Muzzles Must Not Feel Like Punishment

SPEAKER_01 0:00

When you think about it like that, when that's going to be a kind of way of life for certain breeds, that puts even more importance on the fact that a muzzle really cannot be a punishment. This has got to be something fun and comfortable that we teach gradually in a like a low-pressured way.

Why Every Dog Should Learn One

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Welcome to the Absolute Dog Sex in the Squirrel Podcast. I'm Lauren Langman. I'm one of the world's leading dog trainers, and it's my mission to help owners become their dog's top priority. In each episode, you'll discover how to gain trust and communicate with your dog like never before, creating unbreakable bonds that make you the most exciting part of their world. Welcome to the Sex in the Squirrel Podcast. Literally the best topic, Alice, today. We are training dogs, we're training people, we're advocating for dogs, we're talking muzzles. Why are muzzles important? And I suppose importantly, why are they so important to you? Because I know that you've had a bit of a journey. You've certainly had a space where a muzzle could have been very, very useful and would be needed. Tell our listeners what you feel about muzzles post-owning a dog like Bonnie.

Bonnie’s Rescue Story And Vet Safety

SPEAKER_01 1:14

So, yeah, I mean, there's so many reasons why training a muzzle is just a great idea for every dog, and we'll get into that. But yeah, my experience with training a muzzle really is for the kind of thing I guess people would think of most, which would be in cases of potential aggression or bite risk. I have Bonnie, who is a 45-kilo-ish sort of mastiff megamutt German Shepherd mix, and she didn't have quite the best start. And certainly when we first got Bonnie as a rescue, we had one or two little hairy moments at the vets and such things, and we we kind of we realized that actually kindly training a muslin in a positive and fun way was going to be really necessary to kind of have whether it's vet appointments or or just to kind of actually grow Bonnie's world in a safe way that made us feel more at ease, that we were using appropriate management to reduce risk. That's certainly been my experience.

Scavenging Travel And Other Reasons

SPEAKER_00 2:13

And I remember being on Team Great Britain, we were abroad and we were traveling and we had a really serious incident with a dog, and this dog had eaten like 50 stones, and they didn't actually realize how many little pebbles were in this dog. And this dog became very, very poorly. And on the x-ray table, they realized this dog had been eating stones probably over a period of years, not like recently. And I suppose it also has a place for dogs who scavenge. So it's not always aggressive dogs, it's actually a place for dogs who maybe scavenge. And like you said, it can up and owners confidence, so you can really be more confident because you've got the muzzle on. Or it could be another place that I've seen a muzzle used and appropriate in in certain places to travel in public transport. When you're in certain countries, you have to have a dog in a muzzle. It's law to put the dog in the muzzle, and that is just safety and precaution. And you understand precaution and safety in busy cities and places that maybe aren't so dog-centric as us in the UK. And so for me, the muzzle has so many places and so many needs. And when I've travelled abroad, I've travelled also to certain universities, Cambridge University, Oxford University, they also require um dogs muzzled on their grounds. So there's interesting scenarios where a muzzle just might come in handy. Have you had to use a muzzle ever for um Bonnie? And did you use a muzzle for Bonnie?

SPEAKER_01 3:26

Yeah, we have, yeah, definitely. So we um we we trained her to sort of be comfortable with a muzzle, and that's really helped out whether it's been, you know, with vet visits to just kind of as that like layer of safety in a situation where we know she's probably not gonna feel the most at ease, and so if she's you know having sort of close contact with somebody she's not familiar with. But also it's it's allowed us to really make huge strides with her her like the size of her world, really. We've been able to kind of grow her world a lot more by using a muzzle. For example, when a friend of ours got two young husky puppies a couple of years ago, and we thought it would be really nice just to very, very gently ease in an introduction, slowly, slowly. So it very much started as you know, the puppies would be in the puppy boogie, you know, when they were very small, and we'd just walk alongside at a distance and you know, no interaction whatsoever. And as the the pups grew up and as we Bonnie got more familiar with this, just the smell of them or them being in the vicinity, once we were confident that, you know, we weren't gonna get any sort of dangerous or unpredictable behaviour by having a gentle sort of small introduction with them, we popped the muzzle on anyway, because even though we were 99.99999% sure that there was going to be no funny business between Bonnie and the puppies, it made us feel just more calm and confident knowing that we were actually just eliminating that sort of that little any risk that was there. We were just really reducing that as much as possible so that everybody brought a calm energy into that introduction, and then it was absolutely fine. And it it just helped us bridge that gap with with those those kind of situations.

