# Bitter Apple OK?



## AmyOwens (Feb 12, 2015)

Reposting from another thread... Thank you everyone for the warm welcome! Bueller and I had so much fun today. We live on a lake, so Bueller has had trips to the lake and dock, but today we went for a walk on the street, with a little jog back home. Then he was so good while I worked most of the day - I think I wore him out during the walk. We took a second walk later to get the mail and down to the lake to soak up the sun for a short bit. He chilled in his daybed crate that now sits next to my desk most of the day - when he wasn't obsessing about the one corner of a rug. (Except for when he decided a squeaky toy was great while I was on a conference call, lol.) I think I need some bitter apple for the corner of the rug - any warnings or advice on bitter apple?


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

If it works, it's great. (I have some on order for Pixel ). It didn't work for Kodi though. I might as well have sprayed water on things. What DID work for him was hot sauce! Obviously, you can't put hot sauce directly on a rug, but I tore up steips of rags, pinned them to the edges of the rug (Kodi wa after the fringe on my orientals) and then put the hot sauce on the rag strips. ONE taste, and from then on, Kodi stayed FAR away from that smell!!! ound:


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## AmyOwens (Feb 12, 2015)

Thanks Karen! I have plenty of hot sauce in the house - maybe I'll try bitter apple first and see. There's a tag glued to the underneath of the exact corner he's going to. How he knew it was there is a mystery, but he found it.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

AmyOwens said:


> Thanks Karen! I have plenty of hot sauce in the house - maybe I'll try bitter apple first and see. There's a tag glued to the underneath of the exact corner he's going to. How he knew it was there is a mystery, but he found it.


Yes, I'd definitely try the Bitter Apple first, because the hot sauce DOES hurt the first time they try it. (though no permanent harm, and they DO remember the smell and stay away after that!!!) It made me feel bad doing it to Kodi, but I had no choice. While the rugs were annoying, much more alarmingly, he was also going after electrical cords. I figured a temporarily burning mouth was WAY better than a dead puppy!!!


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## AmyOwens (Feb 12, 2015)

Already ran out to PetSmart this morning and got it. We'll see. I also sprayed my shoes and pant bottoms - shoelaces are apparently irresistible, as are the bottoms of my stretchy pant legs.


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## NickieTwo (Jun 17, 2013)

Bitter Apple is most effective when freshly sprayed. It worked very well with Nickie and still does; but I spray right then. It stopped the activity immediately and he gradually learned to leave those items alone.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

NickieTwo said:


> Bitter Apple is most effective when freshly sprayed. It worked very well with Nickie and still does; but I spray right then. It stopped the activity immediately and he gradually learned to leave those items alone.


All that is absolutely true&#8230; But Kodi licked off freshly applied.  for some dogs, it just doesn't work at all!


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## 31818 (Oct 29, 2014)

AmyOwens said:


> I think I need some bitter apple for the corner of the rug - any warnings or advice on bitter apple?


I like the taste of bitter apple. eace: Mi Popi has sprayed bitter apple on things and I think of it as a condiment for whatever I'm chewing on. But whenever Popi gives me the "leave it" command, I know it is time to stop chewing.

besos, Ricky Ricardo


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## Jackie from Concrete WA (Mar 23, 2015)

Bitter Apple works for Willow. I spray it on her leash as I'm trying (unsuccessfully so far) to break her of the habit of grabbing and playing tug-of-war with the leash. It has to be freshly sprayed to work. However, it did not work for my corgi. It would of been because my corgi, Foxy, had a leather leash and Willow has a fabric leash. The fabric absorbs better than the leather.

Jackie & Willow


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## emichel (May 3, 2012)

Bitter apple didn't work for Benjamin, either. He would lick it off and then look at me as if begging for more. Silly puppy. I was just screwing up my courage to try the hot sauce, at Karen's recommendation, when I realized that his chewing behavior was diminishing. So... the good news is that whatever you decide to do, he will grow out of it!


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## AmyOwens (Feb 12, 2015)

Thanks for all the advice - the bitter apple seems to work, but he has just moved on and is finding other things! Like the spanish moss in my planter - which makes a big mess! I took it out. He is great about using the litter box, so I was trying to give him some freedom in my downstairs area where I work instead of limiting him to the ex pen. Bueller is checking absolutely everything out with his mouth! I fear I'll need gallons of bitter apple before this is over! :becky:


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

AmyOwens said:


> Thanks for all the advice - the bitter apple seems to work, but he has just moved on and is finding other things! Like the spanish moss in my planter - which makes a big mess! I took it out. He is great about using the litter box, so I was trying to give him some freedom in my downstairs area where I work instead of limiting him to the ex pen. Bueller is checking absolutely everything out with his mouth! I fear I'll need gallons of bitter apple before this is over! :becky:


Ha! You will!!! I'd also be very cautious giving him too much freedom this early, especially in areas with rugs. It's easy for them to slip away and potty somewhere they shouldn't, and rugs are particularly attractive, it's hard to notice that they've done it, and HARDER to get all the smell back out to the point that THEY can't smell it. (their noses are hundreds of times more capable than ours! )

The single biggest mistake people make in potty training is too much freedom too early.

