Hello Bookitty1231,
How can it not work? I used it on mine when they were kittens; I would first shoot their tail, and they would look around wondering what it was and where it was coming from, then they learned to associate the noise of the pistol with the water, and shooting on the floor near them was good enough to send them scurrying for cover! Then they got defiant and tried to stare me out, so I shot them on the tail, then the body, then the ... but I never had to shoot them in the head (thankfully!) as by this time they'd run away! In the end all I had to do was pick-up the water pistol and they'd behave themselves! Maybe you weren't strong enough to persist with the discipline when they looked at you all hurt? An example of "spare the rod; spoil the child" ?!