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Nasty Toilet Taste
Stop your dog from drinking toilet water
  (+7, -3)
(+7, -3) 		  [vote for,
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...perhaps this needs a better name, but here’s the idea anyway.

In the water reservoir tank of your toilet put in the "Nasty Tasting" toilet tab. It does not discolor the water and has no caustic effect on the porcelain bowl. But to your dog, the water is repugnant.

And yes, I see there is a small problem. Dogs like to roll in poo. Dogs enjoy the smell of dead animals. So how do you get a taste that is bad? Probably cayenne or hot pepper powder. The tablet would come with a safe-to-touch, protective dissolvable shell so you don't come in contact with the powerful stinging pepper inside. The shell quickly dissolves, but the core tablet is specially formulated to slowly disperse into the water with each flush, giving your dog a week or two to learn that the toilet water is not safe to drink anymore.

I thought of using a miniature Lagoon Jellyfish but could not figure how to chain it to the bowl so you don't flush it every time.

macncheesy, Dec 10 2007


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       Water in North American cities comes into the house at 60degF or so; the water in a toilet bowl, fresh out of the mains is colder than the water that's been sitting in the dog's dish for a few hours. If you actually care that the dog is drinking from a (clean) toilet, then either get a water cooler for the dog's water dish or shut the lid of the toilet.   

       ....k, here's an idea... a bowl with a solar-cell and a peltier cooler, to keep the dog's water cold.
FlyingToaster, Dec 10 2007
   

       Cayenne pepper toilet water? Haven't you ever experienced a bit of splashback when sitting down and doing the needful?
lostdog, Dec 11 2007
   

       So you have to use the toilet gingerly.
macncheesy, Dec 12 2007
   

       [lostdog] There'll be a little bowl of yoghurt to dip the toilet paper in for when that happens.
hippo, Dec 12 2007
   

       Denatonium benzoate.
4whom, Dec 13 2007
   

       I thought that too. Cayenne pepper wouldn't put all dogs off. I know a dog who likes it.   

       There may well be some denatonium benzoate in the toilet bowl already though, so i'm not sure this would put them off. I was thinking one of the bitter principles in Erythraea or Gentiana. However, it isn't inevitable that dogs dislike bitter tastes or perceive them as humans do. What tastes do dogs generally actually dislike?
nineteenthly, Dec 13 2007
   

       Yeah, our old dog would eat jalapeño peppers.
rascalraidex, Dec 13 2007
   

       Wouldnt normal automatic bowl cleaning products keep the dog away? I don't know what's actually in that stuff that makes the water in the toilet blue but I can't imagine that it would be something for a dog to desire.
Jscotty, Dec 13 2007
   

       Maybe there could be something *next to* the toilet that dogs love to eat -- this would distract them away from drinking the toilet water.
phundug, Dec 13 2007
   

       I was so hoping this would be about developing an unseemly predilection for toilets that are cruel and unusual.
UnaBubba, Dec 13 2007
   


 
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