diff --git a/cmd/puppeth/puppeth.go b/cmd/puppeth/puppeth.go
index 26382dac1373a9e0df3408dd65541847226630f5..f9b8fe4811539aee694483edc477ce919d9b90ad 100644
--- a/cmd/puppeth/puppeth.go
+++ b/cmd/puppeth/puppeth.go
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ package main
 import (
 	"math/rand"
 	"os"
+	"strings"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/log"
@@ -34,7 +35,7 @@ func main() {
 	app.Flags = []cli.Flag{
 		cli.StringFlag{
 			Name:  "network",
-			Usage: "name of the network to administer",
+			Usage: "name of the network to administer (no spaces or hyphens, please)",
 		},
 		cli.IntFlag{
 			Name:  "loglevel",
@@ -47,6 +48,10 @@ func main() {
 		log.Root().SetHandler(log.LvlFilterHandler(log.Lvl(c.Int("loglevel")), log.StreamHandler(os.Stdout, log.TerminalFormat(true))))
 		rand.Seed(time.Now().UnixNano())
 
+		network := c.String("network")
+		if strings.Contains(network, " ") || strings.Contains(network, "-") {
+			log.Crit("No spaces or hyphens allowed in network name")
+		}
 		// Start the wizard and relinquish control
 		makeWizard(c.String("network")).run()
 		return nil