Making the decision to use a muzzle can be a hard and emotional decision. Not only does the thought alone turn your stomach for your dog and how they might feel, but what about others who will assume something about your dog because your dog needs to wear one. There are a few ways to look at this or handle the reputation of your dog. Afterall, you know them, love them, and hate that something has brought you to this point. Let me help you with this feeling. First, understand that one important part of behavior change is that you need to feel comfortable and relaxed for anything to work. A muzzle will provide you with comfort that if something was to happen unexpectedly your dog will be safe. Before I share more, PLEASE keep in mind that they will not be able to defend themselves if another dog was to attack them. Make sure you are always aware of your surroundings. If this was to happen it would cause a detrimental setback and your leadership will be questionable to your dog. If you notice someone who may be “judging” your situation you can do one of two things: 1. Either remind yourself you are being responsible and ultimately keep the whole situation under safe control, OR 2. simple talk to them and inform them that you are working on building up confidence, so they are not fearful of other dogs and people. When using words to describe the situation pick them wisely. It would not be a good idea to say, “he has to wear this so he does not bite another dog,” or “he scares people, so we wanted to make others feel more comfortable around him.” These statements will make them look at your dog as aggressive when really it is more likely fear based, so what you need to communicate is fear.
The good news is proper training and associations can lead to a point where you would not need to use this. Now, I say might, because in rare cases you might not be able to remove this from your walks permanently. This is only an honest reality that all reactive dog owners face. I do strongly feel that with the right training and guidance your chances are better than not, and when you get to a point where you can take it off, walk that same walk proudly and show off your great work!
Using a muzzle is a physical tool to manage the safety of other dogs and people around you while you are working on behavior modification. A muzzle alone will not correct the behavior alone and will become a lifetime “need” if there is no other training involved. You