I’ve got myself all worked up today and thought those here could tell me if I’m wrong or right to be be so.

Out walking my 8 month bitch alone today (usually with my young child/ren) and a large pointer type dog came running towards us off lead, it was muzzled. I’m trying to protect my girl from negative experiences and as this dog was displaying dominant body language (heckles up, tail high) I was nervous and asked the owners if they could put their dog on a lead. They didn’t, they just called it away. My girl was on a lead as we were fairly close to the main road. My girl is submissive and this dog was standing over her with stiff body posture. They just called the dog away and said she was muzzled as she liked to play too much. This was not a basket muzzle but like the one you use in the vet so mouth is shut. I suggested they don’t muzzle her as that can make a dog reactive, they told me to mind my own business even though their dog didn’t listen to them.

My point being that a very large dog running towards you at speed with a muzzle on is very alarming, an aggressive large dog with a muzzle on can still harm you. And certainly cause damaging impact on puppy socialisation. Had I been with my children I would have been quite frightened.

The fact it is muzzled indicates it has done something so that they feel they have to muzzle it? Am I wrong in thinking it should be on a lead if muzzled as people like me get the immediate impression it’s aggressive? Also... do you really muzzle a dog because of rough play? I’ve never heard of this. And I’ve done work with a lead reactive dog in the past so believe I am right about the muzzle causing more defensive behaviour. Thoughts please! Thank you!

It sounds like you're quite confused.

There are many reasons a dog may be muzzled which do not mean the dog has to be on a lead. The dog may eat faeces, sticks or other inedible things for example.

Secondly, wearing muzzles does not make a dog reactive.

There are two separate issues here - a muzzle is on a dog. And a dog has approached your on-leash dog.

Forget about the muzzle, no dog should run up to another dog on leash. Ever. The people walking the dog should have sufficient control to recall the dog before it reached you and your dog. They didn't. They were in the wrong. It has nothing to do with the fact that the dog was wearing a muzzle - although that might have alarmed you even more because you'd probably be more likely to worry about temperament. But that is reading stuff into the situation which may not be there. But muzzle or not, they should not have let their dog run up to you.

And it wasn't quite right to ask them to put their dog on a lead. Their dog doesn't need to be on lead, it needs to have a reliable recall away from other dogs and to be called back before reaching you. And yes, if they don't have that, then the dog should be on a lead or long-line.

So really, they were in the wrong with their actions because they should not have allowed their dog to reach you.

You were in the wrong with several assumptions and things you said to them:

- A muzzle does not make a dog reactive. It is an excellent management tool.
- They do not need to put their dog on a lead, they need to have a recall.
- All dogs which are muzzled are not reactive - there are other reasons a dog may wear a muzzle.
- They do not need to put their dog on a lead because you are going to be worried a muzzled dog may be reactive. Their dog needs exercise.

I think what bothers me more is the kind of muzzle the dog was wearing in that it doesn’t allow the dog to open it’s mouth a pant, surely this is a welfare issue

Ok thank you, I have never had to deal with a dog being muzzled, so I don’t know enough about it. It was a behaviourist that told me that muzzling a dog will immediately make it feel more defensive/reactive, because it’s not naturally able to defend itself so will have to rely on other behaviours (body/lunging etc). It’s useful to hear your perspective. It just immediately feels threatening/concerning when you see that on a dog of that size. Particularly because it was the mouth closed one.

That’s why I was so worried because I thought that dogs should be wearing basket muzzles if they require them, the closed mouth ones are only used if you were treating the dog for example, hence why I immediately assumed it was aggressive.

You are right about the need to use basket muzzles for welfare reasons but it is a very common thought by mamy people in this country that muzzle equals aggressive dogs
Its such a shame as teaching a dog to be comfortable in one and using properly can be very helpful as 1234 explains.
In other countries muzzle wearing can be legislation and not due to any behaviour issue at all so are more readily accepted by the public

Thanks for the replies, hopefully I won’t see these people again as I haven’t before and been walking that route a long time, but I do at least feel I don’t need to be as concerned. On the other hand, as someone who walks dogs and children together and mainly keeps my dogs on leads, I do feel that most people with off lead dogs don’t appreciate that unless they have good recall it’s never a good thing to allow dogs to run up to people, especially not knowing if someone (or on lead dogs) might be frightened by them.

Muzzles can certainly be used for rough play, my nieces rescue lurcher is an ex working dog, and can be quite hard mouthed, she is really sweet but will nip when playing so a basket muzzle is just safer. We don't mind so much with our coated dogs, worse case scenario she has a clump of hair hanging from her mouth, but she actually broke the skin of a whippet friend just playing, so she's always muzzled now.

