountains:

Size: Of course one obvious consideration when choosing a water fountain for a dog is the size. An average healthy dog drinks about 1/2 to 1 ounce of water per pound of bodyweight per day. That means your 50-lb dog can easily go through 50 ounces of water every single day and even more following exercise or on hot or dry days. When shopping for a fountain, consider your dog’s size and choose a fountain large enough that it won’t need to be refilled several times a day

Materials: Fountains come in a variety of styles and materials, including ceramic, stainless steel, glass, and plastic. Some fountains feature waterfalls to entice your dog into drinking, while others rely on recirculating pond-like water.

Filters: Many fountains use replaceable filters to remove any chemicals and improve the water’s natural flavor. 

Appearance: While this isn’t the most important factor, the water fountain’s appearance does play a role in the purchase decision. We considered whether our top picks would be an attractive addition to your home.

And the top picks are…

Best Overall Water Fountain for Dogs:

Petsafe Drinkwell Sedona Dog and Cat Water Fountain

Pros: The perfect dog fountain will keep your pet’s water supply fresh and clean, encouraging him to drink more water. It should also be affordable, durably constructed, nice to look at, and easy to clean. The Drinkwell Sedona Dog and Cat Water Fountain checks all the boxes.

With its modern design and 100-ounce capacity, the Sedona Fountain is ideal for households that have either large dogs or multiple pets (and they say, pets are like potato chips – you can’t have just one!). The clear bowl design not only minimizes spills and splashes, but also provides a large drinking area to accommodate pets with large or flat faces. It also makes checking the status of the water (Is it dirty? Does it need a refill?) a complete breeze. The sound of the falling water in the fountain is whisper-quiet making it easily approachable by nervous or sensitive pups. The fountain provides dual filtration including an activated carbon filter for freshness and a foam filter to capture hair and debris. Sedona is easy to clean, too. The BPA-free plastic bowl and ceramic tower are both dishwasher safe (top shelf, of course!).

Cons: While the replacement filters are very reasonably priced, they may need frequent changing (every 2-4 weeks as suggested by the manufacturer) and cleaning the fountain requires some (simple) disassembly.

“…I have two good-sized dogs (62 lbs and 50 lbs) and they love this fountain! The larger Setter has loose lips and so spills a lot of water all over the floor…but he also has a hard time drinking from normal fountains where you only have 1/4″ or so of surface water moving across the top of the fountain. He just can’t get enough water into his mouth, and when drinking from a bowl he prefers to submerge his snoot and slurp. This fountain works for both dogs – the tidy English Pointer who neatly laps at the top of the fountain, and the sloppy Setter who prefers to snorkel. We should have named them Oscar and Felix. Thumbs up for a great fountain that works for all types! Oh and it’s quiet and easy to clean, a plus for me.” –S.

Click here to shop for your Petsafe Drinkwell Sedona Dog Water Fountain

Best On-A-Budget Water Fountain for Dogs

Dogit Design Fresh & Clear Dog Drinking Fountain

Pros: The Dogit Fresh and Clear fountain is light on your budget but big on features! The BPA-free plastic fountain holds a whopping 200-ounces of water (great for multiple dog homes). It includes a triple-action filter that purifies your pet’s drinking water for 30 days. And, unlike regular water bowls, the Dogit Fresh and Clear Fountain pushes only filtered, running water to the surface. This prevents your dog from having access to dirty water beneath the filter. Additionally, any time we’ve used Dogit water fountains, the pump was a whisper-quiet workhorse.

Cons: Because of its design, it’s hard to tell how much water is in the fountain or if it needs to be cleaned. And, because of the small drinking area, some dogs – especially those that like to take big gulps or have larger mouths, may prefer a larger drinking reservoir.

