You might be thinking “But, it works. I squirt, and the cat jumps off the counter. Now when I just show him the bottle, he runs away.” But what is your cat actually learning? Is he learning that the counter is a bad place to be? No. He is learning that the counter is a bad place to be if you are present and holding the spray bottle. What’s worse is that he is learning to be afraid of you. He only reacts when he sees you holding the spray bottle, which makes you the originator of the unpleasant feeling.
