Muzzling

I have decided to muzzle Dylan and Flash for a while again... They are normally muzzled when I take them out at peak walking times or to places where I don't know the dogs. In the mornings when I know everyone and the dogs know everyone, I didn't muzzle.

However, on Friday, Dylan bullied a lab. He never liked him much since he was hassled by a lab a while ago that wouldn't take "no" for an answer until Dylan had to get quite nasty to get rid of him. Since then he has been a bit full-on with some labs, though never injured any (and I always made sure I'd call him back before he ran up to them). However, on Friday, said lab suddenly appeared from behind without me noticing it (with owners, so no-one's fault). Dylan charged over and - unlike all the other times - the lab ran off and Dylan chased and nipped him, which made the lab yelp. The owner then told me that he'd been attacked two weeks ago and is a bit more worried now! Fair enough... so Dylan is muzzled now until we gain a bit more control again and things have settled.

The same Friday morning, another lab appeared literally out of nowhere with no owner in sight... I did hear a faint voice of a woman calling presumably this lab... from about 200 yards away or so. Flash wasn't happy with him (the lab had a challenging body posture which Flash doesn't like) and nipped him too... again, no injuries, but he kept at it as the lab - yet again - wouldn't leave us alone (even after being nipped). It took minutes until we finally managed to get rid of him!
What worried me though was that Flash's teeth kept chattering even after the event and I didn't like that. I think it is because he got hold of meat/meat juices during the previous few days which my husband leaves out and doesn't bother to put away. Flash is allergic to animal protein and one of the symptoms is behaviour problems including lowering of the aggression threashold, less self-control and less bite inhibition! So apart from telling hubby off and get him to tidy up after himself, in particular meat food, I have also decided to muzzle Flash for a bit until things are under control again.