Do you know of a muzzle that is escape-proof?

Question

My name is Ralph. I am the Owner/Head Trainer of my own dog training business in Charlottesville, Va called Atlantic Coast K-9 Training Service. I have been a professional dog trainer for 10 years and spent several years before that involved in Search and Rescue work, so I am by no means an amateur. With that being said, right now I'm a little bit lost and need some help. I'm currently in the process of training a 10 month old Shepherd/Chow mix who is Dominant aggressive. Unfortunately, even after carefully evaluating him and working with him for 1 previous week, the aggression wasn't apparent.  Until yesterday. To make a long story short, he bit me. Nothing serious in terms of my injuries, but bad enough to know that this dog, being at about 85 pounds now and being aggressive, is very dangerous.  I immediately put on a leather muzzle ( the black ones), which I purchase from Leerburg, and he promptly put his paw on the side of it and pulled it off in a matter of seconds. I've had dogs get out of the cheaper muzzles but this was a first for the leather one. It was the correct size and I had it buckled down so tight that I couldn't budge it, yet this dog ripped it off in seconds.  His name is Hercules so I guess he is living up to his name. Anyway, have you ever experienced that with this particular muzzle and is there a better, escape proof muzzle out there? When I called Leerburg and spoke with someone, they told me that the Police style leather ones are built a little better than the black leather ones, but are they escape proof or are there ANY that are 100% escape proof?  My only thought at this point is to Jerry-Rig something where I can fasten the buckle on this collar to the pinch collar (which I use). If I fit the pinch collar so that it corrects from the top and attach the neck buckle on the muzzle to the O-ring of the collar, I believe it would prevent the dog from being able to pull off the muzzle while still allowing the collar to function properly. I do put my aggressive dogs in a harness so that I can attach a back line to them for safety, but that only helps to a point, I have to get him muzzled.

Any ideas?  I'm certainly open for suggestions. Thanks!!!!!

Sincerely,
Ralph

Accepted Answer

I don’t think any muzzle can be called 100% escape proof. I was a professional groomer for over 15 years (in addition to being a trainer) and I specialized in difficult dogs. I had one dog I “double muzzled” for a number of years.

With a dog like Hercules, I might suggest this inexpensive solution. I would put one of our cloth muzzles on him very snug. Then put the leather muzzle over that. If he gets the leather one off, then you still have a back up. (It could be that the leather muzzle just isn’t the best fit for him, if he can get it off that easily.)

The particular aggressive dog I dealt with learned when the muzzle came off he could bite right away, so I used 2 and after a number of sessions he learned that getting the muzzle off didn’t do a thing for his situation.

I would say that after working with this dog for years, he was the worst one I ever dealt with so I learned to be creative.