Do Dog Training Methods Work on Children? (We Hope So)

Who knew we'd still be using techniques from Macey's Puppy Kindergarten class 8 years later?! Is it bad that we aren't using the discipline methods on Macey anymore, but on Isaac?

Isaac has started spitting. At first it was cute. He noticed Ella spitting out the toothpaste into the sink and started copying her by climbing up onto the stool and spitting repeatedly into the sink. We all laughed and thought it was funny.

Since he got such a great reaction from the sink spitting he decided to start spitting in people's faces...still somewhat funny. He's even started greeting guests in our home with a little spit in the face. Last week Ella had a little friend over to play, Isaac was sleeping when the boy arrived, so when he woke up he was very excited to see a new face. He walked right up to the kid and started laughing and then spit right at him. The kid, who is Ella's age, started yelling "That's disgusting," and spit back in Isaac's face. Isaac thought it was funny!

It probably doesn't help that most of the time Isaac does his little spitting routine, Jason and I are trying to keep a straight face and not laugh too. A few weeks ago when this first started he had a mouth full of raisins and started spitting. The raisins came flying out like machine gun bullets. Jason and I both about peed our pants laughing. Ella reprimanded us saying "You shouldn't laugh at him...that's GROSS!"

Apparently, we should have listened to her because here we are 3 weeks later and he's still spitting, which brings me to my dog training technique.

Jason came up with a good idea today...using the spray bottle on Isaac when he spits. We used a spray bottle on Macey when she was a puppy to keep her from pestering us at the couch. The trainer recommended we give her a squirt and give her a simple command "Go Away." It worked wonders on Macey and now we're hoping it will do the same with Isaac!

If anyone has any suggestions, we welcome them. Next we'll be trying to get Isaac to sit and stay...I wonder if he will like Macey's dog treats as much as she does :)!