Muzzle Question

[rottnreba]

Hello Everyone,

I would like some opinions on a situation concerning a friend's resuce rott.

Her name is Ro. Was found on the streets,had many litters, teeth worn down, pellets under her skin....My friend adopted her a couple years ago.

She is currently about 8 years old. She is unpredictably dog aggressive. So my friend always has her on leash outside of her yard. She never goes to the dog park. We walk through a woods near our homes. You are supposed to have your dogs leashed at all times. She does. But not everyone else does. My friend always announces that her dog is not friendly. Most people with offleash dogs either go the other way or hook up ther dogs til we pass.

She has Ro sit off to the side of the trail focusing Ro's attention on herself. When Ro remains calm and ignores the other dog, she gets a treat.

Last week, my friend was at the woods with Ro. I wasn't there. A wild young lab came bounding out of the woods and made a beeline for Ro. My friend shouted out that Ro wasn't friendly as she saw 2 people strolling in the distance. She tried to block the lab but he ran into Ro. Ro grabbed him by the neck and shook him and tossed him. He thought it was a game and kept coming at her. And she kept grabbing and tossing. My friend was at her wits end. The dog's owner finally ran up with a stick in his hand, leashed his dog and walked away.

When my friend relayed the incident to her husband, he insists that Ro needs to be muzzled at the woods. His reasoning is that if this happens again and she injures (or worse) another dog, it will hurt the Rottweiler reputation.

My friend and I disagree. There are several signs posted stating dog must be leashed.

What do you think?

[AngelBunny]

If Ro was my dog, I wouldn't muzzle her, as I see no need to do so at all.

There are leash laws. Ro's on a leash and if a dog owner is so foolish as to have his or her dog unleashed, Fido comes bounding up to Ro--after Ro's owner clearly indicated Ro isn't dog friendly--and Ro acts unpleasantly, too bad for the other dog and shame on the other dog's owner.

And, if the Lab kept coming back, it's not likely Ro hurt him badly at all.

From what you say, Ro's owner has done a solid job of managing her dog aggression--kudos to her.

[keller27]

I see this so many times when owners let their dogs invade another dog's space, and also their children run up to the dogs. I will be walking Khori and an owner wants his dog to say hello. I got surprized the other day by this. I was talking to a customer in the store and Khori was right with me, and a german shorthair pointer was allowed to run up to him. I will body block or call Khori to me. I point out that he is very selective on what dogs he tolarates. Luckily he liked her dog. Labs, just don't go there! He will not lunge at them, but if they get into his face, he will go for it. You all know how that all sounds. I stress this to all not to allow their dogs to invade another dogs space, at least 6 ft. Permission only. I love the watch command and use this all the time. Because I know how Khori will be at times, and I am working with other dogs with issues with other dogs, I will work them for so many weeks, and then I will bring Khori out to work with us. A corgi in my class had part of his ear ripped off by a Rottweiler, so was scared of them, so I took special time to work Khori with her. I did put a basket muzzle on him, just incase he got grumpy if she snapped at him. He was very good and she ended up being very relaxed with him. Could walk closely by him and she didn't stress. She even started to sniff him. The owner was very pleased with her. He didn't think she would ever do that.

[azdesertdog]

I first Rott sometimes required to have his custom wire basket muzzle. (It had wire mesh so that he couldn't even get a tongue thru it.) He only needed it when he went to the vet and when he was going to chew on himself. (He had an allergy that I finally corrected.) If you are going to use a muzzle for any reason, make sure that you begin training your dog to wear it for short periods of time in the beginning and make it "fun". You don't want the dog to go on the offensive everytime you go to put it on. He may then go into aggressive mode if you don't put it on him many, many times in lots of different circumstances. Basically, you don't want him to relate to any particular enviornment or event when he has the muzzle put on him. He will accept it a whole lot better.

The down side to a muzzle in the woods in my opinion is...., what happens if you need your dog to protect you from another wild animal or human attacker? Be selective on when you think he really should have it on. My two cents.....