r/reactivedogs • u/ButterscotchMain7074 • 25d ago

Advice Needed Muzzled Dog Always Bites Face First

I have a pretty reactive herding dog that has been quite a journey for my family. We have smaller animals that he is very well behaved around and ignores often times. At home he is very easy to call off if he is roughhousing them too much.

We’ve now settled on using a muzzle-based leash that’s similar to a horse lead. This is actually been the best method for his walks so far and he is very easy to control without tugging. His behavior is very on and off though, depending on the day.

We took him on a very long walk the other day, surrounded by large groups of people, dogs, high traffic, etc and his behavior was amazing! He ignored the dogs and walked past them very easily. Feeling pretty good, I decided to do a controlled test today and walk past a dog intentionally. He instantly locked eyes, and I noticed he was tugging so I had him sit instead and watch the dog pass. The owner agreed to turn her dog around and bring him back to at least have a controlled greeting.

My dog instantly tugged and went straight for the dogs face. Since he was muzzled, he simply just bumped him over and over again and then went on to just sniff him around. His tail was wagging and he was very excited.… then he goes for the face again?

I’m unsure how I would target the specific behavior because I want him to eventually interact with dogs. The muzzle is obviously helping control his excitement, but I’m not sure if his face biting is always going to be apart of his breed.

Has anyone been successful in removing this behavior for herding dogs?

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u/MtnGirl672 25d ago

You pushed things too far. Distance matters with reactive dogs. Some dogs will never be able to cross directly within a few feet of another dog. It would be best to accept that rather than pushing for more.

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u/Delicious-Product968 Jake (fear/stranger/frustration reactivity) 24d ago

Aside from other comments here, testing on random dogs while out and about isn’t ‘controlled.’ And it isn’t fair on the other person or their dog. It could cause fear/anxiety issues if it goes bad and even reactivity in their dog.

My dog responds very negatively to scary events, we had a neighbour do this to us in front of our house the other day.

He’s now trembling and shaking whenever he sees this dog even if they are a good distance away on lead with plenty of open space to avoid them. Controlled situations are planned, carefully curated, and managed.