Muzzling is Great for All Dogs!
Wait, why would a “good” dog need a muzzle? We’re going to dive into the different reasons for muzzling (because muzzled dogs are good dogs too!), the types of muzzles out there, how to make sure you have the right size for your dog, and how to condition a dog to wear one. If you decide a muzzle is a great thing for you and your pup, please note that a dog should never be unsupervised with a muzzle on because they may get caught on something.
So, Why Muzzle?
While some people see a muzzled dog and think “they must be aggressive”, this is not true. Aggressive behavior is one reason someone may muzzle their dog, but these aggressive behaviors stem from fear, anxiety, and stress. Dogs are extremely rarely aggressive for no reason. In this same category you have over reactive dogs. These dogs also have big feelings like frustration, over arousal, and anxiety, and don’t know how to cope with them or express them in a better way. Most of the time this looks like barking and lunging, but can also sometimes include biting. A lot of dogs can be over reactive to people, dogs, or both. There is behavior modification you can do to help these dogs, but muzzles are a great safety tool while they learn.
People will use muzzles on dogs that don’t like being approached by strangers. Please always ask the owner if it’s okay to say hello to their dog before approaching! While a dog may be fine walking among people, they may get nervous when someone comes towards them when they don’t want to socialize. Visit my blog on How to Greet Dogs to learn more on how to say hello!
Muzzles are also great for vet and grooming visits. The vet and groomer are overwhelming: weird sounds, smells, sites, and you are being poked, touched, and restrained by strangers. This can be very stressful and scary, which can turn into bites to try and get people to stop if they aren’t allowed to leave. They can also be a great safety tool while working on cooperative care (training an animal to not only tolerate handling and husbandry procedures, but to be an active, willing participant in these experiences.) if your dog has sensitive areas that are being worked with. If making visits to the vet or groomer less stressful, or cooperative care, is something your dog could benefit from, feel free to reach out!
This goes into our next reason: emergencies. Your dog can love you to the moon and back, but if they are hurt or really scared they will bite you. They aren’t thinking straight in these instances. In this regard it’s a great idea to bring a muzzle with you on hiking trips or any other scenario where your dog could accidentally get hurt.
Many dogs like to eat a lot of weird stuff, including stuff that can make them sick. In Australia there is bait put out that would make a dog extremely sick if even licked. Muzzles are great for helping prevent dogs from picking up trash on the ground, feces, or dead animals. We sometimes call them “scavengers.” Some dogs will compulsively eat non-food items as well, a condition called Pica.
Unfortunately sometimes dogs in households can get into fights, and really bad ones too. Muzzles are great for reintroducing dogs that have fought to make sure everyone stays safe in case something goes wrong.
There are also laws that include muzzles. In some countries a dog has to be muzzled to ride public transit, even if they aren’t a bite risk. In other parts of the world there are also breed bans which require certain breeds of dogs to wear muzzles while outside of the home, even if the dog doesn’t pose any actual risk. For example, the UK has placed a ban on XL Bully breeds, or any dogs fitting a certain description to wear a muzzle in public, whether they are friendly or not.
You do NOT muzzle a dog to stop them from barking. This is explained below under “Proper Fit”.
Types of Muzzles
There are a variety of different types of muzzles that serve different functions. The most common one is a basket muzzle (as seen in the video's below). These are used for dogs that are a bite risk and are usually made of metal wire or plastic. Sometimes they can be used to prevent picking up larger objects like sticks or large rocks, but are otherwise not great for scavengers as they can still lick and push things through the muzzle.
Vinyl muzzles are best for your scavengers as they are more closed off, but provide holes throughout for airflow. They can be bite proof if made thick enough.
Biothane muzzles are also for scavengers, but these are not bite proof as the material bends easily. These are better for less determined scavengers as sometimes dogs can push objects through the muzzle depending on how closed off it’s made.
You may have also seen mesh muzzles for scavengers. These aren’t recommended as they don’t tend to fit well.
May vets carry cloth muzzles, these are smaller and tighter fit to prevent bites. These are not good for long-term use since a dog can’t pant with one on.
Lastly, there are “agitation” muzzles. These are only used for bite sports and generally don’t fit properly for long term wear.
Proper Fit
Believe it or not, muzzles are not supposed to fit tight around a dog’s snout. The only type of muzzle that this is acceptable is the ones at the vet, and not for more than a few minutes. Why is this? Dogs regulate their body temperature largely by panting. So, if they cannot pant then they can overheat which causes serious medical issues. When fitting your dog for a muzzle, make sure they can fully pant in it.
A couple other things to consider are the length and width. You want the muzzle to be long enough your dog’s nose isn’t smashed in there, but not so long that it impedes their vision. The muzzle should be just long enough that if their nose hits the inside of it (say, while sniffing the ground), it does not push into their eyes. You also want the muzzle to be wide enough that it isn’t really tight on the cheeks, but also doesn’t shift side to side much, if at all. You also want to make sure the bottom part of the muzzle does not push into your dog’s neck, but not so short the dog can look down and pop their head out the bottom.
All dogs need to be measured for their muzzle size because even dogs that are the same breed can vary widely in measurements. I have a short video here that shows what a properly fitting muzzle looks like for my dog.