Breed Laws And Living Muzzled

SPEAKER_00 5:12

Now, I also think that there's obviously been recent changes to our laws that actually mean breed-specific muzzle laws are now in place, and so actually, for sure in the UK and I'm sure in lots of other countries, there are quite breed-specific. Whether you like it or whether you don't, I don't think you can really argue with legislation to change fast, at least. But for me, that was a major consideration that actually we really need to put something out there for people with dogs who need muzzles because these dogs realistically are going to live in muzzles, as in all of their excise outside of the house time is muzzled.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

Absolutely. And when you think about it like that, when that's gonna be a kind of way of life for certain breeds, that puts even more importance on the fact that a muzzle really cannot be a punishment. This has got to be something fun and comfortable that we teach gradually in a like a low-pressured way. Because whether it is just for the odd few minutes here and there or as a bit of a safety net, or for the occasional bit of travel, whether this is something your dog is going to need to be comfortable with day in, day out, kind of whenever they're out in public, it it we just need it to be not a symbol of something punishing or restricting, but actually something that actually grows their world rather than restricts

Train It Before You Need It

SPEAKER_01 6:26

it.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

And you really don't want the first time your dog actually encounters the muzzle to be when they actually really need the muzzle. For example, grandma's coming over, or grandson is coming over, or we're going out on a walk and I don't want them to be a pasty, or we're going out to meet some new friends with some new dogs, and actually we don't want them to have a sort of set to. Like these are not the times you put the muzzle on. Let's train this before we ever need it. And that's a cool thing. Like, there is an opportunity for people here, isn't there, Alice? Oh, absolutely. For a course and for learning and for you to be able to seize this learning with both hands, but also you you train it before you ever need it, right?

SPEAKER_01 6:58

Definitely. Training for the situation is so much better than than trying to expect results in the situation. This is just piling on so much pressure. It's a bit like, you know, imagine you've never taken a driving lesson in your life, and then someone just hands you the keys and goes, right, come on, take me up the M1. It would just be far too stressful. Rather, we go step by step and gradually grow these skills away from the pressure of a kind of a real life scenario so that actually we can just ease into those situations when needed because we've already built the skills through games.

Introducing The Mastering The Muzzle Course

SPEAKER_00 7:31

Now, someone who wants to learn a bit more about muscles, what can we offer, Alice? Because I know it's mega. Are we allowed to say it? Well, I think we could definitely tell people a little bit, at least a sneak peek of what might be available to goodness.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

We have got a brand new course, haven't we, dedicated entirely to mastering the muscle. And this is just going to be epic. Like I say, for for any anybody who owns a dog, doesn't matter what breed of dog, if you're if your dog has this kind of breed-specific legislation applied to them or not, or whether you're thinking of traveling, or whether your dog goes to the groomers, or whether you know you're working through some reactivity struggles, whatever. This is just such fantastic learning for every single dog and for every single dog owner out there. And I'm so pleased that we are bringing this to people.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

