A Duct Tape Muzzle Art Tutorial

I've seen some really lovely duct tape muzzle art at the Muzzle Up Project, and wanted to try it myself. There are a few pictures around, but I haven't been able to find any sort of a tutorial or documentation of the process. This is what held me back for months, I didn't feel confident about starting the project without seeing someone else do it first. So, in the spirit of "you go first!" and "I'll do it if you do it!", here is my process for making my first tape-wrapped muzzle.

Materials

One roll of decorative duct tape and one Baskerville muzzle.

For this project, you need duct tape and a muzzle, obviously. I also used a can of clear spray enamel and an x-acto knife. 

A note on duct tape choice: Most of the design is going to be wrapped around the small bars of the muzzle. The larger the design, the less recognizable it will be. Small prints work better, and abstract designs work best. I originally wanted Hello Kitty tape, but ended up going with rainbow unicorns. Shut up, unicorns are abstract now.

The first piece.

Time to get started! The first thing I did was tear off a small strip of tape and wrap it around a bar. Not bad, but I should have used a wider piece that covered the whole bar.

More pieces, kind of wrinkly.

I covered a few more bars and quickly discovered that covering a curved surface with a flat piece of tape resulted in wrinkles.

Cutting corners.

To fit the tape around the corners neatly, I tried cutting it with an x-acto knife.

First corners accomplished!

This made the tape lay flat around the corner, but also left gaps in the back. The alternative it to just mash it around the corner, which gives better coverage but doesn't look quite as clean.

Trimming to fit.

The duct tape is wider than the bars of the muzzle. I cut down on bulk and made the tape lay flatter by cutting off the excess before smoothing down the edges.

Big piece on longer bar.

Time to try taping a longer bar! This was the longest piece of tape so far. I checked the size before ripping off the tape. Longer pieces show the design better and look cleaner if you can get them down flat enough, but they're more prone to wrinkling too.

Halfway there!

This strip of tape went halfway around the muzzle. Most of it ended up looking pretty good, but it wrinkled more than I wanted.

A gap!

Here's a gap where the ends of the tape didn't quite meet. 

Small pieces to the rescue!

I used some of the bits I trimmed off before to cover the gaps. I was surprised how many little tiny piece I used. The pattern really helped cover them up.

The aftermath.

Here's what the table looked like when I was done. I learned that cutting the tape with the knife made for much flatter and cleaner lines, but also took way longer. Anywhere the very edge of the tape folded over on itself, I just cut off. 

The finished product.

Here's the finished muzzle. It turned out a bit more wrinkly and a bit less neat that I'd like, but was definitely a learning process.

Not perfect, but not terrible.

The toughest part was fitting the tape around the strap holes. I'm not totally pleased with how this turned out. 

Getting ready for the clear coat.

To hold everything together nicely, I decided to spray it with a couple coats of clear enamel. Gotta cover up anything I don't want painted.

Ready to spray.

With the straps covered in masking tape, I took the muzzle outside and sprayed it with the clear coat. As spray paint is inert once it is dry, "why didn't I just paint the whole damned thing?" crossed my mind, as I'm sure it did yours. Unicorns. Unicorns are the answer.

Hanging up to dry

The finished product! I don't have an in-action shot, partly because this thing needs a few days to cure and partly because I don't actually have a dog large enough to wear a size 5 Baskerville Ultra muzzle. I'm planning to do this with a smaller muzzle now that I've developed some skills. Anyone need an inexpertly-wrapped size 5 rainbow unicorn muzzle?

Product Review: Baskerville Ultra Muzzle

The Baskerville Ultra Muzzle is a basket-style muzzle by The Company of Animals, makers of the Halti head collar. It is made from flexible rubber, and is designed to allow the dog to eat, drink, pant, bark, and even play with certain kinds of toys. This muzzle comes in black and pastel blue, and is available in six sizes to fit almost any dog.

Photo by Erin Koski

Muzzles are pretty awesome, and I'm glad there are groups like the Muzzle Up Project dedicated to normalizing and encouraging their use. A lot of people see a dog in a muzzle and immediately assume that it is unsafe to be around that dog. The reality is that a muzzled dog is often much safer to be around than an unknown dog with nothing on its face. When I see a muzzle on a dog in public, I am delighted to see that someone is taking the responsibility to protect both their dog and the public.

Just because my dog doesn't routinely need to wear a muzzle right now, it doesn't mean that he won't need this skill at some point in the future. Like crate training, muzzle training is a proactive way to reduce stress in unforeseen situations. Someday I might need to prevent him from eating things off the ground. Someday we might need to evacuate in close quarters with many strangers. I already know that Brisbane needs to be muzzled for certain veterinary procedures. He might as well think this whole face cage thing is awesome.

To be fair, I do sometimes use a muzzle purely for the "yikes!" factor. When Brisbane is wearing his Baskerville Ultra Muzzle, people that would normally shout "It's okay, he's friendly!" suddenly gather up their off-leash out-of-control dog while apologizing.

Photo by Erin Koski

The Baskerville Ultra Muzzle is basically the best muzzle ever. The holes are wide enough that I can easily feed Brisbane lots and lots of treats. The adjustable strap has a zillion little holes and is super long so it will fit around tiny heads and giant heads. There is a loop on the bottom for attaching the muzzle to the dog's regular collar for extra security. The Baskerville Ultra Muzzle also comes with a removable top strap that runs between the dog's eyes, but ours was missing from the package.

The basket itself is somewhat flexible, but not enough to allow the dog to bite. It is very strong and mostly holds its shape. For a custom fit, it can be dunked in hot water, shaped, and then cooled off. Over at The Muzzle Up Project, I've seen some cute fleece and felt cozies made for the top for extra comfort.

Pros: Comfortable! Highly adjustable and very secure. Difficult to escape. Designed to be comfortable enough for extended wear. Easy to feed treats for training. Dogs can still toss and carry toys like ropes and stuffies. Did I mention comfortable?

Cons: A lot of dogs don't like the strap that goes between the eyes, fortunately that part is removable.

Bottom Line: Brisbane hates having stuff on his face, but is totally chill when wearing the Baskerville Ultra Muzzle. This is partly the result of training, and partly because this muzzle really is comfortable enough to not bother my special snowflake dog.

Is your dog trained to wear a muzzle?