Should I muzzle Ollie?

Hi

Ollie is quite protective of me. If I touch a dog or if another dog jumps on me, Ollie will growl and chase the dog away. He once pinned an dog down before I grabbed him and pulled him off the poor dog. Now, he has never bitten another dog, but he's got worse with his reactions to other dogs and I fear that he will bite a dog soon unless I do something. So to prevent any harm coming to another dog, I've decided to put a basket muzzle on Ollie. Now, it will only be used on walks where he's on the long line (he doesn't go off lead) because I have less control over what he is doing than on short lead walks, and we rarely meet other dogs when we do short lead walks. However if I knew we were going to a busy dog area on a short lead walk, he would wear a muzzle. At the moment, I'm walking him at 7am in the park to avoid any dogs, which isn't fair on Ollie as he doesn't socialise or interact with any dogs and in the winter, it would be impossible with the dark mornings. I know with a muzzle on, he will look like a vicious dog and most owners won't allow their dogs to meet him. However, I know most of the owners in the park and they know Ollie so if I explain that he's only aggressive when dogs approach me, he should be able to socialise with a few dogs. Ollie isn't particularly bothered with meeting or playing with other dogs, but I think it's good for him to at least see them regularly, which he isn't at the moment.

It will increase my confidence and make me feel happier that he can interact with other dogs without him being able to bite them. Do you think it is a sensible and responsible thing to do? Or do you think that it will mean he won't be able to meet any dogs and I should just take my chances with him being unmuzzled and allow him to socialise with dogs I know?

I do think it's both sensible and responsible to muzzle him in order to prevent any unwanted incidents but it's not enough, you need to also train him to stop doing it otherwise he'll be wearing a muzzle for ever more. So as a preventative it's brilliant but it's not a cure.

when he does do it, he gets told off, so he knows its wrong. i don't mind him wearing it if he needs to for the rest of his life. at least other dogs will be safe. he's fine with 90% of dogs, its the other 10% that I'm protecting from him. i don't touch other dogs now so i don't encourage ollie, but unfortantely, i can't prevent other dogs jumping on me, and that's where the issue lies.

Yeah I get that but although you tell him off do you direct him to do something else ?
Why can't you stop other dogs jumping on you ? can you not step backwards and say " Get off" or whatever ?
Do you praise and reward him when he gets it right ?

Sorry not meaning to interrogate

he gets a sharp no, and then we continue walking or doing recalls etc.

I do push dogs off me when they jump up but Ollie has already seen it happen and then starts growling at the dog and chasing it. I know some dogs that jump up, a particular cockapoo in the park which I am going to stay away from and have ollie close to me on a short lead, and if it runs over, then its the owners fault. it won't get bitten cos Ollie will be muzzled, but its the owner's responsibility to keep their dog away if Ollie is clearly close to my leg and muzzled. I'll let him interact with dogs I know he's ok with and when I've talked to the owner to explain the situation, but if other dogs are allowed to run over, then it's the owner's fault not mine.

When he's good with other dogs, he gets loads of praise and reward.

If I were you I`d go to training classes so Ollie can learn to behave himself around other dogs. Check their methods first though - there are good and bad ones.

I agree wholeheartedly with this. It's not enough to tell him NO and then continue on. He needs to be shown what to do right and rewarded heavily for doing the right thing and he needs to be taught how to relax and how not to guard you from other dogs.

You also don't to tell him off for growling. Doing so often creates a dog who won't growl first and will go straight to attack.

I only muzzled Cherry when off-lead at agility as I couldn't always trust her with certain other dogs. She had one of those baskerville muzzles with part cut out at the side so you could push treats through when she was behaving well.

Wouldn't like to have her muzzled all the time-we worked at overcoming the issue with having her "watch me" instead of reacting to the other dog. "Click to calm-healing the aggressive dog" by Emma Parsons I found a helpful book though Cherry wasn't aggressive but reactive.

I don't necessarily think other dogs are aggressive because they are muzzled when I see them as some dogs round here are terrible scavengers and their owners muzzle them to stop eating nasties! I would think you are being responsible if you muzzle your dog.

Well, took Ollie to the park today for the first time with his muzzle. He was great, he sulked for the first few minutes, walking really slowly and looking sad, but I just ignored him and he was soon trotting beside me and doing normal things, like sniffing and exploring. he'll soon get used to it and will act like normal. He did meet a few dogs, for the first time in ages, and it was great to think that he can play with dogs but he can't bite them. The owners weren't worried about his muzzle and let their dogs play with him.

It was actually quite quiet at the park, so I took the muzzle off and we played a game of fetch which he loved. I think that I'll only put it on if there are lots of dogs in the park or if there is a strange dog that I don't know or a dog that I know runs over to other dogs. And as it's summer and he gets hot, and he can't pant fully in a muzzle (he can a little bit, but not enough for my likening), I'll find a shady spot away from any dogs, take it off and let him cool down and walk around for a few minutes, before putting it back on. He gets to walk home without it on as well, so he cools down on the walk home (about 5-10 minutes). In the winter, there won't be this worry, and also it is much quieter in the winter, so he may not need to wear the muzzle as often as he does in summer.

Exactly the same as our situation.. Kismet has got quite used to her muzzle and like you she only wears it when sniffing up against the hedgerow or on her long line when I don't think I could get to her in time to control a situation.. She doesn't like the muzzle. but she tolerates it for the most part and at least I feel happy that I am doing everything I can to control my reactive dog, making me more confident that any incident is the other dog owner's fault...

Kismet sporting her muzzle at the woods earlier this year.