Pet Corrector

So my new dog is a bit barking. No pun intended, she literally barks. At most things. As she was an abandoned puppy who we took in I can hardly blame her, but I have become one of those people who finds themselves having to apologise to everyone on the street who owns a dog - every time she meets a new 'friend' she gets over excited and tends to get a bit woofy! It's not a violent thing, dogs naturally bark to express many things, and our little Luna just gets a bit over-excited and can't hold it in. Not without a little bit of help anyway.

So after a little while trawling the forums on line and assuring myself that I am not the only new dog owner who has this problem (crossing several strange suggestions on how to control the problem - I mean really? Pretending the sky is falling down?) I decided to try a Pet Corrector spray (made by The Company of Animals) - this is a small spray can of compressed gas that makes a loud hissing sound which is designed to be used as a distraction based training aid. The theory is that aggressive hissing is a natural deterrent to dogs in most situations as it stimulates the instinct to retreat from a predator. The trick, or so they say, is to make sure that you combine the spray with a command word (as eventually you need to be able to not use the spray else you'll end up spending out ALL the time on replacements!) and also to ensure that you use the spray at the exact right moment. If you don't, you run the risk that you will be causing the dog to associate the noise with the wrong thing, for instance: the dog has stopped barking, they are now just stood staring at the neighbour's dog. If you spray the can then, your little pooch might think that he should not be stood there.

Looking at the reviews of Pet Correctors online, it's quite clear that a lot of people have made this mistake. The problem with this sort of product is that it relies a lot on the consumer actually being able to use it correctly. I wonder exactly how many people have used it twice and thrown it away claiming that it doesn't work?! What people tend to forget is that dogs, as with children, need consistency when training so you need to repeat instructions and deterrents in order to get a result. Still, with all this in mind I was still sceptical; there were a lot of people saying "bin the pet corrector - it doesn't work". There were naturally a few animal welfare fanatics (and when I say fanatic I don't really mean it in a good way...) who were certainly in the camp of 'no negative reinforcement of behaviour please thank you very much sir". Possibly they took the same hippy attitude with their children who are now teenage parents and drug abusers. *cough*. Kidding aside, I do understand their point of view - Pet Correctors do essentially distract by creating an unpleasant environment. Should we as pet owners really be trying to dictate what could be argued as natural canine behaviours?

Well, my answer is yes. At the end of the day, by domesticating and breeding dogs we have placed the responsibility on ourselves to teach them correct and desirable behaviours. If we are going to integrate any species into our daily lives, we have a responsibility to teach them how to correctly interact with the world. Would you allow your child to grow up screaming at other children because they want to play in the sandpit first? (if the answer is yes please go sit with the hippy parents over there...)

So I drove over to Just for Pets to purchase a Pet Corrector. Being a pet store, there was of course other dogs around which gave me my first opportunity to test out the corrector. Timing the first blast with the moment of Luna's barking, I pressed the nozzle and surprised even myself! Boy is that a loud hiss! (Yes....remember it's compressed gas....what did I expect???) Hey presto - Luna turned around in surprise, completely distracted by the noise! She didn't even try to resume the behaviour right away, she became quite easy to handle and command so I guided her away calm as can be.

Having now used the spray a couple of times I have found that each time I use it, Luna becomes less vocal and more willing to greet other dogs nicely. Her last interaction this evening was a simple sniffing of the nose and bum (pardon me mother) and I even managed to have a conversation with the owners without saying sorry! Impressed much? I was!

A lot of owners online have expressed a fear that their dogs are now afraid of them and have become a wimpier version of their former selves. Well, rubbish. Luna is still the happy, slightly needy girl she's always been. In fact she's sat on my right now trying to lick my face off.

One small warning for those of you out there looking to purchase one of these FANTASTIC items - other dog owners who have never seen a Pet Corrector in use may be a little....startled. A couple of people have thought I was spraying something mean at my dog and I've had a few titters or sighs. Personally, this does not bother me - I know I'm using the product correctly and responsibly, just be aware that you might feel uncomfortable using it if you care about public perception. You should also bear in mind that any other dog in the immediate area will also react to the corrector. Most of the time this is OK - close quarters barking usually sets of the other dog anyway so they do both need to be stopped, but owners may feel differently! Always make sure that you are prepared to explain exactly how the Pet Corrector works in case another dog walker asks.

So with things going in the right direction for Luna, I'm confident that this product works.

Let's give it a score - 8/10!