I messed up my dog’s muzzle training. How can I get it back?
I have a 4-year-old cocker spaniel mix who is prone to ear infections. Shocking, I know. He would have ear infections probably once every eight to twelve weeks, despite being on an allergy diet and taking medication. He HATES stuff being put in his ears and gets very worked up. I can handle his ears without cleaner or gauze in my hands, but as soon as he detects something that isn’t hands he doesn’t tolerate it. Ear infection treatment is hard for him, and not fun for anybody else. I have had no progress working with him on that. I muzzle trained him when he was about a year old, because it was obvious that he was going to bite someone during ear treatment if we didn’t. I took a cooperative approach, and he got so good at helping put his basket muzzle on.
However, about a year ago his vet suggested an ear care routine that involves much more frequent cleaning. I have to muzzle him for the cleaning. The cleaning routine worked really well for him, and he hasn’t had an ear infection in a year. But now, I am pretty sure I ruined his muzzle training by using it mostly during ear cleaning and not otherwise. He will not help put it on anymore and I haven’t been able to rebuild a positive association with it yet.
The worst part is that he still needs ear treatments whether he likes the muzzle or not.
I was wondering if anybody here has any advice on how to fix my training mistake? Muzzle training was much easier when it didn’t have a negative association for him.