Do you muzzle your sighthound? Discussions

There is a greyhound who lives next to me, and she is never muzzled. She was a rescue, but she was never raced... she is a lovely girl, and has lots of small terrier friends, and there hasn't been any incidents with her.

I do know of two lurchers, also rescues, and one is extremely friendly... the other is aggressive, with any dog. The aggressive one is a saluki cross, and was originally owned by gypsies, who didn't treat him very well. Neither are muzzled when on lead, and they are both let off the lead. The saluki cross has gone for Jake twice, once he was unmuzzled and I easily scared him away. The second time, again he was off lead and he came tearing over to us from a good distance away, but this time he was muzzled. He is a dog though, who IMO should be kept on a lead at all times because he actively seeks out dogs to attack... and has next to no recall.

There are also two whippets who live next to me, and they aren't muzzled. The guy is apparently training them to work, so not sure if he will then when they are being walked... they are still young just now though.

Pharaoh has never worn a muzzle.. never really thought about it.. He used to chase squirrels and catch rabbits when he was younger, but I came from an upbringing of thats just what dogs do and rabbits are a pest, so it never really bothered me. He lived with cats and a small dog and has never mistook either for a rabbit.

On a walk he did once see the cat that terrorised him in the garden and he took off in pursuit of that, but he recalled when I whistled to him...

Kismet on the other hand is muzzled when on long line as she will attack smaller dogs since she was attacked herself. She caught a pigeon once while on short lead walking by the side of a road, I have no doubt that she could catch a cat while on lead if one was foolish enough to run in front of us and I didn't see it first!

But still if we are just doing a road walk, I tend not to muzzle her.

gI have an ex racer and althouh i muzzled her for the first few months until i knew her reactions to small dogs etc, i don't muzzle her now even offlead, i walk in woodland mainly so don't come across that many people but shes ok with other dogs anyway.

My lurcher is at the moment wearing a muzzle whilst off lead as she has become very protective of the puppy i have been fostering since November, i don't think she would bite another dog shes just a bit gobby but its not worth taking the chance imo.

We have owned many Greyhounds and lurchers over the years - all of them rescues.

I think muzzling them is very much an individual dog thing, and depends on the nature of each one as some are naturally "keener" than others.
Hounds are bred to hunt and chase, and while most are ok individually, put in a "pack" situation, when other dogs are around, or if something moves quickly, even the mildest of mannered dogs can turn back into what they have been trained to do.
We had an ex racer who was keen and we un-muzzled her after several years believing her to be de trained and safe, and she plucked a cat out of a bush. She caused over £1,000 damage, not to mention distress to the cat and it's owner.

I think if in doubt, be sensible and muzzle.

I have never muzzled my Natalie (IW) now granted she is a baby and she will have to wear a muzzle this summer when we start working her in LGRA (large gazehound racing association) where they have to wear a muzzle while running but other than that... we have worked hard to socialize her around big and small and that has worked... I see no need to muzzle her at all

I muzzle my 4 sighthounds any time they will off the lead or meeting other dogs. I have two main reasons for this. Firstly, 4 dogs off the lead together can be a bit roudy and things happen quickly; you can easily lose sight of one dog/not see other animals approaching and while my dogs individually don't chase cats or small dogs, I can't be sure that as a "pack" they won't behave differently. They haven't gone after a dog/cat, but they do chase squirrels and rabbits.
My second reason is that they play quite roughly sometimes and since wearing muzzles I have spent so much less time at the vet for cuts, my whippet especially is prone to injuries.
One benefit I have noticed is that dogs with muzzles seem to scare off idiotic people... where I walk my dogs, there a few people who don't seem to understand that not all dogs want to leapt on by their "playful" dogs/patted on the head. Since using muzzles many people avoid us and the only people who do approach have trained their dogs and have dog knowledge. It sounds terrible but there are quite a few owners who happily let their dog snarl at us. For our newly rescued grey it was really intimidating, now they avoid us like the plague

Mine play rough too , and we have had vet visits so for running in the field the muzzles are on to prevent accidental injuries,and also it does keep folks away who are not dog savvy and think , oh mine is ok so therefore everybody elses is too , muzzles are fine used by responsible owners as required but not neccesary all the time , if you know your dog and understand when there is a risk then you use a muzzle accordingly and just put up with the looks or comments from other people who just dont understand.

I agree, I think knowing your own dog is really important with muzzling; it takes time to recognise your dogs behaviour as well. Luckily I have quite a lot of land so my dogs only need to be muzzled a few times a week these days.