The other problem with freedom, is, as you've already found, they explore the world with their mouths. Even if they are reliable in the potty training department, it is SO easy for them to get in trouble with things with their mouths, and I don't think it's possible for a human to guess what they are going to go after. Basically, it will be whatever you didn't think they would!  Sometimes that is "just" a matter of destruction&#8230; Other times it can be very, very dangerous&#8230;

Like Pixel, who has discovered the electrical wires under my desk. I tried hot sauce on them yesterday, and she's still going after them. So today my son is cutting a piece of plywood big enough to block her away from the wires completely.


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## 31818 (Oct 29, 2014)

krandall said:


> So today my son is cutting a piece of plywood big enough to block her away from the wires completely.


HA! Now she will start gnawing on the plywood like I do.......very tasty! Right now I am chewing on an antler. And Tia Karen, u already know what will happen when she starts to teeth! Pixie Pixel, you go girl!

besos, Ricky Ricardo


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Ricky Ricardo said:


> HA! Now she will start gnawing on the plywood like I do.......very tasty! Right now I am chewing on an antler. And Tia Karen, u already know what will happen when she starts to teeth! Pixie Pixel, you go girl!
> 
> besos, Ricky Ricardo


At least the plywood won't kill her the way the electrical wires will!!! Ricky, you little ones are TROUBLE!!! (Kodi thinks so too! )


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## AmyOwens (Feb 12, 2015)

So here is a photo of Bueller right now in his crate which is how he spends most of his day, next to my desk while I work. We go for a walk/run in the mornings which wears him out pretty good until lunchtime. It's the morning before the walk, and in the evenings around 7:30 that he gets especially rambunctious and "chewy". When he's wandering around the room, I watch him like a hawk! However, I probably do need to start using the ex pen more and leaving the house for short periods of time. He's literally by my side all the time. He's had plenty of socialization though! Yesterday evening we went to a craft brewery and met lots of people. Even rolled over for one nice lady!


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## 31818 (Oct 29, 2014)

AmyOwens said:


> So here is a photo of Bueller right now in his crate which is how he spends most of his day, next to my desk while I work.


He looks like he could be my partner in crime, getting into lots of mischief.



> and in the evenings around 7:30 that he gets especially rambunctious and "chewy".


I recommend an antler or a Himilayan chew. Very satisfying when I need something to chew on. "Tastes great and is less filling."



> He's literally by my side all the time.


Where else would us Havanese rather be than by our Momi's side?

besos, Ricky Ricardo


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

AmyOwens said:


> So here is a photo of Bueller right now in his crate which is how he spends most of his day, next to my desk while I work. We go for a walk/run in the mornings which wears him out pretty good until lunchtime. It's the morning before the walk, and in the evenings around 7:30 that he gets especially rambunctious and "chewy". When he's wandering around the room, I watch him like a hawk! However, I probably do need to start using the ex pen more and leaving the house for short periods of time. He's literally by my side all the time. He's had plenty of socialization though! Yesterday evening we went to a craft brewery and met lots of people. Even rolled over for one nice lady!


Hi Amy, just wondering what you meant by "rolled over".


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## AmyOwens (Feb 12, 2015)

davetgabby said:


> Hi Amy, just wondering what you meant by "rolled over".


Bueller sits, goes to a down, then we've been working on a complete rollover. He does it about 3 times out of 10. The other 4 he will roll halfway, the other 3 is a funny look at me. But he did it for a stranger to show off!


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

AmyOwens said:


> Bueller sits, goes to a down, then we've been working on a complete rollover. He does it about 3 times out of 10. The other 4 he will roll halfway, the other 3 is a funny look at me. But he did it for a stranger to show off!


that's cool I thought maybe he was doing on his own when he met someone new.


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## Hsusa (Dec 21, 2014)

Yesterday I found some bitter apple that I had saved from our other two dogs when they were puppies. I wanted to try it on my husbands shoelaces which Sheba loves to chew. She got a good mouthful of the stuff and immediately started rolling over and over, as if to erase the taste from her mouth. It was pretty darn funny. I thought I'd found a cure! But next thing you know, she's jumping for the bottle of bitter apple, and licking the spray nozzle. I think the stuff was so old,it turned into Apple Jack!


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## 31818 (Oct 29, 2014)

Hsusa said:


> I think the stuff was so old,it turned into Apple Jack!


I think of it as Appletini!

besos, Ricky Ricardo


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

I just bought some new stuff called "Anti-Chew Bitter Spray" which is supposed to be much more effective than Bitter Apple… We shall see!


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