PetSafe SprayShield Animal Deterrent - Citronella Dog Repellent Spray – Ranges up to 10 ft - 2.4 oz / 71 mL - Protect Yourself and Your Pets Pack of 1 SPRAYSHIELD-CAN

I bought this product several years ago and am getting another one. The red cap to my old spray came off and I can't find it. But anyway, we've retired to a lake and there are a number of dogs who are loose, some belonging to owners, some abandoned and dumped at our boat ramp and some strays. I have rescued three and brought them into our family and have found homes for many that have been abandoned. I have a number of avenues with agencies and veterinarians who have helped me in this regard. The local dogs who live here full-time are fine. Everyone gets along and I love them. It's usually the weekend people who bring their dogs and decide it's a good idea to let them roam unsupervised around the lake. Bad idea. A lot of them are not socialized very well and find most other dogs and people threatening and react accordingly.Anyway, over the past 7 years, I walk 3-4 miles a day down to our boat ramp and back up. My dogs are always leashed. But, in the course of all this, I've come across weekend dogs, abandoned dogs at the boat ramp and others who just jump out of the trees at us. I've have been chased, bitten, attacked and pulled to the ground - you name it, I've had it done to me and I cannot imagine what would have happened to me if I had not had this spray. It is absolutely a miracle. Trying to fish it out of my pocket in the middle of total chaos and mayhem is the most challenging part, but I've managed so far. Most of the time I can see the trouble coming and have plenty of time to get ready. I've also used this spray on my own dogs when they are in a hypercrazy state of mind seeing an excited dog coming toward us. In their mind, the fight is on, and for the most part, it's a protective state of mind but rather lethal. I don't spray it directly into their face but out in front of them and they walk into it. It has the effect of slapping them in the face. It snaps them out of that excitement and intensity. If I use it on oncoming dogs they may return but another shot of this will stop it completely and they will run away. And by a miracle, there are a couple of weekend dogs who have taken a blast of this and when they see us, they go the other way. It's something they don't forget. Bingo - mission accomplished! I have also found it works incredibly well - I wouldn't recommend this to everyone - is if another dog is aggressively running toward you and is nearly upon you to spray it in between your dog and the oncoming dog where they both are hit with it at the same time. Instant neutralizing. Both retreat. At any rate, from one who has had to use this many times, I cannot recommend it enough.And not surprisingly, most people call me a crazy old woman, and I may be, but I will not sacrifice my daily walks with my dogs to this beautiful boat ramp and back up this mountain. It means everything to me. And if something gets in the way of that, there's a consequence, and fortunately, it is not a deadly consequence. Some say to carry a gun. No way. I don't do guns. There are so many different ways to handle a situation and this, in my opinion and view, is a very good answer and consequence to aggressive dogs and if I ever have to, I'll try it out on a person and see what happens. I hope that never happens but if it does, I'll let you know how it turns out.

This is a great product, since it does what it's supposed to do - deter annoying obnoxious dogs - without harming them. It's pretty worthless against a really aggressive dog, but it doesn't claim to do that. I have an older dog who cannot tolerate younger dogs jumping all over him, and when clueless owners allow their dogs to persist in harassing him (we have no leash law where I live), I blast them in the face with this spray. They hate the smell and they leave him alone pronto. The owners can't object because it doesn't harm their dog in any way, unlike pepper spray, which causes the dog distress. I love dogs and don't want to harm them, but when they belong to dumb owners who don't care if their dog jumps all over mine, this spray is just the ticket. The best part is once you spray it, the offending canine only has to see the can to stay away. Again, if it's an aggressive dog situation, this isn't the product you need, but for a spray that deters without hurting, this stuff is great.

I used this to try to deter a dog who has been visiting my yard and creating some problems. The first spray minimally surprised him, then he voluntarily sniffed the excess spray that landed on the ground. A second spray startled him for only a fraction of a second, but had zero impact on deterring him. The third shot I’m confident was on/around his nose/mouth from very close (3-4’ at a maximum) and still had zero effect on him.Some of the product dripped onto my fingers, and I can see why he wasn’t phased - there was very, very little scent to the product. Within a few minutes I couldn’t even smell it on my hands (and to the best of my knowledge, I don’t have COVID :) ) I’ve used human bug repellents with a much stronger scent than this.I don’t want to injure or harm the dog, so love the concept of this product in hopes it would deter without inflicting pain, but unfortunately this product was a waste of money. We were able to get into a safe place before the situation escalated, but no credit to this product for helping with that. Do not recommend - I may try a DIY version of this in a spray bottle with a stronger concentration of citronella.

After our leashed 35lb terrier mix, who incidentally loves all people and animals, was nearly attacked on two separate occasions, by two different boxers, I had had enough. They weren't stray dogs, they had both broken away from their owners and came running full speed, in attack mode, at our dog. I was furious, the offending dogs' owners were mortified and apologetic. If your dog is dragging you along on walks, then guess what? You're NOT in control of your dog. In both situations I had to kick my leg up, to keep them from hurting our pup. I began looking for a spray, but I didn't want something that was as severe as pepper spray. I thought this product would be as good as any to start with, I ordered it and kept it handy on our walks.One day we were a block from our home, when yet ANOTHER boxer, made a dash for his front door, as his owner was walking in with groceries. I'm sure you can guess what happened next. He came at us, lightning fast, baring his teeth, fully intending to take a bite out of our little guy. His owner was screaming for him to come back, and of course, he ignored her. I aimed the can and sprayed the dog right in the face as soon as he was close enough. It distracted him, but not enough for my liking, as he kept his eyes fixed on my dog. I gave a few extra bursts of the spray, and his gaze remained on my dog. It was very unnerving. I then emptied the rest of the spray in his face. A few seconds later, his owner ran over, apologizing profusely. She explained that her dog was dog aggressive and she understood that I had to do what I had to do. I explained that the spray was citronella based, she seemed relieved and grateful, and even asked where she could get it.Another reviewer made a very good point, I don't believe that this would work on red zone dogs. I don't want to hurt anyone's pet, but I have to protect my pal. I'm tentatively giving this a 4 star rating because it did keep the dog away from us. However, I'm not sure what would have happened if the owner hadn't shown up when she did, because I was out of spray. He could have just shook it off and focused on attacking again. On a side note, I'm no longer a fan of boxers.

I bought this months ago when I adopted a new dog, as I do the walking alone. I've only had to use this once, but it worked exactly as it's supposed to.The story: there were two dogs roaming the neighborhood we were walking in, both bigger than my dog. The male dog approached us, growling with some threatening body language. I sprayed straight at his nose. He sneezed a few times, backed up, then turned and walked off.Later I found out that this dog had killed several small animals in the neighborhood, so. I was grateful I'd had this with me.If I have to use it again, I will update this review with the results.10/4/18: Successfully deterred another dog today. Would he have ripped my dog's throat out? Not sure, but he was almost twice my dog's size and I wasn't going to find out. Not sure how much I have left in the can (I've been doing very brief sprays to confirm it's still in working order every few months), so I'm going to buy another can today.1/27/19: beware chihuahuas, the most vicious dogs of them all. Today my dog and I were approached by a very angry chihuahua, whom I sprayed not once, not twice, but three times. With each spray, it backed off momentarily but returned seconds later. After the third spray, it took a bit of time to consider whether it was really worth coming after us again, and looked like it would have tried again if I had not managed to create a bit of distance between us while it thought. Nevertheless, in the end, that is another bloodless encounter with a loose dog, and I remain pleased.