How to Make a Concrete Dog Bowl

Owning a pet comes with a lot of responsibilities, and also a lot of costs. Of course, you love your four-legged friends so you would never dream of complaining about the costs of keeping your dog well fed and hydrated at all times. With that said however, there’s nothing that says owning a pet can’t include a little bit of DIY activity.

Sure, you can always settle for the plastic water dishes or a spare Tupperware dish for use as a water or food bowl for your best friend, but those don’t exactly stand the test of time. What about using a concrete bowl for your dog’s outside water dish? It will stand up to the elements better, and your four-legged companion isn’t likely to destroy it either. Think it’s too difficult? Even if you’ve never worked with concrete before, you can make your own concrete dog bowl with minimal DIY experience.

Getting Started – The Materials

Bully Max offers an easy-to-make concrete dog bowl that comes with instructions that are simple enough to follow, that you’ll be able to make your own bowl whether you’ve used concrete before or not. Here’s what you’ll need for materials to get yourself started:

• Mortar mix
• 2 Stainless steel bowls, varying sizes
• Cooking spray
• 5-gallon bucket for mixing ingredients

Step 1 – Mixing the Mortar

Pour your concrete mortar mix into your five gallon bucket and follow directions on the bag for the correct amount of water to add. If there are no directions, slowly add water as you stir the mixture in the bucket. You’re looking to get the concrete mix to the consistency of a thick pudding, and be sure to continue mixing until you have removed all the air bubbles so there are no imperfections in the water bowl later on.

If you don’t add enough water at first, there’s no reason to worry. Continue to add water slowly to your mix until you’ve reached the desired consistency. Pour too much water in the mix? Carefully add more mortar to the bucket until you find the right balance, just make sure you don’t end up with too much extra concrete as a result. It’s best to take the step slow to ensure you don’t waste the mortar mix.

Step 2 – Spray Cooking Spray Onto Bowls

There’s no proper order for which bowl should be done first. Just make sure to spray the proper surface of each bowl. Your larger bowl is going to serve as the mold for the outer shape of your concrete water bowl, so spray down the inside of the bowl as you’ll be pouring the concrete mixture into this bowl. For your smaller bowl, spray down the outside surfaces because this will serve as the mold that you push into the smaller bowl to form the concave section of the new concrete water bowl that will hold your dog’s H2O.

Step 3 – Pouring the Mixture

Now that your concrete mortar is mixed and your bowls have been sprayed down, it’s time to pour the concrete for your new outdoor water bowl. Start by pouring the concrete mixture into your larger bowl. Use caution and do not fill it to the top. You should fill the bowl roughly halfway to the top, being sure to leave room for the expansion of the mortar when you press the smaller bowl into the concrete.

Next, you’ll take that smaller bowl and gently press it down into the concrete in the larger bowl. The concrete mixture will expand and try to push the smaller bowl back out, so in order for the bowl to stick and form your new outdoor concrete water dish, you’ll want to place a rock or other heavy object into the center of the small bowl while the concrete sets.

If you notice concrete overflowing the sides of the big bowl, it’s not a huge problem. Simply wipe up the excess and try to level off the concrete level between the larger bowl and the smaller bowl so you have a nice, flat edge around the top of your concrete water bowl when it sets.

Step 4 – Removing Your New Concrete Water Bowl

You’ll need to let the concrete set in between the two bowls for one day following the completion of step 3 above. Once that day has passed, you’re ready to remove your new concrete water bowl. You may want a small screw driver so you can use the handle to tap on the bowls to help loosen the water bowl from its molds. There’s no right or wrong order. If the small bowl loosens first, you can remove it first, and vice versa for the larger bowl.

When you’re done you can simply run the bowls through the dishwasher and set your new concrete dog bowl outside. So, why go through this effort?

Simple Reasons for a Concrete Dog Bowl

Similar concrete dog bowls sell for almost $40 in tandem with a food dish, and aren’t customizable to the size you might want for your dog. A bag of concrete is as cheap as $8, while cooking spray is just under $3. Most readers probably have at least two bowls around the house, and most home improvement stores hand out free 5-gallon buckets for DIY projects if you ask. Best of all, your dog won’t have to chase around its water dish as an aluminum or plastic bowl slides all over the place, and the concrete dish won’t warp, break, or otherwise suffer destruction without significant effort.

All it takes to make this concrete dog bowl is $11 in supplies, 30 minutes of your time, and one day to wait on the concrete to set. If it sounds simple, that’s because it is!