If you look closely at these two pictures of Benji, you may notice that he has something around his muzzle. If you're wondering, no, he is not wearing a muzzle. It's called a Gentle-Leader, Halti, or Nose Necklace. It has many different names, but it is never used as a muzzle to prevent a dog from barking, biting, or anything along those lines. The simplest explanation is that sometimes some dogs respond better them than they do a harness. It helps you to communicate better with your dog, so they stop pulling and the communication from the leash is clearer using a Nose Necklace.
Most dogs have this reflex called the opposition reflex, which encourages the dogs to pull in the opposite direction of pressure, even if it is choking them (ie pulling on their collar, even if they can't breathe. Using the nose necklace, or even a harness replaces this reflex with pressure in different areas so that the dog doesn't pull as much. This idea is very similar to the same reason/idea as a horse on a halter: where the nose goes, the body follows! The reason why we use it in our training is because the ideal service dog doesn't pull at their leash, instead they walk in a heel (left side) or side (right side) of the handler, and the leash forms a letter J. This is also known as loose leash walking. In the ideal world, the dog would eventually be able to do this on a harness, but this isn't always practical with the dog. So no, my service dog is not wearing a muzzle.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
June 2020
|