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Muzzling your dog is never quite a happy experience either for you or your dog but for certain reasons it becomes necessary. Putting a muzzle on your dog shows you are a responsible dog owner despite that some people may think the opposite.

Aggression is not the only reason why a dog should be muzzled. On certain occasions, even an otherwise gentle and well behaved dog will exhibit behavior that warrants muzzling. However, remember that muzzling your dog is a temporary solution to prevent it from doing something it should not do. If your dog is habitually aggressive or shy or displays other unwanted behavior then you need to train him or get professional help.

The following are the top reasons why you will want to muzzle your dog :-

1) Unpredictable behavior with humans and other animals. Often a dog will attack another person or animal or animal for no reason at all (I actually mean the reason is known only to the dog and not its human parent) and it can invite a lot of trouble for you in terms of law suits, damages, police complaints and so on. It best to be safe than be sorry. Even a dog who is not aggressive by nature may show unpredictable or erratic behavior and if you are not too confident of his manners then it is best to muzzle your dog.

2) Aggressive behavior with humans and other animals. A dog can become aggressive due to lack of socialization, improper care (such as lack of adequate food, etc.) and other reasons. If your dog shows a tendency to aggressive behavior towards humans and other animals and attacks them then it is best to muzzle your dog. As stated in point 1 above, attacks on others may invite legal trouble, damages for you. An aggressive dog that is prone to attacking others should be muzzled.

 3) Often dogs lick their wounds or parts of their body where they have been operated upon by the vet. It is important to muzzle your dog so that it cannot do this. Treated wounds need to be left alone so they can heal quickly.

4) Displays discomfort or aggression during visits to the vet. Many dogs(irrespective of the breed) are not comfortable at the vet and display aggression towards the vet and the staff so they need to be muzzled. It is quite possible that a quiet and well mannered dog becomes restless and aggressive at the vet clinic. The same reasons hold true for grooming centers. Some dogs become restless and aggressive even during visits to the dog spa/grooming center and muzzling them becomes necessary.

5) In some countries it might be a legal requirement to muzzle certain breeds of dogs when they are outdoors.

6) If you have adopted a dog recently and have not yet got to know him well, it would be a good idea to muzzle it and see how it behaves with visitors and especially children. If the dog displays good behavior the muzzle can be removed.

7) If your dog eats stuff from the roadside garbage or litter, it will be a good idea to muzzle your dog or else it can catch an infection.

8) In dog shows and dog parks it might become necessary to muzzle your dog especially if it is aggressive. However you need to use your intuition here because when you muzzle your dog you also make it defenseless when it is attacked by other dogs.

9) Many dogs become agitated and aggressive when they are being bathed or having their nails trimmed by their human parents. If the dog has not been trained since puppy hood to cooperate with its human parent while being given a bath or getting its nailed trimmed, it can show aggression and then it is needed to muzzle the dog.

To sum it up, if you muzzle your dog properly, you are not being a cruel dog owner. You are just taking precautions, that’s all. Take extra precaution if your dog is aggressive, unpredictable or temperamental and you are travelling to another country or city with him – it will be a good idea to muzzle your dog.

Be gentle with your dog when you are training it to get muzzled. Your dog should react positively to being muzzled. More articles on muzzling your dog will follow.

The above article is written by Manish Jaitly

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Manish Jaitly

I am a dog lover and creator of this site. I am also the author of ‘Keep Sleeping Keep Missing- if only you knew’ (available on Amazon, Flipkart, Kobo, Google Store, etc.).

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