| starplott UKC Forum Member
 
 
	Registered: Oct 2003Location: SW Missouri
 Posts: 1405
 | ABSOLUTELY DO NOT muzzle your dog while you are away!!!
 First off most muzzles do NOT curb barking. Secondly, most also inhibit food and water consumption along with air supply. I've seen some idiots try this in the summer months and it ended up costing them their dogs. (one from overheating from stress of the muzzle in the heat, another from getting stung and suffocating due to swelling in the muzzle causing loss of breathing ability, and another got the muzzle caught in the kennel while digging)
 
 Barking inhibition is NOT the purpose of the muzzle. The purpose of the muzzle is to prevent the dog from biting. We use muzzles a LOT in our training of police K9's and it often promotes barking due to the stress of not being able to bite.
 
 There are better ways to inhibit barking bothering neighbors. You can crate the dog in the house or garage where it will not have the temptations to bark (house cats running around, people walking by, dogs walking by, etc) and if the dog does bark from time to time the building it is in muffles the sound a bit.
 
 The other option is to kennel the dog in the garage with a bark collar. You also can kennel your dog outside with a bark collar; but I am NOT fond of this idea. When a dog is wearing a bark collar and you are not around you have no idea what you dog is getting punnished for barking at (if you have coons in your area and have a young dog just starting out I'd strongly advise you NOT put a bark collar on it outside).
 
 The other option is to get a shock collar and actually train the dog to quiet. IF you have a neighbor you can trust who is home you can incorporate them into the training while you are gone; but I am NOT trusting of many people with the remote for a dog they do not own.
 __________________It ain't the bark, it ain't the growl, it's the bite that hurts!
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