The Little Bear Dog Blog

It’s always puzzled me that some people are really reluctant to muzzle their dogs. I was reminded of this today reading the excellent Fearful Dogs blog and it reminded me of a dog I know. 

An acquaintance of mine has a rescue Pointer cross who can be highly unpredictable with other dogs. I unfortunately have first hand experience of her behaviour as she once attacked Little Bear when he was just a pup having been friendly to him just the day before.

When she was first adopted and the behaviour became apparent, her new owner tried muzzling her so that they could walk her around other dogs. This is great dog walking country so there’s an abundance of great forest walks to be had. Sadly though, they soon gave up on the idea as she hated wearing the muzzle and tried incessantly to get it off, not surprising as it was just put on her one day without any preparation or training.

The result is that for the past eight years she’s had mainly on-lead street walks at unsociable hours and only goes off lead when they’re at the beach on holiday. She’s loved and cared for but I can’t help thinking that for the want of a little preparation and perseverance her life might have been very different. 

Training 

As reactive dogs, I’ve been doing some muzzle training with both Little Bear and Annie for a little while now. After reading Debbie’s blog today I went and got the muzzles which hang next to the (nose level) treat shelf in the kitchen and they both jumped around excitedly as soon as they saw them. Over the months they’ve come to associate them with good things and know that when I unclip them, I also pick up the clicker and the treat jar.

Muzzles Party hats

Incidentally, I don’t call them muzzles. I call them party hats. It was a term I heard from a trainer a few years ago, who did some great  videos – sadly I cannot for the life of me think of his name, but I hope he wouldn’t mind me borrowing his phrase – it works a treat!  

There’s an excellent video on Debbie’s blog for anyone who’d like to start muzzle training. I know the basics, but I picked up some great extra tips, like using squeezable baby food sachets as an alternative to cheese in a tube for example. 

So back to the puzzle. Why don’t more people use muzzles, especially if their dog ‘has form’ for aggression? I think the answer has something to do with what they think other people might think of them. If there’s one thing I’ve learned on this journey with Little Bear though, it’s that in the scheme of things, the only thing I care about is keeping him safe and happy. That includes protecting him from himself until he’s able to cope with the situations he’s worried by.  He’s never bitten but all dogs, even the most docile are capable of it and we shouldn’t be afraid to admit that.  

When I give the cat her worming tablet, I take precautions to make sure that I don’t get scratched to pieces and bitten (we wrap her in a towel & use a pill dispenser). I accept that that’s her nature and I work with it, taking the precautions I need to. Denial will just give me lacerations! We really should apply the same common sense approach with our dogs.