The only advantage of the bottle is that it tends to be less mess. Most puppies will figure it out if you repeatedly tease a drop from the bottle onto your finger with the puppy there. You can also temporarily leave a small dish under the bottle. Lightly flavoring the water with Karo, honey or broth can help sometimes too. Keep in mind that small puppies do not drink a lot so it can seem they aren't getting as much as you think they should. For example a 3 pound puppy's maintainance requirement for water is only about 3 ounces for a whole day.