Home » Library » Teach » Ask the Expert: Q&A

Spritzing Your Dog

Karen Pryor's picture
Filed in - Ask the Expert: Q&A

Q: Some puppy kindergarten trainers use a squirt bottle to squirt water (with or without additives such as lemon juice, vinegar, Bitter Apple, etc.) to squirt a puppy if it plays too roughly with others. Do you consider this a positive and up-to-date technique? Is this a technique you personally use or endorse? And if not, what would you recommend doing instead, when one pup in class plays too roughly with another?

spray bottle

A: This is punishment. I don't care for it. It is certainly not positive and it is not up-to-date. I don't think the puppy associates being sprayed with its own behavior; it might well blame the other puppy. Also other puppies might get sprayed by accident.

About ten years ago I wrote a piece on the web about spraying my dog (once, only) to establish the scent of vanilla as a conditioned aversive. I then sprayed the wastebaskets to keep her from raiding them and tearing up used Kleenexes. Worked great. Catching her and spraying her as she dove into the wastebaskets would not have worked at all (which is what people are doing when they spray puppies at play). However there may be an impression out there still, somewhere, that Karen Pryor uses nasty spray bottles so it must be okay.

So, no I don't use this or endorse it.

If a puppy gets "too rough," remove it and crate it for a few minutes. Or put it with larger or older companions to learn some dog manners.

About the author

Karen Pryor is the founder and CEO of Karen Pryor Clickertraining and Karen Pryor Academy. She is the author of many books, including Don't Shoot the Dog and Reaching the Animal Mind. Learn more about Karen Pryor or read Karen's Letters online.