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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 Body Language Blog How To Greet a Dog

There’s a Right Way, and a Wrong Way Do you ever see a cute dog or puppy and think to yourself “I really want to say hi!” and you start marching over to them? There are a couple of myths on how to greet a dog properly still floating about, and there are some things we do that we don’t realize are rude or scary to dogs when we greet them. Of course before approaching any dog, make sure you ask the owner if it’s okay to say hi. Every child should also be taught to always ask to say hi first before running up to a dog. This is not only important for good manners, but also because a lot of dogs find children unpredictable and too loud, which makes them scary. This combination of erratic movement and loud noises can make dogs even more anxious about a greeting, and anxious dogs can bite. Because of this, just because a dog does well with adults does not mean they will do well with children. If you see a dog wearing a service vest, please ignore these dogs and do not ask if you can pet them. It’s also important to teach your children to also recognize service dogs and ignore them. These dogs are working to keep their owners safe and can miss important information to alert their owners about, like a seizure or cardiac event coming, if distracted by random people coming up to pet them. What Not to Do All of these types of body language from us mentioned below can make a dog anxious. Offering your hand: There’s this idea out there that when greeting a dog we should put our hand out to let them sniff us. While the idea sounds innocent and that we are inviting a dog to interact, it can actually make a dog nervous. This is because you are reaching into their space when they may not want you to. Most dogs prefer to go over to you when they are ready instead of you reaching towards them. Plus, a lot of dogs are also head-shy, and when we reach our hand out we generally aim for the nose so they can sniff, which is towards their head. Hovering or leaning: When interacting with a dog, try not to hover or lean over them. This can be intimidating for a dog as it encroaches on their personal space. Petting their head: As mentioned earlier, most dogs are head-shy, and so reaching your hand over a dog’s head to pet them can be scary. Even if you come from the side, most dogs actually don’t like the top of their head pet anyway and prefer other areas of the body for petting. Eye contact: Eye contact can make dogs really anxious if they don’t know you, because in the dog world avoiding eye contact is the polite thing to do! So, when meeting a dog, try not to make direct eye contact if you can help it. If you do make eye contact, try to not make it prolonged. Touching them before they give you consent to do so: Consent to touch can be different from dog to dog, but for most they will either rub up against you, paw at you, or even nuzzle you with their nose. Consent is not necessarily a dog coming up to sniff you! Dogs will sniff people to gather information, but then may back away after. If a dog comes up to sniff you, do not pet them right away. Giving food by hand: If a dog is really nervous and hesitant to come over to you, do not try to feed them from your hand. This creates conflict in the dog by not wanting to be near you, but wanting the food. Sometimes the dog will come up to you to get the food, but then once the food is gone they get very overwhelmed by how close they are to you. These situations can cause some dogs to bite out of fear. Imagine one of your worst fears, like a shark for example. Now imagine that shark has a thousand dollars taped to its fin. You really want/need that money even though you’re terrified of sharks. So, you swim up to the shark despite how scared you are, grab the money, and put it in your pocket. Now that the money's gone and you are inches away from a giant shark, panic is going to set in now that you are closer and the motivation/distraction to be near it is gone, and the shark isn’t any less scary to you. How to Greet a Dog So, how do you approach a dog for the first time if the owner gives you the okay to do so? Approach the dog in an arch, do not walk towards them straight on if you can help it, and walk slowly. Once you get closer to the dog, but are still outside of their bubble, present your side to them and feel free to crouch down if you’d like. Avoid prolonged eye contact by looking straight ahead, since you won’t be facing the dog, and use your peripheral vision. Let the dog approach and sniff you and wait to see if they give any consent signals talked about above. If the dog does want you to pet them, it’s best to pet their chest and shoulders to avoid going over their head, also avoid hugging or kissing the dog. Only pet the dog briefly so you can check if the dog is