Petlibro Capsule Dog Fountain review: My golden is spoiled

Key Takeaways

• The Petlibro Capsule Dog Fountain features an anti-splash design that keeps water off the floor.
• The 2.1 gallon tank reduces refills.
• It can be expensive once you factor in the cost of filters.

Peanut, my family’s golden retriever, is our whole world, and we spoil her rotten. As someone who works with consumer tech, I’m always on the hunt for the latest and greatest for her, and I’ll buy her just about anything if I think it would improve her quality of life. I came across Petlibro’s Capsule dog fountain and just knew I had to try it. I was familiar with cat water fountains, and Petlibro makes plenty of those, but I was curious to test a pet fountain designed for dogs. The Petlibro fountain served as Peanut’s primary water source in our home throughout my testing period, and I’m excited to share my experience with you.

Price, availability, and specs

The Petlibro Capsule Dog Fountain retails for $60, and is available from Amazon, BestBuy, and directly from the Petlibro website. Petlibro offers the fountain on its own, with just one water filter included to get you started, or as part of a few different bundles that include more filters.

The concept and function of the Petlibro dog fountain are fairly straightforward. It’s a 2.1-gallon capacity plastic tank with a small pump at the bottom that pulls in water, filters it, and then pushes it out into a plastic dish for the dog to drink from. The dish is shaped in such a way that the water flows in a circle like a whirlpool and gets pulled into the center, where it’s filtered before returning to the tank. The dish also has overflow space around it, through which water falls back into the basin. The electric pump motor is corded, though it includes a battery backup that can keep the pump running for hours in the event of a power outage.

What I liked about the Petlibro Capsule Dog Fountain

Clean water for Peanut

Peanut seemed thoroughly pleased with her new water fountain, and my wife and I were happy that the Petlibro provided a steady stream of clean, filtered, water for her to drink. In her normal water bowl, we would almost immediately see hair, food, grass, or whatever else was stuck to her mouth end up floating in the water. If we had filled the bowl with a lot of water, she’d end up drinking from a dirty bowl, which always made us feel bad, so we’d toss that water, rinse the bowl, and refill it. The Petlibro fountain eliminated this issue with its top water dish, which ensured Peanut always had a small bowl’s worth of filtered water. No more floating hair or kibble while she drinks her water.

Peanut seemed thoroughly pleased with her new water fountain, and my wife and I were happy that the Petlibro provided a steady stream of clean, filtered, water for her to drink.

If you’re a dog owner, you know this next scenario all too well. Anytime Peanut drinks water from a regular bowl, it sure seems like she manages to get half the water she was trying to drink all over the floor, and right after pulling away. She’s an angel of course and doesn’t mean to, it’s just that large dogs tend to be messy drinkers. The catch basin surrounding the top dish almost completely solved this issue for us. I would say almost 90% of the splashes and dripping were caught in the outer ring where they fell back down into the tank to be filtered. This was a huge step toward eliminating her mess from drinking water, and kept water off the wood floor.

What I didn’t like about the Petlibro Capsule Dog Fountain

More work for us and recurring expenses

While the improvements to Peanut’s water situation were readily apparent, the extra recurring tasks and expenses required of us were also stark. First of all, let’s talk about filters. The main filter is only intended to last “up to” two weeks, so you might be replacing the filter(s) 26 times per year. The cheapest filters I could find made by Petlibro were on Amazon in an 8-pack that ran $2.52 per filter, so right there that’s $65 per year on filters. I was able to find a single third-party seller that made off-brand compatible filters for about half the cost.

Then there’s the work itself of refilling and cleaning the plastic basin. Peanut is a 70 lb Golden Retriever, so even 2.1 gallons goes quickly, and refilling requires removing the top dish, which can be messy, or patiently and slowly pouring water right onto the dish as it fills up without overflowing. Cleaning is another consideration, as even with clean filters, specks of food and hair will inevitably fall into the lower basin, and now, instead of those things floating around in a small water bowl, they might be floating in 2 gallons of water.

Even with occasional added tasks and the frequent refilling, for us, the juice was worth the squeeze.

I also have to share something that absolutely drove me up the wall, though this might not be as big a deal if your dog’s water bowl is not in a main part of the house. Whenever the water level in the Petlibro fountain would drop to even halfway, the dripping and trickling of water were incredibly audible. It was louder than the white noise from the air filter we keep in the same area in our kitchen. Once the water level had dropped to about a quarter full, the sound of the water falling from the top of the pump down to the water was deafening.

While it was a great reminder to add more water, I was certainly never getting the full 2-gallon capacity out of the fountain just because the noise was driving me nuts. I imagine if you keep your dog’s water in a laundry room, mudroom, or otherwise far from where you spend most of your time, this wouldn’t be an issue.

Should you buy the Petlibro Capsule Dog Fountain?

Even with occasional added tasks and the frequent refilling, for us, the juice was worth the squeeze. Just looking at that top dish of water that Peanut drinks from and not seeing stuff floating around in it was worth it, and Peanut seemed happier for it. The fact that it’s a lot taller than your average dog bowl was an added plus for our girl, since it made it easier to reach. Whether you are trying to eliminate splashing water on the floor, keep your fur baby’s water clean, or refill your dog’s water less often, the Petlibro Capsule Dog Fountain is a well-rounded gadget that lets you tell people, “My dog drinks from a dedicated water fountain,” because they deserve the world.