Water for Dogs

My poor dog Lewis, despite his aggressive demeanor, is embarrassingly afraid of his water dish. Take on a Pit Bull? No problem. Violently attack German Shepherds? Check. Drink water? I'M GOING TO DIE!!!! Having had Lewis for going on 11 years, I understand what he wants fairly easily. He will be sacked out on his bed, dead to the world. Suddenly, his head springs up, his lips pulled back in a half smile, stuck to his gums on one side. He looks around, licks his lips, and tries to go back to sleep. But thirst pulls him. He repeats the above scenario several times. Then, he gets up and goes to the water dish. . . And stares at it. He lays down next to it. He comes over to me and stares at me. He goes back to the dish. He licks his lips. He whines. Comes and stares at me some more. I could be deeply entrenched in my 47th viewing of The Proposal, and does he care? Indeed he does not. And all I have to do is go stand around near the water dish. So long as I'm standing around near the dish, he happily laps away, like this whole "I don't want to go near the water dish without you because I think the thing is going to jump up and eat me" thing never happened. Yet day in and day out, it's this way. When I come home from work on a lunch break, he runs for the dish, having staved off thirst for hours, waiting for me to stand around by the dish. My friends think I am crazy to enable him this way. They say he will drink. Eventually. When he gets thirsty enough. And he may very well do that. But he's a dog. And he's 11. And he won't be alive for many more years. And one day I will miss him needing my help so he can drink water. So if it helps him to have me standing around by the dish, I guess I'll do so. For as many years as he will let me.