The Premier Pet Products sales people manning the booth at the trade show had confidence in their product. "Take it home and try it," they said, "It'll  stop a trained attack dog."

Indeed, right on the side of the small canister it states that in tests DirectStop® was demonstrated to be as effective as 10% pepper spray at deterring attacks by trained attack dogs. The canister is much the same type of container as used for the chemical mace you see on the belts of rural mail carriers, and a handy plastic belt clip is attached to the side of the canister as well. I suspect you could also carry it in one of those ballistic nylon pouches many mail carriers use.

DirectStop® is pH balanced which makes it safer for the target dog, and you as well if there is "blow back". The active ingredient is citronella so, after a one to two second blast, I'm guessing mosquitoes won't be much of a problem for a while either. It does not cause pain to the dog (they state that it is also effective on cats, venomous snakes, raccoons, squirrels, opossums, and a variety of other beasts - with the exclusion of bears), and therefore does not increase aggression. All well and good, but does the stuff work? 

I have to report that my dogs have only provided me with one "field trial", so I must start with the "your results may vary" qualifier here. What happened was a couple of our boys got into it. We gave the two faces that were locked onto each other a good two to three second blast of DirectStop®. Nothing changed, they remained attached to each other. Disappointing, but that's not the product's claimed use. That was just something we'd hoped it would do.

Then, a third dog, a female, came streaking in from our right, intent on "getting a piece of the action".  A one to two second blast in that dog's face resulted in her suddenly stopping, then moving away. That's more like it, and exactly what the maker claims the product will do.

So, what am I to say here?  The one time we used DirectStop® it performed exactly the way the maker claims. Unfortunately, it did not stop dogs that had already engaged (our hope, not the manufacturer's claim), but it immediately deterred a dog intent on joining the fracas before she engaged. There is potential usefulness here for all of us.

Measuring 4.75 inches X 1.75 inches, the DirectStop® canister contains approximately 12 one-second sprays at a range of 10 feet. Consider adding it to your dog sledding/hiking supplies. We all live in fear of having to stop a roaming dog from attacking our dogs, or worse our team, when we're out. Few of us are willing or able to resort to the "nine millimeter solution". DirectStop® shows potential here. A side benefit is that since it doesn't cause pain to the target animal, the owner, assuming they ever show up, has little basis for complaint in your actions.

DirectStop™ is a product of Premier Pet Products, 406 Branchway Road, Richmond, VA 23236, USA, 1-800-933-5595, www.premier.com. It is sold through pet supply retailers, priced at about $9.00-$13.00 USD.

Is there a useful product you'd like to tell us about? Email your experience to mail@thefanhitch.org or snail-mail it to Mark Hamilton, 55 Town Line Road, Harwinton, CT 06791, USA.