It's exciting. And the best part is it's been brought by obviously myself and and one of the trainers here at the centre, Jamie. We work with dogs day in and day out. And what I love with Jamie is she's worked with rescue dogs, she's worked with um her own rehome dogs, she's worked with all different breeds, all different sizes, all different stages, dogs who definitely don't naturally like the muzzle. She's worked with pretty much everything. She's worked pretty much everything, and it's a really cool space to see dogs who are potentially going to struggle in certain scenarios, having the backup of a muzzle and giving them their freedom back again, ultimately, because if we can give them their freedom back again, then actually for me, happy dog, like happy dog. And if I see a happy dog, then for me, happy life, like happy dog, happy life. They say happy dog, sorry, happy, happy wife, happy life, don't they? For me, happy dog, happy life. And if one I'm looking at one of my dogs right now, she's so happy, she's fast asleep, she's like little eyes are rolling. I love that, it just makes me so happy. And to think that I could have a dog that maybe had been put back on lead because they were stealing things off the floor and eating them and couldn't be trusted off lead, or to think I could have a dog off-lead and I felt safe with them around other people or other dogs or bicycles or children or whatever it might be because I actually had my muzzle training in place, that for me is it's priceless. Is that that piece, there is nothing like worth your piece. And for me, that piece is priceless. That that piece is absolutely priceless.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

Absolutely. And it's so exciting that you and Jamie are doing this because if you know, there might be listeners who have experienced the cooperative care course before and seen how you know yourself and Jamie through showing these sort of step-by-step how we train things through games, from turning something that might be an uncomfortable situation, like a vet visit or a groomer's visit or you know, anything like that, turning that into a positive teamwork experience between you and your dog and whoever else is involved. And so you guys are absolutely just the gold standard for teaching these kinds of things. So I think the muzzle training is is just such a natural kind of thing to sort of expand into with how we can turn something like that, which might might seem like it could be an unpleasant experience for a dog, and it certainly could be if trained wrongly, but how that can actually be a really positive experience.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Like such a positive experience. And probably the most important thing for me when you're considering this is for what purpose and for what future purpose, so many that people think actually often you don't even know the purpose. At some point, I promise you this is going to become useful. At some point, I promise you you're gonna be like, Yes, I need this. This is something we need, this is something we should have. And I love it. I absolutely love it. I love that we get to have that learning, and I love that we get to have that moment where we go, no, actually, this really is what we need. So and later on that happens. You'll I'll I'll give an example. I had a dog who was always trained on the water treadmill, she was very fit, she knew how to use a water treadmill and she became paralyzed, and suddenly the water treadmill had a whole new take on it. We didn't have to train her how to get on it or how to get in it, or all those things because she already knew those, so we could start rehab therapy straight away. And for me, um, you don't always know the future purpose, but I would absolutely say it's in everyone's um interest and best interest to train

Grooming Help Through Stillness Games

SPEAKER_00 11:15

a muzzle. Now, you touched based on grooming. Why would a muzzle be um a nice tool when you're grooming?

SPEAKER_01 11:21

I think I mean it could be even something as simple as kind of a way of having that kind of forward focus as well, to kind of, you know, even if it's not necessarily in a sort of preventing a bite risk kind of a way, it could just be a kind of a way of actually like having some, you know, some stillness, having a kind of a stillness game and a forward focus game. Even something as little as that can make that experience for the groomer and for the dog just so much easier.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

The other thing I love about the idea of, I suppose, your board focus game is for me, you put a load of value into actually just being handled and groomed and whatever else it is because you've actually made a game of it. And there really is a game for that. So I love that there's a game for that. I love that that is a good part of the learning. So for me, that's massive.

Fit Comfort And Preventing Rubs

SPEAKER_00 12:03

Now, choosing well-fitted muzzle, that's really important. Now, I used to work with racing greyhounds um in the rescue centres, and one of the things that we often struggled with is they would rub their nose on the muzzle. And one of the things that we used to put on the muzzles um was, and they always wore muzzles, the racing greyhounds, because they had that like run and nip and grab and shake and kill. And that's certainly not what you want with the little sort of toy brays that also happen to be hanging around at those centres, the little cockers and little cockpoos and little poodles. But for me, when they were exercising, they always exercise in the basket sort of muzzles, the big heavy basket muzzles. And so actually putting moleskin over the nose, you can get it like lots of different suppliers, but Amazon, which is it's probably the naughtyest of suppliers. But for me, the mole skin, M-O-L-E-S-K-I-N, and it's not real mole skin, I think it's just its name. Um, that over the nose and and the bridge of the nose was such a good move because it allowed the dog to be comfortable. So I think that's a really good point is making sure you've got a well-fitted muzzle. I actually think always go in and get them, I like try them on, because when you try them on for size, you see what you like and what you don't like. Second thing I would say is we

Practise With Similar Objects First

SPEAKER_00 13:05

often, when we're training dogs, Alice, we don't use the same article or the same item to always train it. And what do we do?

