Muzzle

Not sure if you remember me trying to desensitize Mocha to a muzzle a while ago. I have been working with her for a longish while and I finally got her to the point of putting her face inside it by herself willingly.
I've hit a roadblock in her progression now, she won't let me snap it closed. The way that I got her to put her face in the muzzle was by getting her to put her nose through the loop of a gentle leader first, then slowly switched to the muzzle.
Any ideas of how to work with getting the snap closed behind her head?
Mocha still hasn't been spayed or heartworm checked since the vet won't take her in unless she's muzzled.
BioCalm didn't work either to take the edge off.

You have my sympathy . I too have got to get my one of my dog's (possibly both) use to wearing a muzzle to stop them eating anything they can grab while out walking having had them both so ill last week.

If you scroll down to the bottom of this page you will see links to other 'muzzle' threads on here which may be of help. Also on You Tube you can find various videos showing how to teach dogs to accept a muzzle.

Good luck!

Having looked at your earlier thread where you say that Mocha is fearful of things going over her head, have you tried desensitising her to this. Many animals feel vulnerable at the point at the back of their head. You said she enjoys you petting her there so can you do that whilst running a soft scarf around here shoulders and building up to back of her head and around her neck? Once comfortable with this you could try holding it in front and above her and if she comes to you for a pet slip it around the back of her head a treat her, Mocha is then choosing to put her head under the scarf. I had to re-train my horse this way to be haltered and the rare time I do halter him now I hold it in front of him to ask him to put his head under the strap and only put it on if he is willing. I did this with clicker training and it worked well for us. You could try using other things, such as a soft rope. Is she okay putting a collar on?

What about, you've probably thought of this already, clipping it shut with the strap completely loose...then gradually tightening the strap a miniscule bit at a time over how ever long it takes? So she gets used to something behind her head before any pressure is applied?

Have you tried putting it over her neck but without her nose in the muzzle? That way she can get used to the strap around her head separately from the muzzle over her nose and once she's fine with that go from there and start combining the two.

There is absolutely no way she will have any foreign object slipped (other than my hand) behind her head and neck. She is completely and utterly terrified. Putting a collar on was extremely hard and she won't let me do it again. I can adjust the size but that's about it. I will try it though and see what happens.

Unfortunately it's not an option, she backs away incredibly fast if she feels that I am going to snap it on.

I can try that.

Thank you all for the suggestions.

Are you clicker training? Then you could click and treat for when she lets you touch one side of the buckle, then the other side, then both, then hold them Briefly, then lift them up etc. and do it over days until it is done up loose and then gradually tightening.

Do a few ordinary training sessions, sit, down, stand etc., using the buckle as the clicker to click and treat.

Using approach and retreat works well with wild animals and is used to tame wild native ponies. This can be combined with clicker training in that you approach and retreat just before Mocha moves click and treat, if she moves don't click and treat.