In general I feel more relaxed when I see a muzzled dog because to me it shows a responsible owner.

We'll often pop muzzles on the dogs at racing, more to save the lure from being wrecked than anything else, It's never made any of the many dogs in our club defensive or reactive, they'll go off playing with their pals once they're finished running.

> I think what bothers me more is the kind of muzzle the dog was wearing in that it doesn’t allow the dog to open it’s mouth a pant, surely this is a welfare issue

Yes.  I do not like these muzzles at all, I do not think they should be for sale to the general public for this reason.  They are not safe for a dog to exercise in under any circumstances.  They can only prevent biting or eating if they are tight enough to hold the mouth completely shut, teeth together.

>It was a behaviourist that told me that muzzling a dog will immediately make it feel more defensive/reactive, because it’s not naturally able to defend itself so will have to rely on other behaviours (body/lunging etc).

Well, you've got another trainer and behaviourist here telling you that is complete bunkum.

>I thought that dogs should be wearing basket muzzles if they require them, the closed mouth ones are only used if you were treating the dog for example, hence why I immediately assumed it was aggressive.

Not sure what you mean. The closed mouth muzzles are never a good idea for all the reasons mentioned here, whether someone is 'treating' a dog or not and there is no correlation between dogs that are reactive and closed mouth muzzles versus non-reactive dogs and basket muzzles...

Ok thank you, I’m glad I shared this as I have mentioned other than the information I had previously had I don’t personally have any experience of muzzles. There is also lots of conflicting information if you start searching on the internet. When I mentioned treating, I’m talking about in a veterinary setting e.g closed mouth muzzle for emergency treatment.

There isn't really ever a benefit to using a closed mouth muzzle to be honest. Even for vet treatment. I'd rather have the mouth secured in a cage than the front teeth still able to nip...

Unfortunately there are crap versions of everything around and with muzzles it's no different :)

> It was a behaviourist that told me that muzzling a dog will immediately make it feel more defensive/reactive, because it’s not naturally able to defend itself so will have to rely on other behaviours (body/lunging etc).

I missed this.  Some dogs will LEARN to increase other methods, and indeed some dogs learn to damage and even kill with a muzzle on by "punching" with it.    But there are extreme examples.  Usually, the dog will relax, because the human has relaxed.  And on occasion, a dog will relax simply because the option to bite has been taken away from them.  Something to do with removing the pressure to control a situation or something along those lines, I believe.  I've known of one example where a dog that was completely unsafe to be around other dogs unmuzzled,was actually happy living with them with a muzzle on, for life (taken off for mealtimes and immediately put back on again.  This was a dog living permanently in the house dogs at a rescue as he was not safe to be rehomed).

> There isn't really ever a benefit to using a closed mouth muzzle to be honest. Even for vet treatment. I'd rather have the mouth secured in a cage than the front teeth still able to nip...

Yep, same here.  This is what I was saying a little further up - they can only stop a dog from biting if they are tight enough to hold the teeth completely closed.  Which is then a welfare issue.  I've seen a dog on the verge of passing out wearing one of these, in a vet waiting room, because it was stressed but couldn't pant to cool down and help relieve that stress.  I also read of an incident some years ago where a dog wearing one was as you say, still able to use his front teeth, and grabbed the ear of another dog.  But being in a fabric muzzle, was unable to let go again, and in the ensuing panic, ripped part of the ear off and swallowed it.  They are dangerous.

Although I would generally agree with what you say about closed mouth muzzles I did use one for a short time. I had a fear aggressive GSD. If she could get away she would to the point she was once racing away from a tiny, barking dog that she could have flattened with one paw. If a dog didn't come in her space, which to be honest was about 2 foot from her face there was no problem. She competed in agility with no problem in the ring, actually jumping over a barking dog that ran into the ring with her as her one intention was to complete the course. The only problem was in a crowded indoor show getting her from the door to the ringside as it appeared to her that dogs were coming at her from all directions. Once in the queue with a dog in front and one behind she was fine. So for that short space of time, probably a couple of minutes at most she wore a mikki muzzle. The reason for this type was it was easily slipped on and as soon as we reached the queue it was removed and fitted easily into my pocket. I don't know whether she gained confidence because she was not attacked or I did but after a small amount of shows it was no longer needed.

Arguably the mesh version of this type of muzzle is better for brief use.

It's what I have seen used at the Vets.

This was over 20 years ago. I think the mesh version wasn't made at that time but I agree it would be better.