Dog Health Questions: Dog training with smells...?

I understand that dogs do not like garlic. The problem is that they like to dig in my housplants. I don't want to keep them off the floor, rather to simply train them. Most of the times I cannot catch them in the act and I will never spank them. Do you think that this is cruel: Dice up a garlic clove and put it in the plant. And then just rub a little on their noses. They won't like it. And then when they go back to the plant they will associate that smell with something that was unpleasant to them. The garlic will not smell particularly nice in my house, but it is temporary, until they build the memory. What do you think? To me this seems very logical. i would rather them have to deal with a smell that they don't like for a little while, rather than this be a constant battle. And they know when I am mad at them and they get sad. So it makes me feel bad.

Dog Training Problems - How to Overcome Them

Recommended Answer:
Many dogs love garlic, and you may accidental train them not to let your hand come close to their nose (because this was unpleasant).
They make wonderful motion detectors that emit a terrible noise and or a squirt of spray that is usually not acceptable for dogs. By placing them near your plants, when the dog comes near the plant, the noise and spray would come out and this usually works. In other words, booby traping the plant is a great idea and the motion detector makes it clear to the dog that coming near the plant is what is unpleasant, not your hand or the smell of garlic etc. These products do not use shock - that would be too cruel, but rather an unpleasant noise, and sometimes a spray of water or unpleasant scent.
The name of some of these products:
Sofa Scram, SSCAT, Comet, Scraminal
It usually only takes a couple of times for the animal (dogs and cats) to learn not to go near the plants.
Good luck

Dog Training - The Reward Way

• Well, your idea is good, but I'm not sure you are right about dogs not liking garlic. The show people always cook their meat with garlic, bc they say the dogs like it better. Maybe raw garlic is different?
  
  I knew a lady who used clove oil to repel chewing. It smelled heavenly and she said it stopped the chewing. I've not tried it. The old-timers dog repellent recipe is cayenne pepper and salt peter mixed into dish washing liquid. Again, I've not used it, but it is supposed to work great.
  
  Final thought- will it kill your plants? No idea. You might need to look into that.