A friend runs a pug rescue here in my town and is having some issues controlling some Dog Aggro with 1 or 2 of the pugs she has taken in for rehab.

I've been trying to find a proper closed end muzzle for this breed. All the ones I've seen are either vet style that do not allow the dog to pant or drink or cover the dog's eyes not unlike a cat muzzle.

Was hoping to find a proper fitting muzzle for this breed that will allow normal panting, drinking etc. That can allow the dog to walk within a pack without danger to the other dogs while rehabbing.

Any ideas?

There isn't a really good one that's suitable for anything longer than very short times. Or at least, I don't know of one. I have seen one rigged up from a leather-strap basket muzzle.

But depending on the dog's size, these (the one for short-nose breeds) might fit:
http://www.fordogtrainers.com/browseproducts/Pug-Zu-Wire-Basket-Dog-Muzzles-Size-Chart---Pug-Zu-muzzle.HTML

Scroll down to Pug-Zu muzzles and look at B-1 and B-2. I have one Pug who the 2" x 12" would fit and one who it would not. (I just measured.) The measurement requires a cloth tape measure.

BUT I hope your friend will not be offended when I say that I would separate those dogs and walk them alone or even on either side, without the other dogs. That is, separated by the human. No muzzle.

They would be separated while not on walks, too, just like with any aggression situation.

It's certainly true that there are plenty of dog-reactive dogs among Pugs, but maybe even more than non-bracheocephalic breeds, I think that there is a ton to do short of muzzling the dog and flooding him with his trigger.

I'm pretty experienced with this breed rescue. I'd be much quicker to suggest working with the reactive individuals on desensitizing.

There are many desensitizing threads here, and I could link you to some if you want. This kind of work would go a lot further to rehab a reactive dog than the muzzling/flooding plan. JMO.


PS
Among the more-than-a-few reactive dogs I've worked with, several were Pugs. In fact, one of them is a rehabilitated member of my pack even as we speak.

It's satisfying work, although it does require patience and one-on-one time every day.

Geoff, I came back online to add that if your friend wants to join the board, I feel sure that we can help her with questions about reactive dogs. It's not that I'm a wonder, not by a long shot, but she might feel more comfortable that we on this board have not just quite a bit of reactive-dog experience, but also that there have been Pugs in that lineup.

Dogs are dogs, of course, but there are distinct advantages to working with reactive Pugs, and one is that they just don't have the kind of mouth-weapon that non-flat-faced breeds have. Another is that, like many toy breeds, IME, Pugs in general (and of course this is not across the board) tend to be handler-sensitive.

Still, even without the kind of damage that regular-face dogs can do, the other Pugs mustn't be subjected to living in fear with a pack member who attacks them, and certainly Pugs can bite and can cause injury; I applaud your friend for not allowing this to happen.

But it's a great accomplishment to rehab a reactive dog of any breed to the point that s/he is more balanced and adoptable. Of everything that I do with dogs, including helping to devise better ways to feed them, gradual desensitizing work is the most satisfying to me.

Hi Connie thanks for the 10-7. I just went down and evaluated her pack and am just back home with a toffee nut latte from Starbucks that she bought for me for helping her out.

I found out that yes there is pugs involved but she also has rescue Cocker Spaniels. It is the Cocker that seemed to be the aggressor.

Basically what I did was talk to the 2 owners and came up with a plan on what we were going to do. Which was go for a walk with the 2 offending dogs a young cocker and a young pug separated by humans and a neutral known non aggro dog.

I met the young pug and found him very pushy and mouthy which a lot of people seem to find sweet. I let him chew on my hand a bit and paw at me, he went off to his owner and then he came back for more of the domineering behaviour. I then set a boundary for him and pushed him off with a ah ah and he seemed to be mellow about it but respected it.

My Friends husband then went to get the cocker while my friend took the pug to the back of the golf course where we were going to walk.

I took Sasha as a neutral dog. So the husband and I are walking towards the golf course and the cocker is forward not really aggressive but forward. So I ask if I can take the Cocker and I do. He takes Sasha and we walk, then we meet up with the Pug, the Cocker lights up as well as his body posture changes. So I just turn and walk in a different direction and then back into the group any time the Cocker takes a look at either Sasha or the Pug I turn away and walk in a different direction, rinse and repeat. He starts looking for eye contact and I reward right away. I let him meet Sasha after about 10 minutes of this and again his body posture changes and he lets a slight growl out, Sasha just turns her head. I leave the leash loose and he turns and comes back to me on his own volition, right away I mark the behaviour and pay him for making the right choice.

We ended the session not long after I think it went quite well. A lot of it is inexperience about pack management as well as panic when things go wrong. Like when he growled at Sasha my friend asked what should 'she' do if he growls, to me I waited it out and the dog on his own did the right thing. I feel that was a better outcome than stringing him up for the growl, if he lunged yes. But that's a different story that didn't happen. I trusted Sasha to not escalate it, we then had a positive outcome. So he growls I did nothing I knew Sasha would just be mellow and counted on that to have that positive outcome. The Cocker learned something and so did the owner with it.

I agree that desensitizing is the way to go after meeting them. Especially since there really isn't a muzzle out there for the pug to have everyone on the same playing field.

From what I saw in my handling of the Cocker is a trainable dog that will respond to following the leader if it is clear to him. I think he will make a great house companion with a bit more OB and I recommended a few trainers that offer group classes to them. I've got them both sold on the eye contact game too.

So we left it like this .. My friends are going to do more of these short type of walks with them and start playing the eye contact game during the walks to reward for the focus on the handler not the other dog, as well as keep them separated for the time being. Both dogs were recently neutered so I assume that the testosterone will diminish after a couple months and that will mellow them a bit more too.

I'll check in with them in a couple of weeks.

"So we left it like this .. My friends are going to do more of these short type of walks with them and start playing the eye contact game during the walks to reward for the focus on the handler not the other dog, as well as keep them separated for the time being."

The best plan I can imagine.