SPEAKER_01 13:11

You could use kind of anything that is vaguely similar. You know, if you've got any little sort of plastic cones that are used, you know, uh whether that's for something like cavaletti or other kind of sports, if you've got little kind of plastic cones or lightweight, like a plastic plant pot, even a mug, if you have a little tiny dog, maybe a little mug or a cup would be would be an appropriate item, but something that's going to be a similar kind of size and shape to a muzzle, so that you can just play and and kind of and reward even the smallest sort of glances or interactions to begin with, any kind of positive interactions with that item and then you know later on with the actual muzzle, then that's kind of where we begin, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 13:53

Absolutely, 100% where we begin. Um and then I think the other thing that's worth considering is that by doing that, you're also building up grit, flexibility, resilience, tolerance, frustration, all of those other concepts that we talk about in Games Club. And and and if you haven't already joined Games Club, actually, Alice, what is the whole one pound trial about and why should someone do it?

Games Club Trial And Skill Building

SPEAKER_01 14:11

Oh, the one pound games club trial, this gives you your first seven days of games club for just one pound, which is crazy because you get an entire library full of training games that you can work through at your own pace. You can pick and choose depending on which concepts are most important for you to grow with your dog. If you like structured learning, there's loads of that as well. There's all the 10 days, two mini courses are in there and lots more besides, as well as we've got different training tracks and learning pathways. If there's a particular struggle or a particular mechanic that you're working on, then there's some really useful, in-depth kind of step-by-step guides with those. So, yeah, like to say that you can explore it all for the first week for a pound is crazy. But that's just, you know, you can really immerse yourself and find what you like.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

But that's really onboarding people to the idea of actually this whole games-based learning. And that's only going to serve to help with things like muzzle training, cone training, uh, different type of shape your head into this object and that object training. Like all of them are such a good way forward for learning. So for me, the uh the idea of uh learning and going forward with games that are going to support and give more muzzle options, uh, yeah, the more the

Handling Muzzle Judgement With Confidence

SPEAKER_00 15:20

better. How about um responding to people who don't like muzzles? Because I think that's quite a big one. Like for me, I I've always loved to respond to people who who wonder why I've got a muzzle on, or not me, but my dogs. And I love being able to respond to people that I'm just I'm keeping her safe and I'm keeping your dog safe as well. Like for me, it just gives me massive confidence to put them in a muzzle. So I that's absolutely how to do it.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

Yeah, I totally agree. It really is. It's just advocating for your dog and knowing that actually it's a really smart decision for whatever the reason is that you know you're using a muzzle, it's it's a it's a great idea. And it and like you say, you it's for everybody's safety and it's just a really kind of courteous, conscientious thing

Links Sharing And Final Reminders

SPEAKER_01 15:57

to do.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

So basically, what we're saying to people is join the games club and get the muzzle course as soon as you humanly can. And if you can't do that, at least take all of what we've said here and take it away with you. Share it, like it, love it, give it to a friend, mother, sister, brother, father, long lost lover. Get that information out there because it's gonna help dogs, it's gonna help people, it's going to help society, it's gonna help the image that dogs have, it's gonna help everyone. So, guys, that was this episode of the Sex Insquirrel Podcast. Make sure you check out the muzzle course, make sure you check out the one pound games club course. Anything I've forgotten, Alice? The link.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

So we so grab the muzzle course. That's gonna be absolute dogs.me forward slash mastering the muzzle. So absolutely dogs.me forward slash mastering the muzzle.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

Whoop! Go grab your course. Make sure that you share this podcast with someone else who might need a muzzle. And if you haven't already taught one, you know what you're gonna be doing before bed, don't you?