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May 20, 2011

My dog has become destructive when we leave. Would a muzzle help and is it ok to leave it on him during the day?

Full Question:

My fiance and I have a dog that is wearing on our patience as he is incredibly destructive and does not deal well with being kenneled. He has actually broken out of two steel kennels. The ones with the thin bars of metal. Now we keep him and our other dog in a room in the basement, and as you can see from the attached photo, he is slowly destroying it, day by day. That is an older picture and since then the damage he has done has tripled.

I've heard so many things about muzzles and my main question is: is it ok to leave a muzzle on him during the day while we're both at work? I don't want to traumatize or stress him out at all, so that worries me, but we are running out of solutions for this problem.

Any advice or guidance you could provide would be greatly appreciated - I'm determined not to give up on this dog!!

Cindy's Answer:

I would highly recommend you read this link on Dogs that Break out of Crates.

Your dog has severe separation anxiety, we also have a Q & A section on separation anxiety that may help you.

A muzzle would be part of the retraining program, along with a SOLID and sturdy crate. We have directions on how to measure the dog for a muzzle.

I would also be sure that this dog has clear understanding of the rules and leadership in and around your house and I would make sure he gets lots of exercise. Tired dogs are less likely to engage in this type of behavior.

We also have a number of eBooks, which include topics that may help you.

I hope this helps.

Cindy Rhodes

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