still enjoying the interaction. Sometimes a dog may initiate interaction and enjoy it at first, but then start to become overwhelmed. These dogs may “freeze” and won’t necessarily move away from you, but will instead show signs of anxious body language and wait for you to stop petting them before feeling safe enough to move away. If it’s a nervous dog, you can throw treats behind the dog and away from you. This will show the dog you mean good things, and also relieves the pressure of being near you and facing you. This also allows the dog to decide if they want to come back to you or not. Watch Body Language To Know If the Dog is Okay When determining if a dog will want to say hello or not, watch their body language to assess how they are feeling. If you see signs like a stiff body, nose/lip licking, you can see the whites of the dog’s eyes, their ears are back, or they are turning their head away, this is a nervous dog. You also want to look for these signs while petting a dog in case they no longer want to be interacting with you. Dogs with loose bodies, a tail wag that reaches the rump (Stiff straight up tails wagging fast with no movement in the rump is not a happy dog), soft eyes and facial expressions are happy dogs! Seeing Yellow Have you ever seen a dog wearing something yellow like a collar, leash, bandana, ribbon, or vest? This has come to mean that the dog needs space and may be anxious. The yellow gear will often say something like "nervous," "give me space," or "no dogs." So, if you're ever seeing yellow, please be kind and try to give that dog as much space as possible if you can. The owner and dog will very much appreciate it. Resources Cattle Dog Publishing, "How to Greet a Dog (and What to Avoid)" Poster https://cattledogpublishing.com/blog/how-to-greet-a-dog/ Other Relevant Blogs Body Language Blog

How Well Do You Speak Dog? Many of us have had dogs all our lives, some only just recently got a dog, while others have never had a dog, and yet within these groups of people the knowledge on dog body language can vary widely. This is certainly no one's fault as most dogs don’t come with an instruction manual on how they work or how they “speak” to us (kudos to any rescues, breeders, etc. that do give handouts to new owners on such topics though!). There are many helpful reasons to learn, or brush up, on your dog body language. Why It’s Cool to Know Dog Body Language Being able to understand your dog better can help your relationship with them. Being able to know what scares them, makes them anxious, and makes them happy can greatly improve their well-being and prevent problems like bites and undesired behaviors. Training! While training your dog should always be a more fun experience for both you and your dog, some methods can make dogs stressed or anxious. Effective dog training that is going to have long-term results and build a bond with your dog will avoid having them in a negative mood. If you notice any anxious or stressed body language in your dog while training, it’s best to take a step back and re-evaluate what you’re doing. You may be moving too fast if it involves helping them with any fears, the dog may not be understanding of what you want from them, or we may be too harsh with them without realizing it. Your dog can tell when you’re upset or stressed! When our dogs are uncomfortable, they have various signs they use to tell us, and these signs range from “I’m mildly uncomfortable, please stop.” to “If you don’t stop right this moment I’m going to bite.” If we notice these signs we can work with our dogs to help them overcome their fears, make them more comfortable, and show them we can be trusted. This is highly important to notice when we are doing behavior modification with over reactive and fearful dogs. If we don’t realize key body language, our training could be ineffective, or we could even make things worse. We can also know when a dog really enjoys something and figure out their favorite games/toys, if they are playing appropriately with other dogs (some dogs lack proper social skills!), and if they are actually enjoying what’s going on around them. Do NOT Punish the Growl When a dog growls, many people’s first thought is that we should not allow our dog to growl and we should correct them for this behavior because it’s aggressive. In actuality a growl is a wonderful thing! When a dog growls, this is a warning to us that whatever we are doing is making them extremely uncomfortable or scared. This warning says “If you don’t stop I’m going to bite.” When we punish a dog for growling we take this warning of “I’m going to bite” away as they learn it’s not okay to growl. So, instead of growling first to warn us, the dog will go straight to a bite. This is where some people experience “out of the blue” bites. All other “out of the blue” bites are people that didn’t notice previous signs of discomfort. Punishing