Blind Tasting

The Chuckit!® ball launcher was a toy which the young Lab used for several of her mischievous employments.The main purpose it served was that of a chew toy, which she was often able to filch from a shelf. It looked like an odd shaped length of honeycomb coral. The entire surface of the toy, from tip to handle end, was dimpled with perfectly shaped toothy indentations. Her second application of the Chuckit!®, theoretically, was to retrieve a ball that her owner had catapulted a good distance. At first, she had a tendency to race to the ball and tag it with her nose, then she would either lay down by the ball or simply wander off. Her owner was thus taught to retrieve the ball before tossing it again. Later, she evolved the rules of the game and brought the ball part way or mostly back, making sure her owner still got his fair share of exercise..This was all well and good enough for the owner until the clever young pup was inspired to retrieve the ball while it was being thrown. She would launch herself as a 70# ball seeking missile and grab the ball and/or the toy as her owner whipped the Chuckit!® forward but before the ball took flight.

The young Labradoodle puppy was as cute as cute ever gets. It was difficult to picture such an innocent looking face belonging to a puppy with an extensive rap sheet. Between sessions of being pampered and cooed at by his owners, he had a penchant for misbehavior. His eyes literally flashed as the switch in his little doggie brain flipped to defiance and insubordination mode. One of his favorite shenanigans was to purloin kleenex or paper towels from the bathrobe pocket of one of his owners. This person is disabled and often unaware of the stealthy approach and lightning swift pounce of the furry miscreant. Lickety-split, he was off with the wife chasing him, screaming at the top of her voice. Swift and nimble, he easily kept her at a distance as he capered several laps around the kitchen island and scampered around and over furniture. If cornered he would feint and feign, always able to avoid capture until he tired of the game. What a fine sport this was!

In both of the above cases the owners were novice trainers and overwhelmed by the outright energy and inventiveness these puppies displayed in making up the rules to games. In the first case impulse control exercises such as requiring a calm sit before eating, proceeding through doors and greeting people and other dogs had been introduced. Unfortunately, the owner was very inconsistent and found it easier to just let the dog go ahead as she pleased. In the second situation, the husband could not train and the wife was not in the least interested in training. Is it possible a quick fix exists for situations such as these? While it is true that one solution will not work in every situation, there is a good possibility that using a taste deterrent such as Bitter Apple® will resolve some problems.

Dogs are equipped with 1700 taste receptors, a human is provided with 9000.(1) A cat has 470.(2) A catfish is furnished with 175,000 taste buds.(3) Canines also have receptors that can taste water on the tips of their tongues. There are taste buds in the back of a dog’s mouth which means that Druid, our Lab of 14+ years, may have actually had a flicker of taste as she inhaled everything edible.(4) She was one of those gourmand puppies that would never let a kibble hit the bowl if she were not instructed to sit.

A dog can detect salt, sweet, sour, bitter and umami. They tend to have a sweet tooth and prefer sweet and umami (which includes meat).(5) Druid seemed to have several sweet tooths among her 42 pearly whites as she showed equal enthusiasm for every flavor of ice cream she licked from an empty carton. While we humans value salt- 6th century traders swapped an ounce of salt for an ounce of gold- dogs are not so much into salty foods.(6) Meat, part of the canine ancestral diet, contains salt.(7) One day, our dog Panther returned from an outing where he had practiced the hallowed tradition of his predecessors- scavenging. He scattered a rather genteel group of humans with a swanky prance into our midst with his prize- a raunchy deer haunch, lifted proudly over his head. A three ounce serving of venison naturally contains 46 milligrams of salt.(8)

Bitter and sour flavors are often avoided as possibly harmful substances.(9) But dogs, like humans, differ in preference and tolerance to taste. Unfortunately, a percentage of dogs revel in bitter and consider the product Bitter Apple® a piquant sauce. Recently, an English Lab puppy, about four months of age, couldn’t get enough of the stuff as she continued to chew the leash which had been sprayed liberally. She then licked it with gusto off the chain collar attached to her leash and proceeded to attempt to gnosh the chain.

