why-animals-do-the-thing:

agro-carnist:

My philosophy is that squirting a dog is ok in certain situations. Things like barking should not be punishable by a squirt, as generally a squirt is supposed to spook/annoy a dog and barking is a natural response to stimuli. In that case a method like separating the dog from the stimulus is a better approach. To me a squirt should be used to deter a dog from a behavior that is dangerous or in a situation that needs to stop asap. If your dog is bullying another dog, getting into the garbage where you threw away a chocolate bar, etc, a squirt of water may be useful. Though, socializing and training your dog is a good way to avoid having to do that at all. But you can’t prevent everything so sometimes measures like that should be taken. Also note that squirts should be aimed at the shoulder and not at the face/eyes.

However I’m not a dog trainer or behaviorist so take what I say with a grain of salt and if you’re looking for a way to train your dog find someone qualified to help you. My current opinion may not be accurate.

From an ethical standpoint, you shouldn’t punish an animal for a behavior when you can a) set the situation up so it doesn’t occur or b) use positive techniques to train an alternate or incompatible behavior.

From a practical standpoint, things like a squirt of water are really ineffective punishers. For a punishing stimulus to work effectively (e.g. to actually achieve a change in behavior) the animal has to associate the punisher directly with the behavior that triggers it. When we talk about a punishing stimulus, that specifically means a stimulus that is added to a situation to discourage a behavior from reoccurring. If you get burned when you touch a hot burner the heat (a natural punishing stimulus in this case) will very effectively dissuade you from reaching out again. With a squirt bottle of any other common training punisher, because it’s something you add to the situation externally (instead of being something inherent, like with the stove example), animals generally associate you with the punisher instead of the behavior you want to stop. So you end up with them learning to avoid you when you’ve got the squirt bottle, but not associating getting squirted with what you’re trying to discourage.

In general, using squirt bottles or similar punishing stimulus is lazy training. It shouldn’t be a regular thing, ever – once you’ve realized what behavior your pet is doing that you want to prevent, it’s much more appropriate to put in the time and effort to fix it with positive methods. You can change your management protocols and teach your dog what you actually want them to do, rather than using a squirt bottle to only communicate what you don’t like.

(Punishing stimuli can be used to break up / disrupt very dire situations like dog fights, but that shouldn’t be occurring frequently).