About Indoor Dog Repellent
Dogs love to chew, so they love getting their mouths on just about anything. Dogs' brains release endorphins when they chew, so training your dog not to chew on certain items can seem like a loosing battle. In order to help train your dog or puppy to leave some items alone, you can use an indoor dog repellent, also called training spray or bitter apple spray.
Warning
Indoor dog repellent is no substitution for training. You need to teach your dog the "leave it" command and do not keep anything you don't want him to chew out of the reach of his mouth. You can also leave many things around that you want her to chew, like rawhide, Nylabone or toys. The goal is to one day never need the indoor repellent at all.
Function
Bitter apple or training sprays coat the surface of things like furniture or electrical wires with a taste that is beyond foul. You can spray it onto your own tongue to see how foul the taste is. When the dog tastes something coated with the spray, they back off of the object. Ideally, you should be there to praise your dog when they back away from the object. There are similar sprays to be put on furniture that smell bad to the dog and keep them off of it.
Misconceptions
You do not spray the dog with the indoor dog repellent. The spray has to be on the objects that you know your dog likes to chew but you don't want him to chew. Grabbing the dog and spraying him when they chew or jump up on something forbidden will only teach the dog that you are incredibly scary. Dogs have very short attention spans. You have to catch them in the act of chewing or lying on the bed for your yelling to pair the association of "chew this equals getting yelled at."
Types
Most types of training sprays have a combination of plant extracts, essential oils, vinegar and isopropanol with a fixative added, like a very light oil or plain water. There are sprays specifically for anti-chewing and those just to keep a dog off of a certain piece of furniture.
Considerations
Some dogs can't taste or smell the repellent and completely ignore it. Indoor dog repellents do not work for all dogs.
Tags: indoor repellent, want chew, when they, About Indoor, About Indoor Repellent, they back