Tyler the "Muzzleator" Goes Back to School

Our 4 year old black and tan dachshund Tyler is the cutest thing ever-  but he can be a terror when it comes to dealing with and meeting with strange dogs. We know that it came with him when we fostered and adopted him from the rescue.

TYLER'S HISTORY 
 Tyler was an abused puppy that was turned into a shelter in North Carolina and when Coast-to-Coast Dachshund Rescue heard about him, Tom made arrangements to have a friend get Tyler from the kill shelter and transport him to us. Tyler didn't have an issue with our dogs (Dolly the Weimaraner, Franklin and Sprite (who was still alive at the time)  our Dachshunds), but walking him in the neighborhood was not good. He would bark and lunge like crazy.

Sharon of Barkbusters taking Tyler around Petsmart

TRAINING PART 1: LAST SUMMER

Tyler working with Sharon

    We hired Barkbusters, and they helped with tips that stopped his fence running (all of our surrounding neighbors have dogs that Tyler used to love to chase on this side of the fence. That taught him aggression and it finally stopped with a lot of reinforcement. Now if he gets an urge I call his name and say "Stop" and he stops.The dog-walking aggression, however, hasn't stopped so we called Barkbusters again for lesson #2.

TRAINING PART 2: TYLER THE MUZZLEATOR MAKES HIS DEBUT

   I took Tyler to Petsmart and we met Sharon from Barkbusters. She worked with him in the parking lot before going inside for hands on doggy encounters at Petsmart.

Tyler barking at a puppy who didn't care

    Sharon from Barkbusters was patient and walked Tyler around Petsmart looking for puppies that Tyler could meet. Tyler did not like meeting any of them, and each time he showed aggression, Sharon tugged his leash and pulled him away, and came back.
   TYLER THE MUZZLEATOR - I decided to get a 'mesh' muzzle and once we put that on Tyler, he could get close enough to the puppies to smell them. When he realized they weren't a threat, he seemed okay.
  With a large black dog that I think was a Mastiff puppy, Tyler the Muzzealtor approached and sniffed and it was fine for about 5 minutes. The puppy didn't care, but Tyler started getting stiff in his stance so just as he barked at the pup, Sharon pulled him away. 

Tyler glares at another puppy

MUZZLE GREETINGS HAVE WORKED OVER THE LAST YEAR AT HOME-   Last year,  I started using a muzzle on Tyler when new dogs came into our home. I wound up taking it off after 2 hours and Tyler  was fine with them. Tyler will always use a muzzle when meeting other dogs until he gets familiar with them or until he's toothless and 15 years old! :)