Positive Muzzle Conditioning for Your Dog
Muzzles are an incredibly useful tool, often undervalued due to the stigma associated with them. Even if your dog does not need or require use of a muzzle, I still recommend playing the muzzle game with them and conditioning them to it to just have fun learning a new object with your dog. You never know — one day, a fun new skill may come in handy in an emergency situation.
There are three primary steps to my positive muzzle training method including the introduction, the association, and the reinforcement. This article is most useful when paired with my YouTube video “How to get Your Dog to Love the Muzzle” as the two together best support the learning process for the owner and a successful conditioning process for the dog.
In the video, I walk you through why muzzles are useful, what type of muzzle to look for, how to fit a muzzle, and most importantly, how to build a positive association with the muzzle and your dog.
Before we get into the methodology, here are a handful of reasons you may want to consider a muzzle:
- Your dog is dog-selective or dog-reactive
- Your dog is very fearful of strangers
- For emergencies when veterinary care is required and your dog is very painful
- Your dog is fearful of children
