Should large reactive dogs be muzzled?

[Slub]

I'm talking in places like dog friendly pubs? Reactive to both dogs and people.

Unless the owner is actively trying to train the dog to be less reactive (and imo they'd need to start smaller than a pub for that) then the dog shouldn't be in the pub. And I'm a big supporter of dog friendly pubs etc

Shouldn’t be in the pub poor dog, but yes if it is then should be muzzled for everyone’s safety.

If it bit someone the dog would be PTS so the idiot owners should realise this.

Pub landlord need to take responsibility and ask them to leave the dog at home.

The dogs shouldn't be muzzled, they should be trained, but apparently the owners rent willing to do that. The best thing for the dogs would be to be taken away from owners who aren't willing to put the effort into taking care of them properly and who are willing to routinely put the dogs in a place where they are uncomfortable.

In the interim they should be banned from the pub by the owners who have a responsibility to make a decision based on what's best for all their customers.

Shit landlord to have not dealt with this already

My dog (working Cocker) is reactive in pubs. Barks and lunges. He's great on trains, on walks, etc. We take him to quiet beer gardens to train him, and we always sit right on the furthest edge as far away from other people as possible.

We muzzle him. It ensures he couldn't bite in panic (he never has, but you never know). It also helps us not to be anxious about the risk of him biting. And it has the added benefit of deterring people from coming up to try to fuss him.

Reactive dogs shouldn't be in pubs unless they are there for training. In which case, it would be probably be very obvious that the owner is doing training.

Agree @dustofneptune. If the owner is trying to work on reducing the dogs reactivity then that's fair enough, but unfortunately it sounds from the OP that this owner isn't do this.
As someone who's dog loves being in public places, people ruining it for everyone annoy me, because obviously for this landlord the easiest way to deal with this is to say "no dogs"

@senorafridgidaire

We have a (dog) reactive dog. The only pubs we go in are ones where we know the layout, tables are spaced far apart and we can keep out of everyone's way, and there is more than one way in or out. We never stay for more than an hour. It's like being in the SAS sometimes! If we walk in and its busy, or there are other dogs that look like they want to be friendly / may approach then we leave immediately. I do expect other owners to be respectful and keep their dogs away from us as far as possible, but I fully recognise that Ddogs issues are our problem to manage, and we never want to put her in a situation where she feels uncomfortable and might react anyway. She's happy enough in a quiet pub with other dogs minding their own business at other tables, but can't cope with any more than that.

We've only ever had 2 'incidents', one in a pub garden where we were sat in a corner close to the exit and there was a sign saying dogs must be on leads and someone came in with an off lead spaniel that came bounding over, and once in a pub which was totally empty, until a couple arrived with a labrador and for some stupid reason decided to sit right next to us even though we explained the situation and asked them not to, they wouldn't even wait a few minutes for us to move to a different table because they wanted to sit down at the specific one next to us so badly. Their dog was off lead and approached ddog who was backed into a corner under the table, up until that point she'd been happily enjoying her chew by our feet.

So in short, I think the owner obviously has a responsibility to keep their dog under control and try to avoid situations where the dog will react, but as a reactive dog owner, which is hard and fucking soul destroying sometimes, its always hugely appreciated when other people recognise the situation and do their best not to let their dogs approach and make it worse. Sometimes in a tricky situation all you need is a minute or two to gather up your dog and skedaddle, but lot of people don't even give you that.

Hi @senorafridgidaire We are exactly the same. Our dog was brilliant in pubs. Then he became dog reactive and lockdown happened. We are working so hard on it but it’s soul destroying enough that I can’t do any of the things I wanted to with him because of his reactivity. I just want to be able to do something else with him that isn’t a 5am walk! Just started going to the pub again but the same as you, military precision to find a good quiet spot and never longer than an hour. Hopefully we will get there, he’s been good so far, but I also know we have been lucky with not running into other dogs.

Absolutely yes,should be mussled.I wish you good luck though with entering a pub with a mussled dog.dont be surprised,if A you would not be allowed in or B you get angry stares from people.Who in their right mind even considers taking a reactive dog(even mussled) into a pub.

*muzzle of course