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Originally Posted by katy-yorkie  Oh my gosh, you could be talking about Buster! He has become so aggressive in the past three months. He's had three knee surgeries since July and finally had the leg completely bandaged for almost seven weeks. He actually bit me on the face a couple of weeks ago. He snarls and tries to bite me when I try to clean his eyes, brush him, almost anything that he doesn't like. He still has issues with his leg, I know it hurts him and he still has a long way to go before he is completely well. But I need to find a way to try to change his behavior. Do I have to wait until he is completely well? I told DH today that I was going to get a muzzle but I was joking. Maybe it's not a bad idea. |
Awww...I wonder if the little guy is just cranky because of the pain?! Or, maybe he's learned that you'll leave him alone if he's aggressive.
If you get a muzzle, at least you will be able to safely brush and care for him.
If I got my dog a muzzle, I think I would start out be doing good things while he is in his muzzle...give him lots of praise and maybe give him a good massage and scratch all his favorite places and give him a treat when he's all done. I would probably only leave it on a minute or so and start increasing the time until he was comfortable with it...THEN, I would start trying to do the stuff he's not fond of.
Due to the fact that Buster's leg is hurt, you probably want to make the whole process of the muzzle as stress free as possible so he doesn't try to thrash around in it and hurt himself further...so slowly introducing him to it and gradually introducing him to the stuff he doesn't like, I would think, would be the best way to go about it.
If it's pain that's causing it, perhaps the vet could give you some pain killers to give him for the times that you trying to do the things he's not fond of. Maybe he'd be more accepting of what you are doing if he's more comfortable.
I would think that a basket muzzle would be way more comfortable and less restrictive than a cloth/nylon muzzle. The nylon muzzle literally holds the dogs mouth closed, whereas the basket muzzle creates a protective shield around the dogs mouth. I've used a nylon muzzle on my dog at the vets...although i am not fond of them as I've seen dogs bite their tongues using those.