Do Rose Additives in Water Make Drinking More Appealing to Your Dog?

Overview

Objectives/Goals *Statement of Purpose* My dog only drinks outside water when I put rose petals in it. This makes me wonder if dogs will be better hydrated if the water is more attractive to them. If dogs are better hydrated they will be healthier, they will heal faster after injury, and most likely live longer lives. *Investigative Question* Do rose additives in water make drinking more appealing to your dog? *Hypothesis* Dogs prefer regular water with rose petals floating in it. Methods/Materials *Materials* 4 medium sized dog bowls, labeled: water, water with petals, rose, rose with petals; 3, 2.5 gal water containers filled with regular hose water; 2 dozen organic roses; Measuring cups; 50 field data forms; A dog park nearby; A poster advertising the experiment; A small sign telling dog owners what to do; A table; Pens. *Method* Make field data forms; 24 hours in advance of testing, put rose petals from 8 roses into one of the 2.5 gal water containers; Gather supplies; Drive to dog park and set up experiment; Put 1 cup of water into two of the bowls; Put ½ cup of water and ½ cup of rose soaked water into the other two bowls; Put 3 rose petals into the bowls labeled water with petals and rose with petals; Set out bowls in exact order (every time) and wait for volunteers; When people volunteer, ask them what their dog is named, how old it is, if it is a male or female, and what breed; Observe what bowls the dog drinks out of or sniffs; Record information on field data form; Repeat until out of water. Results Water- over 1/2 of the dogs drank the plain water instead of ignoring it or sniffing it; Water w/ petals- almost 1/2 of the dogs sniffed the water w/petals but did not drink it; Rose water- almost 3/4 of the dogs did not drink the rose water at all; Rose water w/ petals- the results for the rose water w/petals were very similar to the results of the rose water; The regular water was the most preferred among the dogs tested. Conclusions/Discussion I set out to test which of the four water types (regular, regular w/petals, rose, and rose w/ petals) was the most preferred among dogs. My hypothesis was that the regular water w/ rose petals would be the most popular, but the data showed that the regular water was. The order of preference was: regular water, regular water with rose petals, rose water, and then the rose water with rose petals.

Competition history

• CSEF 2010 Zoology · Entry J2419

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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