Muzzle to stop eating everything!!!

[GSD23]

Hi everyone. I'm sure there are many other pup's that eat almost everything in their way. Rest assured, I'm constantly keeping watch on my pup. My problem is my neighbour uses snail and mice pellets which could obviously be fatal for my pup. I'm always watching closely at all times when she's outside her crate. She does have a tendency to attempt to snatch things and try to swallow them before I can stop her (she's never succeeded though). She's leashed when outside, and we do need to work on our "leave it" command, but that will take time. For an immediate solution would it be alright to get a muzzle to stop her for the time being when outside?

Thanks!

[ponyfarm]

YES!. In the meantime, bake your neighbor some cookies and ask him to stop using the posionus pellets.

[julie87]

my dog went through this phase, she is 10 months old now and definately slowed down, when they are puppies they want to explore and they put everything in their mouth.

As far as having access to poison may be the dog won't swallow that since it has chemical taste? I am just thinking of ways to make you feel less paranoid, I am not saying she won't swallow it, not telling you to just wait and see lol I would train train train but I wouldn't wear a muzzle... Once my dog swallowed 16 rocks when she was 4 months old, aftwards I put a muzzle on her every time, as soon as the muzzle is off she would pick up rocks again, instead train her to leave it like you already doing. Also it helps to spray some harmful items with bitter apple spray, dogs hate it and will not put anything in their mouth with that stuff on it.Training is better than restraining! Good luck.

[GusGus]

I don't see where the muzzle could hurt. You can still teach the leave it command with the muzzle on. And you know your pup will be a lot safer from dangers.

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[julie87]

Gus, you can't train a dog to leave it when it can't pick anything up in the first place because its wearing a muzzle.

Also leaving your dog unsupervised while wearing a muzzle is dangerous because some muzzles can choke a pup. For example if for whatever reason your dog needs to throw up and the mouth is shut what do you think will happen? So yes, muzzles CAN hurt.

Just training and supervision is all this pup needs, oh and bitter apple spray


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[GusGus]

Originally Posted by julie87

Gus, you can't train a dog to leave it when it can't pick anything up in the first place because its wearing a muzzle.

Also leaving your dog unsupervised while wearing a muzzle is dangerous because some muzzles can choke a pup. For example if for whatever reason your dog needs to throw up and the mouth is shut what do you think will happen? So yes, muzzles CAN hurt.

Just training and supervision is all this pup needs, oh and bitter apple spray


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Maybe its just me, but I use "leave it" to have Gus ignore the item completely, and "drop it" when the item is already in his mouth. I think a muzzle would be a good way to teach the dog to leave something alone completely before its able to be picked up.

I didn't say the pup should be unsupervised with the muzzle on, considering the OP said the pup is always in their sights. Leaving anything on a dog while unsupervised is extremely dangerous.

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[julie87]

I never trained my dog two different ways of leaving something alone weather it's in their mouth or they are just about to get it. I think it only confuses the dog...

My dog knows "leave it" means don't pick it up and it also means drop it out of your mouth.



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[gsdraven]

Originally Posted by julie87

Gus, you can't train a dog to leave it when it can't pick anything up in the first place because its wearing a muzzle.

Also leaving your dog unsupervised while wearing a muzzle is dangerous because some muzzles can choke a pup. For example if for whatever reason your dog needs to throw up and the mouth is shut what do you think will happen? So yes, muzzles CAN hurt.

Just training and supervision is all this pup needs, oh and bitter apple spray


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You absolutely can train a dog to leave it with a muzzle on. Also, cloth muzzles that keep the mouth closed should not be used for more than 15-20 min at a time. For the type of thing the OP wants to use the muzzle for, they should be using a basket muzzle so the dog can pant.

[Twyla]

Originally Posted by GSD23

Hi everyone. I'm sure there are many other pup's that eat almost everything in their way. Rest assured, I'm constantly keeping watch on my pup. My problem is my neighbour uses snail and mice pellets which could obviously be fatal for my pup. I'm always watching closely at all times when she's outside her crate. She does have a tendency to attempt to snatch things and try to swallow them before I can stop her (she's never succeeded though). She's leashed when outside, and we do need to work on our "leave it" command, but that will take time. For an immediate solution would it be alright to get a muzzle to stop her for the time being when outside?

Thanks!

Is there a fence between you and the neighbor? If there is, you can begin with politely asking he not spread the poison in your yard, and while you don't want to make an enemy of the neighbor, you may have to increase it to taking legal steps. As a side note: some of the mice and rat poisons are using a new ingredient that is difficult to detect in dogs, making it difficult to save them after ingestion.

If there isn't a fence, still take the steps above, but constantly monitor your pup. Play, train potty - everything on the opposite side of neighbor. Using a basket muzzle will add another layer of safety. Condition your pup to using the muzzle so that is accepted more easily. Meanwhile, strengthen his leave it command; and this can be trained while using the muzzle as well.

[Blanketback]

I would worry that the puppy could still lick at the poison, no matter if it was a nice basket muzzle or a horrible cloth one. "Leave it" is a very important command to teach a puppy and they can learn this right away. I'd avoid any areas where you think your pup could get at the poison, and start working on teaching right away. My pup was a notorious poop-eater, so I started this at 8 weeks, and it took a while for it to be reliable when the reward was great, but at least he didn't eat the rocks, leaves, dead mice (my concern there was secondary poisoning, so I know how you feel) and everything else he came across that looked tasty to him.