Teaching Your Dog To Wear a Muzzle

STEP 1: The muzzle appears and good things will happen!

1. Have the muzzle behind your back in one hand and treats in your other hand, a pouch, or your pocket.

2. Show the muzzle to your dog, hand him a treat, or drop it on the ground, or throw it for him to find. While he is eating, hide the muzzle again.

3. Repeat. Show the muzzle, treat. You can also throw his favourite toy or walk to the fridge with him to get him a piece of cheese. Anything your dog really likes can be used!

This is a very important stage of training, especially for dogs that have had unpleasant experiences with muzzles or head halters previously. Look for a reaction of joy when he sees the muzzle before you continue training.

STEP 2: The muzzle is a cool food bowl!

1. Now that your dog is excited or happy when he sees the muzzle, place the muzzle in an upright position over your palm and put some big treats, e.g. cubes of cheese or sausage, into the opening of the muzzle.

2. Hold it out for your dog, so he can eat the treats comfortably out of the muzzle. Don’t push the muzzle into your dog’s face. Repeat several times a day or feed your dog his meals in the muzzle.

STEP 3: Finding the muzzle and placing the mouth into the muzzle – voluntarily!

1. Again, load the empty muzzle with yummy treats and offer it to your dog. Once he starts eating, you can gently and slowly move the muzzle away from your dog’s nose. He will want to follow the muzzle and push his nose onto the bottom to reach the treats.

2. Once he has emptied the muzzle, throw a treat for your dog to find some steps away. In the meantime, refill the muzzle and show it to your dog as soon as he has eaten the treat from the floor. Remember the “Get it Game”? This is quite similar: your dog will come back to you and put his nose in the muzzle.

STEP 4: Building duration – your dog learns to accept the odd feeling around his nose.

1. Use pasty food like peanut butter, liverwurst, or cream cheese and smear it into the bottom of the muzzle. Spread some on your hand as well for your dog to lick through the muzzle. You can use a big syringe or a pastry tube, or you can cut a tiny hole into a liverwurst package and squeeze the liverwurst through the hole.

2. Show the prepared muzzle to your dog and let him lick the food. Refill.

3. Repeat and give him treats or pasty food (you prepared that, remember) through the bottom of the muzzle. Take your time as your dog needs to get used to the feeling of this thing on his snout.

STEP 5: Getting the dog used to the click sound of the buckle and closing the neck strap. During this step, your dog’s nose is not inside of the muzzle.

1. You will only need a few treats for this exercise. If your dog is sound sensitive, start clicking the strap buckle shut from a distance, then give your dog a treat.

2. Step by step, reduce the distance until you can close the strap without your dog reacting to the sound. Repeat until he is not afraid of the sound or your hands next to his neck and he has a relaxed and loose body showing no avoidance.

3. Fix the neck strap around your dog’s neck. Don’t put his nose into the muzzle! If you have difficulties closing the buckle, put some treats on the floor so your dog can eat them while you close the strap. The muzzle should dangle around his neck now.

4. Give some more treats and do fun stuff with your dog: throw a ball, give him his lunch, check the mailbox, all with the muzzle dangling around his neck.

STEP 6: It’s time to combine steps 4 and 5 (feeling the muzzle on the face and the strap around the neck for a while). It will be easy for both you and your dog, as you already know how this works!

1. Ask your dog to place his nose into the muzzle. If necessary put a treat into the muzzle. Hold the neck strap with one hand tightened behind his ears. Don’t close the buckle! Release and repeat.

2. After some repetitions, with your other hand also feed pasty food or some soft treats through the bottom of the muzzle – for a longer duration. Release the neck strap when the food is gone.

STEP 7: Now, you start closing the buckle of the neck strap.

1. Ask your dog to place his nose into the muzzle. You can always use a treat.

2. Fix the neck strap around your dog’s neck and close the buckle. If you can’t close the buckle, put some soft food into the muzzle so your dog can lick it while you close the strap. Especially with long-haired dogs, it can be challenging to close a neck strap without pulling on hair! You will probably need to use both of your hands.

3. Feed your dog through the holes in the muzzle. Distract him, so he doesn’t try to take the muzzle off with his feet. Make sure your dog is always comfortable and not giving off signals that he would rather avoid this situation.

STEP 8: Your dog has learned to like the muzzle when he sees it, puts it on voluntarily, keeps it on. Now it’s time for perfection! Increase the time you have your dog muzzled, minute by minute and have him wear it in many different situations. Reinforce regularly and generously!