Posted on April 23, 2007 Posted by John Scalzi 15 Comments
And to celebrate, here’s a picture of the muzzled dog that I can see from the window of my hotel room. Poor doggie. Although, who knows maybe it is a biter.
Off to dinner with friends. See you all tomorrow.
Taunting the tauntable since 1998
John Scalzi, proprietor – JS
Athena Scalzi, contributor – AMS
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Golly, that looks so sad.
Golly, that looks so sad.
I can’t tell from the picture, but you’re sure it’s a muzzle and not a kind of collar?
I can’t tell from the picture, but you’re sure it’s a muzzle and not a kind of collar?
Welcome to Seattle!
While I think Kate is onto something, he just looks like a howler. Not conducive to neighborhood tranquility.
If that leash is snapped under the chin, it looks more like a gentle leader. A gentle leader (which my wife and I use) is a different kind of lead which does not restrict barking, biting, eating, or anything else. It gives greater control over the dog and doesn’t result in the choking that can come with a standard lead and collar if the dog pulls hard.
We can see the dog’s nose and snout in the picture, which makes me think it is not a muzzle. With a muzzle, the entire snout would be encased in the muzzle which works like the Hannibal Lecter mask.
I concur with Joe’s assessment… it looks like a gentle leader, not a muzzle. We tried it (the gentle leader, not the muzzle) on one of our dogs and, long story short, it didn’t work out so well. She scrapped all the skin off her nose trying to get it off as we were walking. After that, we went with the body harness (which they much prefer) for both of our dogs.
in either case it seems rather strange to have the puppy on a leash with muzzle or not and then to not actually be holding the leash.
I agree…looks like a Gentle Leader. Have them on both of our dogs. One tried to scrape off his face at first, but now he wears it just fine.
It’s the small dogs that are the craziest and deserving of muzzles and such. I have a chihuahua terrier mix, about nine pounds, and we adopted him after he was rescued from Hurricane Katrina. Whatever happened to him, he becomes ferociously aggressive when confronted by new people on “his” territory. We’ve tried all sorts of behavioral modifications, and he has improved. But I am convinced that due to his neurochemistry and his size, he will never be calm. If I could find a muzzle that stayed on his snout, he would spend more time on it since he has bitten pretty much every friend I have.
Granted, he’s not going to maul you, but it still hurts and can leave a scar. So, when I see little dogs with muzzle like devices on their faces, I assume they suffer from Little Dog Syndrome (LDS).
It’s not strange at all out here to see a dog on a leash with no one holding the leash. How else do you get your morning Starbucks fix when you’re walking your dog?
At my local Starbucks, there’s generally 3-5 dogs sitting quietly outside waiting for their owners to get their lattes.
Here’s a ficlet inspired by your photo:
Unhappy Dog
The last time I was in Seattle, I saw a tree scarf. No, a tree sweater. There were these trees outside the place I was staying, and someone had knitted a sweater for one of them. Really. No shit.
I just returned from the Seattle signing, and lemme tell you, the bit John read from his upcoming book was absolutely hilarious. As we were the “guinea pigs” and given the response, I can tell ya that the rest of you are in for a treat.
And John, given your response, perhaps I will print/bind that book and mail it in later on…