muzzle review

This is the Jafco muzzle. It is plastic with rubber straps--meaning that there will be no qualms about getting it wet. It comes in white, black, and clear.

The fastening hardware is smooth inside and out. The plastic is glassy smooth on the inside and bead-blasted for a matte finish on the outside. The felt nosepad is fastened in two places. I don't know felt weights but would estimate this to be medium to heavy felt. Photo 3 is to give you an idea of the thickness of the plastic; a nickel is there for reference. Photo 3 also shows that the holes are beveled - this makes cleaning easier.

Photo 4 shows the size 4S on our Labrador Retriever. It's been adjusted so that it doesn't smush his nose. Also, he is able to open his mouth, can pant and drink. However, I might try a larger diameter muzzle next time so that he can open his mouth more.

When dogs drink, their tongue roll under, so I wonder if that seam on the inside might bother him. He has given the muzzle a pretty good work-out since these photos were taken. The muzzle is a bit scuffed up now and there is mud and grass trapped in the seams, but that isn't a problem to me. He can't get out of the muzzle himself, but it is pretty easy to pull that neck strap right over his head and pop that muzzle off. That isn't a feature; just letting you know that it can happen.

He can now accompany me when I work outside. With the muzzle on, he can no longer run off with my tools (or otherwise hurt himself by putting them in his mouth). However, I discovered that I can't paint with him outside. The other night I was painting and he went around me to get to the can of paint and started to drink the paint. Did I already say that he can drink with the muzzle on? Other possible mishaps include him getting into wet paint or knocking over the paint can.

I like the idea of the clear one, but it's softer material than the white or black one. I thought I needed tough plastic for this dog, so I got the white. I thought the white would be cooler (temperature-wise) than the black. Also, I can see better if anything odd is happening in that muzzle. I might get the clear one for use in the car. He had chewed off a piece of something the last time he was in the car. A softer one would be less likely to scuff up the car or scratch the glass windows.

Leerburg has the largest selection of sizes and also offers all three colors.

Yes I would recommend this muzzle to prevent the dog from eating things he shouldn't. Of, course, the best thing is to train the dog away from the undesired behavior. But if you're like me and can't seem to accomplish that, the muzzle is better than not doing anything at all. All muzzled dogs should be supervised since they won't be able to use their number one defense mechanism. I'm not sure about using one of these to prevent them chewing on post-surgery stitches. Seems like they can still use the hard edges of the plastic to scratch at the stitches.