# Will a muzzle make an aggressive dog more aggressive?



## kpollard (Aug 3, 2008)

I was speaking with someone about our friend's dog that has aggression issues and mentioned the idea of a muzzle.

This person's face just went pale and they said "well oh my, a muzzle will just make the problem worse!"

I've never heard of this before, in your experience is it true?


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## Curbside Prophet (Apr 28, 2006)

Yes and no. More so indirectly than directly. The muzzle, really, is to comfort the human owner, however, a dog wearing a muzzle is not approached in the same way as an unmuzzled dog...so, if this dog is exposed to a lot of people who are shying away from him, he can learn to be leery of people. However, if the muzzle is associated with freedoms the dog enjoys, he can also learn that the muzzle predicts these freedoms.


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## wvasko (Dec 15, 2007)

In protection work a muzzle is used see how strong a dog truly is as some dogs when muzzled will turn off completely and are not considered for serious protection.


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## melgrj7 (Sep 21, 2007)

I think it depends on how you introduce the dog to the muzzle and the experiences it has while muzzled. Allie loves her muzzle. We very rarely use it now, but before it meant lots and lots and lots of treats and walks and running and going to the park, getting full body massages while classical music played. So she really likes her muzzle.


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