11/13/2024
Meet Jordy!🤎🥹
Jordy is a very fearful, insecure dog who needs lots of confidence building. However, the only way to get to the root of what’s causing her fear is to be able to prioritize safety and force her to find healthier alternatives as she learns her teeth are not an effective way to communicate. Jordy has already had extensive muzzle conditioning with her parents, so she is very familiar with it, but it required us to do further conditioning since she doesn’t trust us yet. There are many confidence building aspects to this exercise - Jordy is gaining stronger bonds with us through hand feeding, positive associations with the muzzle, and confidence through the routines she experiences when we put the muzzle on (body pressure, putting her nose in the muzzle, fastening equipment, then reward!).
It’s so common for people to assume dogs will just get used to new things because of their resilience, but choosing not to advocate for your dog enough times, even if it seems small, will erode their trust in you. Though it takes a lot of patience, slowly conditioning Jordy to the muzzle will set us up for success in the long run.