Reilly's "Friend": The Spray Bottle

When my family had a cat, the cat would get the spray bottle if she was on the furniture or doing something else—besides being on the furniture—which she wasn't supposed to do. When we brought Reilly home, the spray bottle made its comeback—neighbors who have their own dog recommended the spray bottle for when Reilly barks when she's not supposed to bark, and we took the neighbors' advice.

After we'd used it for a while, it stopped being as effective as it had been at the beginning. Then I had an idea: add citrus juice to it. Given that some bark collars have citronella (and the vibration-offset bark collar that Reilly had worked somewhat until we lost it—and we still can't find it), I decided to put lemon juice in the water in Reilly's spray bottle (especially after I saw a YouTube video in which a citronella-water collar worked on another dog). 

Needlessly to say, Reilly has since had the spray bottle used on her. Meanwhile, she's stopped barking as soon as she gets threatened with the spray bottle, even when she's barked while I've typed this blog entry—she knows that "the spray bottle" and her "friend" are not pleasant. 

By the way, Camille has also gotten the spray bottle in the past—despite that Camille's "Mimi" has not been happy about it. Oh well—"Mimi" can do as she wants if she ever takes "Auntie Nicole"'s place and watches Cam and Ri when "Auntie Nicole" ("Momma" to Reilly) is at work or out with friends, at a church event, etc..