Muzzle?

[Grockle]

I have a fear-aggressive rescue dog. She's MUCH better now than when she came to us a year ago but she still growls, barks, lunges at and snaps at other dogs. Not all, but most of them. We've done a huge amount of training but I hate the snapping &, obviously, other owners don't like it either.

It usually happens when other dogs are off the lead & run towards my dog. I always ask owners to call their dog back and explain that mine is fearful & will attack but SO many owners don't listen. I don't want GrockleDog to bite other dogs & I'd love to let her off the lead without worrying about what she'll do.

Will a muzzle make her feel vulnerable and more aggressive? Or is it worth a shot? In which case, what kind?

Thank you. We've done LOADS of professional training & socialisation wither her, hence her improvement. I've really not wanted to muzzle her, especially as I warn other owners & when she snaps, it's because people refuse to control their own dogs so part of me thinks it's their fault rather than mine. But I hate the looks of shock & horror & the judgy comments.

I actually strongly doubt that GrockleDog will let me muzzle her anyway but since you can get them for a few pounds, I wondered if it might be worth a try. I do think it will make her feel more vulnerable and make the situation worse, in which case I'd not use it, obviously. I wondered if it might work the other way - if she feels she can't snap to defend herself, perhaps she might not go on the attack?

I need to try something because walking her where there might be other dogs (pretty much everywhere) is so stressful!

Will read the link now, thank you

I have a lurcher - and soon found that in sighthound circles, muzzles are quite common. Mostly this is not because the dogs are aggressive, it is because they play rough and have very thin skin - and the combination is not good, so rather than regular visits for stitching up, many wear muzzles when out.

If your dog always wears a muzzle when out for a walk, it will get used to it. In fact, it will start to associate it with going for a walk (my lurcher only wears one when she races or does simulated coursing and she saw it out at the weekend and wagged her tail because it meant we were off out somewhere fun!). You can also make it more attractive to them early days by things like smearing peanut butter on the inside so that the dog has something nice to lick off. The muzzles we use for sighthounds allow the dogs to fully open their jaws - so they can pant, bark, and can drink water if its deep enough.

I know some people that say their dog is muzzled to stop it eating poo - it might not be the real reason but it takes out some of the fear factor.

If you were near the north I would suggest a session with the sighthound specialist I've been to a training session with - we went to a group session (which is ideal as you see the dog interacting with other dogs) and it cost £25 for about 3.5 hrs - and he was dealing with fear aggressive dogs and how to help them as one of the specific things in that session (we went for better recall).

Have you seen the 'yellow dog' scheme - you can get small coats which say 'Dog in Training, please keep your distance' and things like that...

You train them to wear it...

If you do it right they wear it quite happily because you've built it up slowly and it's always been a positive experiences.

Dogs Need Space

Some dog owners are so irresponsible & plain stupid. I get really irritated. My dog wears a 'dog in training' hi vis & I have one for myself... Even with both if us in those, people still don't call their dogs away!

Is one of those basket muzzles better than amesh one?

Will read links, thank you.

"Is one of those basket muzzles better than amesh one?"

Yes, they're more secure and allow the dog to pant, drink and you can feed them treats through it.

That's the one I use because it's supposed to be the best one - though I don't use the head strap as it's optional and he's never tried to take it off.

I've found that people alone now avoid him, people with dogs either ask if it's ok to come close or just avoid us completely...you still get the odd dog running up, but usually followed by a panicky owner now rather than just letting them.

I wouldn't use one of those if I could get one that allowed them to open their mouth wider like the ones you can see here - that means they can fully pant so running's not going to be a problem - and they can drink too. However, the ones that you see on this page are suitable for running dogs which often have fairly narrow muzzles - these might not fit (but if they do they are great as they allow lots of jaw movement and are very light).