The water bowl should be a simple topic. I fill it with clean, cold water, I put it on the mat, trying not to spill it, the dogs and cat drink from it. Ever since I found disgusting black mold growing in a spot along one side, I wash it with dish soap once a day, so that mold never happens again. Last night I saw Simon getting a drink. He sniffed it first, then drank a long, hearty drink of clean water; I had just cleaned the bowl and filled it with cool, clear tap water. He sniffed it first! I was offended! I suspect that if the bowl had mold in it he would have lapped it right up without the sniffing, for when we go for a walk, he will lick anything wet without hesitation.
For example, we walk down Fairway and he licks the chemical based run-off from green glistening yards. No sniffing, just tongue on cancer-causing wet street. Now I keep him to the middle of the road if there is run-off visible. Puddles? I avoid them if possible because invariably Simon will lick up the nastiest looking puddle water wherever—without sniffing first.
Finally, there is the creek. As creeks go, Silver Creek, especially after a hard rain, is delightful. It is wide but never too deep; at the bridge over the hiking trail, two branches of the creek run together, and after a hard rain the two branches are usually two colors of brown, each of which maintains its separate identity for a short way beyond where they join. Usually though the creek is very shallow. Just past the bridge, perhaps two hundred yards, there is a man-made drive down to the water before it joins the other branch. We usually let the dogs go down there to wade in the water and to drink. On hot days it is obviously very refreshing. Never has Simon sniffed the water first. He simply walks in, walks around, and drinks from various parts, regardless of what is floating by. Then he finds the muddiest place possible to emerge.
Since he is a very long and very short dachshund, as most dachshunds are, the water immediately reaches his belly. I enjoy watching him wade through the water, though he might sniff it first once in a while.