for a growl also shows them that we can’t be trusted to help them feel better about whatever situation is making them uncomfortable. Types of Body Language Dogs have a lot of signs they give off for different moods. We will touch upon some of the most common ones you will see, along with more subtle signs, but this is not an exhaustive list. I encourage you to look at the resources listed below for more on dog body language. Here are some different categories of body language, and some signs you may see for each one. Stress- when a dog isn’t able to cope with the current situation. You may see: Yawning Licking their nose Turning their head away Freezing in place, which can happen for only a brief moment Panting when it’s not hot- the tongue can be curved up at the edges Shaking off as if wet- this can be used to relieve tension Humping- this can also be done out of frustration, anxiety, arousal, or as an energy outlet. Appeasement- the dog is letting us know it’s not a threat & Deference- used to avoid a perceived threat Licking the lips of someone else- this is used to calm or soothe who is being licked Rolling over or lying down- you may also notice the ears may be flattened, tail may be tucked, eye may be blinking or squinting, lips can be drawn back without showing teeth Urination Slow blinks Lifting a paw- this is usually with a lowered body posture or lowered head Slow movements or pausing Nose licking Turning their head away Sitting or lying down Avoiding eye contact Displacement- used to resolve internal stress/conflict Sneezing Shaking Sniffing Nose licking Yawning Chattering teeth Scratching Stretching Fear Ears back Tail tucking Head turning Head dropped Furrowed brows Yawning Piloerection- when the fur running from neck to tail are raised Whale eye- this is when you can see the whites of the dog’s eyes. The dog will have their head turned in one direction, but looking in another Body leaning back The mouth being open all the way and teeth showing, lips pulled back Barking, snarling, growling, lunging Lip curl Early Warning Signs- there is a high likelihood of aggressive behavior, like a bite, next if these signs are ignored Ears are alert and forward Piloerection Barking, snarling, growling, lunging Breathing slows down and their mouth closes when it was previously open Eyes wide, pupils dilated Stiff body Chin-Over: the dog places their head/chin over the other dog and pauses High, stiff tail- the tail can either be still or moving rapidly side to side without the dog’s rump moving. Body leaning forward Play Sneezing Shaking off- used to diffuse arousal Piloerection Play bow Open “soft” mouth Ears high and back Paw raise- accompanied by soft eyes and mouth, ears forward and relaxed Bouncy, loose body Humping Body checks Growling, barking, whining Tail wagging- the dog’s rump also moves Please enjoy this video of an adult dog playing very well with a puppy! Be Sure to Look at the Whole Dog That was a lot, and to top it off, you may have noticed some body language can overlap in different categories, just to make things more confusing. Because of this, it’s important to always consider the context of what’s going on, and to look at your dog’s whole body when trying to decipher how they are feeling. I want to recap on some myths you may have noticed in the list. A dog’s tail wagging is not always a good thing: nervous dogs will also wag their tails, and some wag high and fast as a warning. Tail wags that are circular in motion and reach the dog’s rump are happy wags. When a dog kisses you it is not always good either: this is called a “kiss to dismiss” and is the dog’s way of asking you to stop what you’re doing and give them space. It’s usually a couple of “hard” licks and then they turn their head away and show other signs of anxiety or stress. You can probably see, after looking at this list, that there are so many signals dogs can give us, and they can be so subtle, that it’s easy to miss a lot of what they are telling us. The more you practice watching your dog the better you’ll get at reading them! Resources https://www.thefamilydog.com/stop-the-77 : A resource about dogs and children. Did you know 77% of dog bites to kids are from friends and family dogs? From Fear Free Happy Homes (YouTube): https://youtu.be/siy0eog48ys?si=TJxk10c9kO73jrXm From Zoom Room (YouTube): https://youtu.be/00_9JPltXHI?si=j0Wj12Xg8A2hc8Vf Canine Body Language Victoria Stilwell Positively: https://academics.lmu.edu/media/lmuacademics/cures/urbanecolab/module09/M9_L5_Reading_Canine%20Body%20Language.pdf Whole Dog Journal Guide to Stress Signals in Dogs: https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/behavior/stress/guide-to-stress-signals-in-dogs/ Books: Doggy Language by Lili Chen Canine Body Language by Brenda Aloff A Kid’s Comprehensive Guide to Speaking Dog by Niki J Tudge On Talking Terms With Dogs: Calming Signals by Turid Rugaas