Dogs compensate for fewer taste buds by using their sense of smell. A dog can sport up to 300 million scent receptors whereas we humans possess a mere 6 million.(10) Their noses are “powerful enough to detect substances at concentrations of one part per trillion—a single drop of liquid in 20 Olympic-size swimming pools.”(11) A cat has up to 200 million scent receptors.(12) Both dogs and cats have what is called the Jacobson’s organ which can detect pheromones which help in such tasks as mating and locating mother’s milk. A channel catfish has 140 folds containing membranes for scent, a Pacific salmon has but 18.(13) For the channel cat, we are talking of being aware of a scent one part of water per ten billion.(14) One would think that with such a refined sense of smell dogs might be a bit more discerning in what they find palatable. However, De gustibus non est disputandum.(15)

The internet abounds with homemade taste deterrents for dogs. The diverse ingredients may include cider vinegar, white vinegar, lemon, capsaicin in hot peppers both dry and diluted in a spray, Listerine® and so on. Bitter Apple® lists water, 20% isopropanol, bitter principles and extractives. The alcohol evaporates and the sprayed object may need to be refreshed periodically. The effectiveness of the product seems to correlate roughly to the reviews reported by sellers of the product. The most up to date anecdotal evidence says that the product is about 80% effective.(16) On a number of occasions clients have stated that they had used Bitter Apple® and it had not been effective. When asked if they still had the bottle it was discovered to have been a different product. In the fine tradition of wine country we then arrange a blind tasting. Serving as sommelier, I present a generous portion of Bitter Apple® on an appealing sock or shoe. My credentials as sommelier include having accidentally put hand to mouth on numerous occasions after using Bitter Apple®. Take my word, it is nasty stuff with a malingering finish that can loiter for days on the palette. In the majority of cases the discerning canine taster finds Bitter Apple® the most avoidable choice.

Taste deterrents, while not a substitute for management and training, often cut to the chase. Many a razor jawed puppy owner has saved pints of blood by simply spraying hands and fingers and toes. Damage to property and landscaping in the hundreds or even thousands of dollars can be avoided. But as mentioned in the case of the cute English Lab puppy, Bitter Apple® is not the solution for all dogs. So how did it work for the two dogs mentioned previously?

In the case of the Lab launching for the ball launcher, Bitter Apple® was sprayed on the toy and presented to the dog. She immediately stopped her leaping and grabbing behaviors. She is now capable of sitting while balls are dropped in front of her. Her owner is not a duck hunter and thus sees no value in having her sit and stay until after a ball is thrown and she is released to retrieve it. So she is off like a shot as he winds up to throw. This will be as good as it gets. But that is OK enough.

The young Labradoodle was brought to our home for some work. I sprayed a crumpled up paper towel with Bitter Apple and tossed it (knowing he would not eat it). In true form, he pounced on it, snatched it up and raced off, looking over his shoulder to see if I was in hot pursuit. He happily cavorted about for ten seconds, a pretty long time, before realizing the paper towel tasted awful. He spat it out. Interestingly, he immediately grabbed it again and ran off before shortly spitting it out. The behavior was so ingrained in him that he couldn’t help himself. After two sessions, he was happily walking about being rewarded for leaving paper towels and other enticements unsnatched.

(1) Does Flavor Matter to Dogs? | NutriSource Pet Foods

(2) How DOG taste buds influence their choice in food. - HEALTHY DOG TREATS

(3) A matter of taste

(4) Do Dogs Have Taste Buds? – Petozy

(5) Ibid

(6) A Brief History of Salt | Time

(7) Naturally Occurring Sodium in Meat

(8) Ibid

(9) Do Dogs Have Taste Buds? – Petozy

(10 How Powerful Is a Dog's Nose? Phoenix Veterinary Center - Veterinarian in Phoenix, AZ US

(11) Ibid

(12) Why Cats Sniff Butts | VCA Animal Hospitals