Muzzle Training Your Dog
Unfortunately it’s very rare that you can just put a muzzle on a dog and they are comfortable with it. If you don’t condition your dog to wear one you can add stress to your dog and they may attempt to pull it off themselves. Here is a brief summary of the steps to muzzle conditioning. Keep in mind every dog is going to take a different amount of time to be conditioned. Some dogs it takes a couple of weeks, some it takes a few months. The key is to make sure your dog is not expressing any signs of stress or anxiety before moving onto the next step. Slow and steady wins this race. You can visit my Dog Body Language Blog to brush up on signs of discomfort. I’ve also included a video below that goes through all of the steps with my own dog who is already muzzle trained, Kangaroo.
Step 1: Show your dog the muzzle. When your dog looks at it, let them know they did the right thing by marking them with a word the exact moment they do so, and then reward them. This will build a positive association with the muzzle. Do this until you notice happy body language when you take the muzzle out.
Step 2: Encourage your dog to touch the muzzle. Do not move the muzzle towards them, let them investigate it themselves. When they touch it, mark and reward them. Do this several times until they are enthusiastic about it again.
Step 3: Start rewarding your dog for putting their face in the muzzle. Again, do not put it on yourself, let your dog put their nose in. You can help lure them to put their nose through by holding a treat on the other side for a basket muzzle, or putting food inside a vinyl one. Another idea is to coat the inside of the muzzle with peanut butter. Mark and reward your dog every time they put their face in. You may want to reward your dog while their face is still in the muzzle to prevent them from removing it themselves. After you feed your dog through the muzzle, remove it yourself.
Step 4: Now you want to build up how long your dog keeps their face in the muzzle. Only mark and reward for longer times your dog keeps their face in the muzzle, but start small and short. Slowly increase 1 second at a time. You can use the peanut butter trick to help with duration. Do this until your dog keeps their face in for at least 10 seconds.
Step 5: Start moving the straps around your dog’s neck. Do not actually fully clip/ strap up. Reward while getting your dog used to the straps. Then, you can move on to actually securing the muzzle. Only do this for short periods of time though. Secure it, then take it off immediately to start and slowly build up time again.
Step 6: Get your dog moving around with the muzzle on. Some dogs may feel awkward at first. To help them move you can try asking for some well known tricks to get them moving. Again, slowly build up how long the dog wears the muzzle for while walking around.
If you are training the muzzle only for stressful times like vet visits, it’s important that you also have your dog wear the muzzle during fun times like walks. This is because if you only use it for stressful times, your dog will start to associate the muzzle with bad times and you will undo all of your hard work!
Troubleshooting
My dog has a bad experience with muzzles and won't even come near it: When desensitizing and counterconditioning a dog to a muzzle you may need to start with the muzzle as far away from your dog as needed until they are able to relax, and then begin with step 1 of them looking at it, slowly getting them more comfortable with it getting closer.
As soon as I strap the muzzle to my dog they try to paw it off: You've probably moved too far too fast. Make sure your dog is comfortable with steps 1-4 and able to keep their face in the muzzle for at least 10 seconds before starting step 5. Try slowly working up to just holding the straps in place with just your hands for 10 seconds before actually securing it after you've worked on each side individually. Also make sure when you secure the muzzle it isn't uncomfortable in some way, like pushing into their eyes.
No matter how much we train my dog keeps trying to take the muzzle off: There are usually two reasons this can happen. One is that you have moved too fast in training and need to look more closely at your dog's body language. Go back to whatever step they were last comfortable at, work from there some more, and then slowly move on again. The second is that the muzzle you have does not fit well. No matter how hard you train, if the muzzle is uncomfortable for your dog you will not be able to properly condition them to it.
My dog will put their snout in, but then immediately removes it: As you train, make sure you are allowing the dog to put their nose in vs you putting the muzzle over their face to make sure they are actually comfortable putting their nose in in the first place. If this isn't the case and your dog is comfortable there are a few things you can try. First, after your dog puts their nose in, mark, remove the muzzle yourself, and then reward. If that doesn't help, after you mark the dog for putting their nose in, reward through the muzzle and then remove it instead of removing the muzzle first and then rewarding. This way the dog knows the reward comes from being in the muzzle vs grabbing it outside the muzzle. Another thing you can try is keeping your dog's focus on a treat outside the muzzle near their nose, as they are sitting with their nose in the muzzle staring at the food, mark for the longer duration and reward through the muzzle. Try not to rely on this too much after some initial training sessions because you don't want your dog to think they only keep their nose in if they see food. You can also try the peanut butter trick mentioned above and in the video.
Resources
If you need help with any part of the process, I can help guide you through conditioning your dog to wear their muzzle. I do sessions both in person and online with anyone in the US. I can also let you know if it looks like it fits properly if you are unsure. Feel free to email me at thereforyoudogtraining@gmail.com, text me at 978-344-1629, or click any of the "Get started" buttons across my website.
Muzzle Up Pup! - The Pro-Muzzle Community and Force-Free Muzzle Training are great Facebook groups for guidance on finding a good fitting muzzle as well.
Other Relevant Blogs
How To Greet a Dog