Muzzle Up – Love Your Muzzle

When you adopt a greyhound from KGR you will be provided with a muzzle. This is not a decorative souvenir to hang in your hallway, or a useless gift to lose amongst the crisp wrappers in the footwell of your car.

Does my greyhound need to wear a muzzle?

When you adopt a greyhound from KGR you will be provided with a muzzle. This is not a decorative souvenir to hang in your hallway, or a useless gift to lose amongst the crisp wrappers in the footwell of your car. This is an essential piece of equipment that you must use, with no exceptions, when you adopt a dog from Kent Greyhound Rescue.

Have we got your attention?

All greyhounds (indeed all sighthounds, most terriers and many many other breeds) have a genetic prey drive (instinct to hunt). It is part of them all, whether we like it or not. The breeder of your dog was hoping for a puppy with a fast reaction time and desire to pursue a moving target. Your dog was bred by people that wanted the prey drive because it is an essential ingredient in a greyhound that will run and win races. All greyhounds (including yours) have this genetic prey drive, even the ones that were not good enough to race, or didn’t want to race or were never trained, or were discarded when they were still just puppies. It is an instinct and it does not simply wash off when your greyhound arrives in your home.

When arriving at our rescue most of the greyhounds will be interested in chasing things that move. It could be leaves in the wind, rabbits and squirrels or even small dogs running in the distance. You will see them pricking up their ears, they might bounce or pull and they might want to chase. But we must also remember that the same genetic prey drive is still there in the plodder hound that wanders along on a loose lead, never going faster than he needs to.

We need you to put a muzzle on your dog to stop this instinct getting him into trouble.

Please consider the following two scenarios:

  • You have let your dog off the lead in a secure dog park but didn’t notice the small dog in the distance. Your greyhound has noticed it and thinks it is a rabbit. He starts to chase. Your muzzle might be the only thing left to prevent a treasured pet being hurt or killed;  
  • You are walking in the park and a small dog bursts out of the hedge next to your dog. Your plodding greyhound who was cuddled up with the cat 10 minutes ago has gone to grab it. He didn’t think. He didn’t mean it. It came out of nowhere. Your muzzle might be the only thing left to prevent a treasured pet being hurt or killed;

It is important to understand the value of the muzzle.

Responsible greyhound owners put one on their dog. In our contract we ask you to agree to put one on your dog for at least three months or until you are sure that your greyhound can safely meet other dogs. We HOPE that you will always use the muzzle. As you can see from the scenarios above, the muzzle is an invaluable tool for all greyhounds. It makes sense.

Will my dog still enjoy his walk is he is muzzled?

Greyhounds are trained to wear a muzzle in the racing industry so they don’t mind. 

We don’t want to put you off owning one of our lovely greyhounds. We do want to stop you being the person responsible for tearing a family apart if your dog kills their dog. Do you want that on your conscience?

Love your muzzle.

A muzzle is also useful:

  • To use in the garden until the neighbourhood cats learn there is a new dog;
  • To prevent your dog picking up dangerous food from the footpath;
  • To help safely introduce your dog to other breeds.
  • For training your greyhound to live with a cat or other furry or feathery pets.

And don’t forget…..people are used to seeing greyhounds wearing a muzzle. The greyhound doesn’t care, so why should you?

You are being a responsible dog owner. If a pink muzzle makes you feel better, we can help you with that.

A recent safety campaign encouraged car occupants to ‘belt up’. We want you to muzzle-up!

A PDF download will be available soon – please pass on the message – muzzles save lives.

We sell muzzles in our online shop – they are a very small price to pay to keep everyone safe. 

Everyone at Kent Greyhound Rescue is a volunteer.  Our online shop really helps us to pay our kennel and vets bills.  We sell everything you need for your dog and all proceeds help the rescue. 

Do you follow us on Facebook and Instagram?

X