Do I need to muzzle my dog?? What are the laws on this?? HELP PLEASE!

[WTFwasthat]

I have an 18 mo lab cross. He's gorgeous, friendly, non aggressive, great around our cats and children. Never been aggressive blah blah blah…..BUT when I take him to the park if there is anyone there marking out white lines for a sports pitch, mowing a lawn, hoovering up leaves etc. he goes nuts! In a "wow! this is great - let's play!" type way. Not in an aggressive "I'm going to kill you," way. The problem is that he has twice gone charging over the the white-line man and starting barking his head off and nudging the white-line man to get him to move the paint machine thing. Now obviously white line man objects to a dog coming haring across the field and barking at him to play and he has reported my pup to the dog warden for biting him. My dog DID NOT bite the white line man - he nudged and pulled/nipped at his clothes to get him to move the white-line marker thing so he could play. This has happened twice in the last 3 months or so but it is completely ruining my dog walking experience (all my doggy walking friends congregate there) and I have taken mutt elsewhere to get his exercise. A muzzle has been suggested in case the white line marker man is there but I really really don't want my dog muzzled as this is literally the ONLY thing he gets excited over! Please wise m-netters advise me. The dog warden advised the white line man to report my dog to the police and I feel gutted :-((((

I'm doing some 'non excitable' training with my dog at the moment (mainly for people coming to the door). He's picking it up quickly.

Keep him on a lead until you know white line man isn't there, put him on a lead as soon as you see him. My dog has three people he adores & can be too enthusiastic with, & can jump up, as soon as he sees them the lead is ready. He ignores/is fine/stays down with everyone else!

People are being a bit harsh on you because your dog is out of control and you do not seem to be aware of this or the need for training and because you are minimizing your dog biting the white line man (nipping at people's clothes is completely unacceptable and you are lucky the dog warden hasn't taken this further).

All dogs need training, ideally from the moment you get them and partly in a structured environment where you can get help from an experienced trainer. Counter conditioning will work very well for most dogs but you can't learn how to do it on the internet. Get yourself a good trainer to advise you. Meanwhile your dog should be on the lead or at least on a long line (if you know how to use that effectively) so there is no chance of this problem recurring.

I have found the best thing for recall is a whistle. The noise cuts through everything and stops them in their tracks. My girl can't help but immediately come dashing back when she hears it. You obviously need to condition your dog to the whistle first but they really work.