spray bottle

[GypsysMom]

Hi I was just reading my rottweilers for dummies book and in there there was a tip about if you have a mouthy puppy or one that growls and snaps well I have that and the author suggested praticing taking toys from the pup and teaching "leave it" and then giving it or another toy back, and he mentioned using a spray bottle if the pup gives you a hard time... Since I was advised to read this book (which I did buy 4 years ago) I was wondering what your thoughts were on this technique

[BostonRott]

I personally do not use squirt bottles with my dog. You can't always have one with you and with dogs, timing is everything. If I don't like what a puppy is doing, they get a firm "ah ah!"

[rottgirl]

I don't like the idea of a squirt bottle, I have a empty pop can I filled with a couple of pennies and when Paradise would do something wrong a few hard snakes of the can and a firm no seemed to work better. Once agian, timing is everything you need to correct the inappropriate behavior right away.

Michele

[Dugganmom]

Spray bottle? I guess i missed that part of the book. I use that on my cats but with duggan i gave him a very firm NO and he understands that very well

[GypsysMom]

Its in the puppy section when bring home a puppy I must have read that book over and over but until I got a rott I didnt read it clearly I to used it for cats years ago thats why I asked about for dogs

[Nyla's Mom]

I have the same book & know what your talking about. As everyone has said above timing is everything and you necessarily can't always have one with you. But I have tried this technique with the water bottle. Yes I have used it on my cats previously and as well as Nyla. It's been brought out when she does things that are bad and a firm ah-ah won't cut it. Sometimes I think people forget how stubborn & testy our pups get. I think it worked well. Example: when she jumped up on the couch and wouldn't get off even when we tried to assist her with getting down she tried to snap at us we would get the squirt bottle and if she didn't get down after a verbal warning she got squirted right in the face, I'm sure you read they don't like this, which in my experience is true. Now anytime she's doing something like that I get the bottle and she listens and responds immediately. I guess I can say its helped to show her I mean business & if she doesn't listen she there will be repurcussions. Nyla is now 8 mo.'s and the last time I had to break it out was probably when she was about 5 mo.'s but trust me when she starts to act up I show her the bottle and she's on her best behavior. To each his own. Good luck!

[GypsysMom]

Well Just my luck I had the bottle with me I tried it when Gypsy wouldnt listen to "no Bite" and she loved it LoL And she is the only dog I have ever had that loves the rain and rolling in the wet grass. My other dog will hold his pee until it stops raining

[Ninasmom]

The squirt bottle is a toy in my house. Both dogs love 'catching' the water, especially on warm days.

When Nina went through her mouthy phase, we just went with the redirection route. A firm "No BITE", a pause and a positive distraction went well. She eventually got that if she wanted 'love', she would just come and use her head to get our attention (she lifts our hands with her head). It works for all of us.

[tilly]

sophie also loves the spray bottle and thinks it's an invitation to play :)
redirection and a firm "no bite" worked for her.

[debbiej]

I don't use squirt bottles for training, or as a correction. What I do keep one on hand for is to enforce the "indoor play" rule. Since Hilda is gimpy, we grab a spray bottle and "mist" when the play gets too rough for her. I hate that I have to restrict what looks like such harmless fun, but it is effective to calm the rough housing.

[keller27]

Khori would probably like the spray bottle as he loves playing with water coming out of the hose in the yard. Anytime he gets alittle too active in play I will put him in a settle command til he calms down and then he is okay.

[Dimitri]

the spray bottle works wonders on cats and shar peis. my friend has her female shar pei and she doesn't like the water one bit. she'll do anything to avoid it for that matter and well it was a great little tool to re-enforce her obedience commands. now with rotties, are they not powerful swimmers and love being around the water? if that is the case then this method will not work on them

[NikitaChampagne]

Spray bottles don't work for my girl. She loves being squirted in the face and it is a big game to her to play in the water. So punishing a dog that loves water isn't really a punishment. Nikita is in training at Mans Best Friend in Texas, they use a zip collar and train the dogs that the zip sound is a correction followed by a firm no. When she stops doing what ever she was being corrected for she gets lots of love and praise for being a good girl.

[EmmysMom]

We have always used the soda can with pennies, to this day and she is 4, all we have to do is pick it up and she will cease and desist her behavior! She absolutely loves the spray bottle, so that never worked for us!
EmmyMom

[GypsysMom]

Gypsy Is learning the "no bite" from me Now The kids are another story she will grab their pants (no she isnt alone with them) but I reinforce the No bite when she does that also they have been carring toys with them so when she does that they tell her "no bite" and give her a toy instead of their legs