Rottie muzzled in vets

Just got back from the vets this morning, taking my boy cat to have his plums removed!

Anyway, there was a few dogs waiting for various ops, between 8-9am (vets doesn't open properly 'till 9am) is just for animals coming in who are being operated on that day, for their pre-meds and stuff.

Anyway there was a nice young rottie boy in. I assume he was being castrated with his age, but I didn't ask, so I don't know why he was in. Anyway, his owner asked for a muzzle for him. I was quite surprised as he came in all friendly and give me a big slobbery kiss on the arm so I asked his owner why he had to be muzzled. And he said because he is a rottweiler, and looked at me as if I was stupid!

So I asked what difference that made, and he said (quite condesendingly) that he might bite someone and had to be muzzled. I asked if he was an aggressive dog, as he seemed friendly enough to me, and his owner said no he wasn't aggressive!

I don't get it. Surely he wasn't muzzling him just because he was a rottie?

how sad, was he just muzzling for vet visit though or buying a muzzle for use all the time? Alot of very friendly animals are muzzled for vets visits if they need injections or anything doing that may hurt as some very friendly dogs can bite when scared and in pain. Durring my couple of days experience at the vets I was suprised to see very friendly dogs muzzled for injections etc and even more suprise to see how argressive a couple got whilst having painful wounds examined!

I feel so sad about Rotties reps at the moment I think they are a wonderful breed I hope he wasnt just muzzling him because he was a Rottie!

Some vets do insist a Rottie be muzzled (and other biog dogs, GSD;s etc) when they go in and tbh I can understand it (and Im a rottie owner myself). No-one knows how a dog is going to react out the back being prodded and poked and without its owner there for support and lets be honest, Rotties have BIG teeth.

Murphy has to go to the vets tomorrow for a biopsy and he has been asked to wear 2 kinds of muzzle, the fabric one under the basket type one just in case he the top one off - Murphy really didnt take to the new vet yesterday and although Murphy didnt need a muzzle with the old vet as they both adored each other, I would hate to think that Murphy managed to sink his teeth into one of the vet nurses/vet.

Safer all round I think.

He wasn't buying a muzzle no Hannah, he was just borrowing one of the vets muzzles for the visit.

I suppose it does make sense that he might react badly to an injection, it's not the big dog issue here, as my big dog has never been asked to wear a muzzle.

He only looked young, 1 or 2 years max i'd say. He was very excitible like a puppy.

The vet didn't ask him to put it on, he (the owner) asked the vet assistant if they had one he could use and put it on whilst in the waiting room.

Just wondered if it was common practice to muzzle a rottie at the vets, as that's the idea I got from his owner?

Maybe the dogs owner felt nervous and asked for the muzzle just in case anything kicked off - I think it was pretty responsible of her really, there are a lot of big dog owners out there whose dogs doget nervous in situations like at the vets but are convinced they are in control of the siutation when really a dog can kick off at a nanoseconds notice (like Murphy yesterday ), but syaing that some dogs react worse when they are muzzled - its a tough one really.

Oh I see well it could be recent events he feels he has to be more careful with his rottie now so as not to give them any more bad press, or he may have been with a vet who insisted it for Rotties before, or his dog could just react badly to treatment at the vets, its not just large dogs or even dogs that I have seen precautions like muzzles taken with small dogs and cats (mostly towels used to protect vets from claws and teeth) as well as big dogs think it is beter to be cautious then have something happen to the vets trying to treat them!

I don't muzzle Ozzy at the vets 'because he is a Rottweiler', he doesn't need it. He has been well socialized from puppyhood to accept handling at the vets, in fact I've done too good a job as he bloomin loves going there and piddles with joy when the nurses pet him!

The only time I would allow it if he was in that much pain that he was likely to act out of character and bite then - but I would allow that with any dog, nothing to do with breed.

I can acknowledge some vets may not examine without taking precautions, I would only go to a vet who judged my dogs character before making such a blanket ruling.
This instance it seems that it was the owners idea which I find strange if he is confident in his dogs character and control of him:smt017

Totally agree with what you are saying.
One time I took my BC bitch in to have her glands done at my old vets. I took her in left her with the nurse as I was desperate for the loo, then went back in the room to find she had muzzled her.
I have to admit I lost my rag, removed the muzzle and asked her why she had put the muzzle on without my permission which I wouldn't have given her. My girl is a big softy. The nurses response was that BC's she'd come across had been snappy. That wasn't good enough and sterotyping my dog because of her past experience.
I asked for another person to do it and a vet came in to treat her who knew her, and agreed she was friendly. By putting a muzzle on her it had only stressed her out and she was trying to scratch it off.
I do agree that dogs can act out of character if in significant pain. I carry a nylon muzzle in my doggy first aid kit just in case, but on this occassion it was just a routine treatment which she had once a month.

Maybe its just here, but of the 3 vets that I have used in my area, they have always muzzled the dogs in the examination room, especially when carrying out vaccinations. Also the vets the charity uses, does the same (but since the dogs i take there are usually unassessed anyhow, this would be understandable). Either way, I've never heard a vet insist that a particular breed or size of dog be muzzled.

So maybe like others have said, this woman was just being cautious in view of public perceptions..

I'd go with Stephanie's theory too. That the owner felt apprehensive and so decided to cover all bases. Though, in my view, if the dog doesn't normally wear a muzzle, then it might well serve to make the dog even more agitated.