“My dogs love this! I bought it a little over 5 months ago and have noticed that both of my dogs have been drinking more. My Aussie is really picky with her water and won’t drink out of a regular water bowl unless she is extremely thirsty. I think that might have been due to the presence of any dirt or dog hair in the water, which is fixed completely by this water fountain. It is also super easy to clean (I just take it apart and run it through the dishwasher) and the filters last a decent amount of time. I suggest everyone get one of these for their dogs!” -Bah

Click here to shop for your Dogit Fresh and Clear Fountain

Best Premium Water Fountain for Dogs

Petoneer Fresco Smart Water Fountain

Pros: For those who want only the very best for their dogs, we present the impressive Petoneer Fresco Smart Fountain. Is your dog’s water dirty? Does the bowl need to be refilled? Is it time to change the filter? There’s an app for that! That’s right, Fresco can be monitored with its own smartphone app! Water level and filter change alerts tells you when the water level is low, when water quality is impure or potentially harmful, and when the filter needs changing. That’s not all, though. The fountain has three stages of filtration to purify your dog’s drinking water – first, a screen mesh to trap hair and dissolved solids. Second, an activated carbon filter to remove odor and bad taste. And last, an ion exchange resin filter that purifies water.

The fountain holds a whopping 2 liters of water in its BPA-free plastic bowl. But even big bowls run out of water sometimes. That’s okay with the Fresco fountain. If you miss filling it up, it’s got an automatic shut-off to avoid burning up the pump. What’s more, you can control the amount of flow to satisfy your dog’s preference.

Cons: While the carbon and ion filters are made to last for 30 days, replacement filters are more costly than most others on the market. Unfortunately, larger dogs and multi-pet households may find this fountain simply doesn’t hold enough water and requires frequent refilling.

“This fountain has a lot of features, you can program active times, dim the indicators or even turn it off. You also can set up profiles for the pets who use the fountain. What I like so far is that I can check the quality as well as the water level from my phone from anywhere. Checking the water levels through the app is a nice feature and means that I don’t need to take the lid off to check manually. So far the pups like it.”  -R.K.

Click here to shop for your Petoneer Fresco Smart Fountain

Notable Mentions:

Because there are as many varieties and styles of fountains as their are of dogs, no single fountain will be perfect for every situation. With that in mind, we couldn’t ignore these notable mentions!

Best Water Fountain for Outdoor Use:

PetSafe Drinkwell Everflow Indoor/Outdoor Water Fountain

It’s no secret that dogs need access to fresh, cool water throughout the day – and that includes while they’re outside! Our favorite solution to providing fresh water to dogs while they’re outside is with the PetSafe Drinkwell Everflow fountain! While this fountain works wonderfully indoors to keep water filtered and flowing, outside it can be connected to a standard garden hose to ensure it never runs dry! Plus, it’s constructed of UV-resistant plastic to prevent fading and damage from the sun.

Turn Your Existing Bowl into a Water Fountain:

PetSafe Drinkwell Hy-Drate

The Hy-Drate is a healthy way to turn your dog’s ordinary water bowl into an automatic water fountain. Designed to fit in your pup’s favorite bowl, it remains securely in place with small, powerful suction cups. Fresh water continuously circulates through the Hy-Drate, while small sediments, like fur and food particles, stay trapped in the filter’s mesh. One charcoal filter included.

Best Water Fountain for Big Dogs or Multi-Pet Households:

PetSafe Drinkwell 2 Gallon Dog and Cat Water Fountain

The PetSafe Drinkwell 2-Gallon Fountain provides convenience for you while giving your big dogs plenty of water to stay hydrated – a full two gallons of water, to be exact! The free-falling stream keeps water moving and can be adjusted to your pets’ preference, a large drinking reservoir holds an impressive amount of fresh, cool water, and an activated-carbon filter removes bad tastes and odors giving your pets the best way to stay hydrated and healthy. Best of all, you won’t need several trips to the sink to refill this fountain every day!

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*As part of our review process, The Dogington Post received sample product to test. Our opinions and recommendations are unbiased and remain our own.