Measuring the Circumference of Your Dog's Muzzle

Measuring the exact circumference of your dog's nose is easy.  That is not the measurement we should use when ordering a muzzle.  Figuring out how much extra room to add so the dog can pant can be a challenge.

One has to take a number of things into consideration:

• • • • • The length of the dog's snout
        • If the dog has a wide head
        • The size of the dog

Some muzzle manufacturers size muzzles by the breed and gender of the dog. We cannot agree with this simply because there are too many dogs of the same breed with different size heads. This is one of the reasons we will not do this on our sizing charts. We get enough muzzles back because of the wrong size that we feel its better to try and fine-tune exactly what size to order, and even then there can be mistakes.

1 Mn 35 sec

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Ball in Mouth

to Measure Circumference

One method some people use is to put a ball in the dog's mouth to determine the circumference. The issue with this is the size of the ball in relation to the size of the dog. A small dog would get an overly large measurement with a tennis ball while a big dog like a Great Dane or Mastiff would get a measurement that is too small. 

Typically,  we recommend adding one, two, or three inches to the actual circumference of the dog's jawline. How much extra to add to that number depends on the size of the dog and its jaw.

Of course, one could always put a ball in a dog's mouth and take a jaw measurement, and then compare that number to adding inches to the actual jaw measurement.  

Keep in mind that getting a muzzle that is the correct size is a lot like buying shoes for ourselves. Just because a pair of shoes is our size doesn't ensure a perfect fit due to the differences in each individual. Muzzles are no different. 

3 Mn 40 Sec