muzzle matters
with Sara mcloudrey
A KPA LIVE!™ Class featuring real-time training and coaching WITH sara
beyond safety - muzzle fun for your dog, start to finish
Join Sara and learn fun, positive, and fumble-free muzzle training.Muzzle training can benefit any dog on any day; this training is not just for dogs that are routinely uncomfortable or stressed. When it is done well, teaching your dog to be comfortable wearing a muzzle will help you and your dog navigate the world with more ease and less stress. Whether muzzles become part of your everyday walks or are used only under specific conditions, great muzzle training is essential. Wearing a muzzle will be no big deal—for either of you.
Welcome to Muzzle Matters LIVE!, a comprehensive 4-unit, 4-week online class designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills you need to make muzzle use, and life, better on both ends of the leash. You’ll learn to teach your dog (or clients’ dogs) muzzle training that results in low-stress muzzle-fitting and muzzle-wearing. Trainers and behavior consultants will learn the muzzle-training “hacks” and fun games that unlock the muzzle-training process for most clients.
A muzzle is a remarkably versatile piece of training gear. When wearing a muzzle becomes part of your dog’s routine, muzzles help meet medical needs, help your dog get over behavioral hurdles, ease societal pressure on you and help you, your dog, and others feel safe when out and about. For many dogs, a muzzle makes more of the world safely accessible and opens up new and enriching opportunities. For trainers and behavior consultants, knowing how to train nearly any dog to wear a muzzle—efficiently, cooperatively, and effectively—is an absolute must-have skill.
Sara’s techniques employ effective cooperative care and positive reinforcement training principles and techniques. This class is chock-full of valuable insights and practical techniques gathered from Sara’s years of muzzle training in veterinary and home settings. Sara will teach you to approach muzzle training with confidence and compassion, and achieve success.
Whether you are a dog guardian/owner, trainer, behavior consultant, or dog behavior enthusiast, each week, you'll explore a different aspect of muzzle training, that will build your understanding and practical abilities from basic desensitization to advanced skills. In each Unit, Sara will help you strengthen the trust and cooperation between you and your dog. As part of this class, you will join a supportive community of fellow course participants. Exchange insights, seek advice, and celebrate successes together.
By the end of Muzzle Matters, your dog should be comfortable wearing a muzzle while doing many of the things the dog loves, and the things that you love to do with your dog. You will have the skills to continue on your own or to coach clients to muzzle mastery with their own dogs.
Join Sara and unlock the full potential of all matters of muzzle training.
Where and When?
Zoom classes will be held on Tuesdays: May 7, May 14, May 21, and May 28. Classes will begin at 2:00 PM PT / 5:00 PM ET and are two hours long.
As soon as you enroll, you receive access to all of the curriculum videos. Can’t make the Live classes? No worries! The Zoom classes are recorded and made available shortly after each class concludes; you can access all of the recorded material for a full year!
Sara will work with each Excel team via the groups.io discussion board. Teams can submit videos of training and socialization progress for individualized feedback from Sara beginning on April 1 and leading up to the first Zoom meeting, as well as between the remaining three meetings.
Engage students can follow, train, or just learn along with each of the Excel teams, sharing their progress and experiences. During the weekly live Zoom classes, Sara will coach Excel teams one-on-one on each unit’s behaviors and goals.
Sara McLoudrey has worked for more than 20 years as a positive reinforcement practitioner and coach. She loves showing students how to make a big impact on their dogs’ behavior through simple and accessible skills, games, and concepts. Sara brings fun, creative problem-solving, joy, and laughter to her classes. Most importantly, she excels in teaching students that they have special powers. You are your dog’s magic wand!
Join Sara for Muzzle Matters LIVE! and take muzzle training beyond safety. Make it FUN!
LEARN, PRACTICE, SHARE
LEARN
Six weeks of training, a week-by-week curriculum integrated with four LIVE virtual classes with real-time coaching, interactive learning, and Q&A. Super educational, super fun.
PRACTICE
The LIVE week-by-week curriculum integrates with, and prepares you for, the weekly LIVE class. New levels of advancement each week!
SHARE
Ask questions and share insights, pics, and your training videos. Celebrate progress together!A week-by-week curriculum guides your learning every step of the way. Each week, join your classmates for one of four LIVE classes for real-time training and personalized interactive coaching, plus Q&A with your instructor. You will see other students practice the behaviors, hear your instructor’s feedback, make adjustments, and improve their training. Each of these Zoom-based classes is two hours long. All students get access to the full week-by-week curriculum and class forum. In each Zoom class:
- Engage students watch training and your instructor’s coaching and can ask questions through Zoom chat.
- Excel students get personalized real-time coaching and feedback on their training during the Zoom class PLUS on-screen Q&A.
Miss a class? No problem. LIVE classes are also recorded.
Let's Begin This Fabulous Journey, Together
- Unit 1 Lessons
- Live Class 1: May 7th
- Unit 2 Lessons
- Live Class 2: May 14th
- Unit 3 Lessons
- Live Class 3: May 21st
- Unit 4 Lessons
- Live Class 4: May 28th
LEARN WITH Sara mcloudrey
Sara McLoudrey is the founder and owner of Decisive Moment Pet Consulting. She specializes in Care with Consent (cooperative care), a variety of behavioral struggles and aggression, helping senior dogs thrive, and living with intact dogs. Sara is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC), CPDT-KSA, Fear Free Certified Professional Level 1 and Certified Trainer - Elite, Low-Stress Handling Certified, Pet End of Life Doula, FitPaws Master Trainer, and TagTeach Level 3.
Since 2001 Sara has been competing with positively trained dogs in retriever field tests, high-level competition and rally obedience (Utility and RAE level), conformation, and elite-level nose work. She founded ROOT Dog Training in 2004 and opened the first positive reinforcement training facility on Chicago’s North Shore in 2012. In 2016 Sara moved to Portland, Oregon, and joined Synergy Veterinary Behavior. There she was instrumental in expanding their Behavior Modification services and mentoring the growing team of trainers.
Over the years, she has seen how our relationships with dogs have changed and even how the “positive/force free/clicker” training world has evolved. For Sara, it is inspiring to help continue and promote this growth mindset for fellow trainers, behavior consultants, and pet guardians.
Even though Sara’s behavior consulting practice focuses on complex and sometimes dangerous behavior struggles, she is known for bringing fun, creative problem-solving, joy, and laughter to her classes and sessions. Sara is an optimist at heart, a perpetual Pollyanna, and loves teaching clients they have the power - they are their dog’s magic wand!
For more information about Sara, check out her Website, Instagram, and Facebook pages.
Here's What You'll Be Learning UNIT by UNIT
1
Introduction to muzzle training
Skills/Behaviors Covered:
- Head-In-Things
- Sniffari, or Nose-In-Things
- Movement with Nose-In-Things
Unit 1 Curriculum: The first week will begin with a discussion that uncovers the many uses for a muzzle and then explores both the broad range of muzzle options and the appropriate use-cases for each type. Next, Sara will start students on games with their dogs that will help make putting on a muzzle an opt-in game. These pre-muzzle games set the foundation for both choice-based muzzle success and fun for students and their dogs.
Unit 1 Discussion Board: After working through the Unit 1 curriculum video lecture and the practice exercises, students should head to the discussion board as soon as possible. There, Excel students will share videos of their Unit 1 training and receive feedback and coaching from Sara in preparation for the first Zoom class on May 7. Engage students can follow each Excel student discussion thread, share their own progress, post videos of their dogs and training, and offer kudos to their classmates.
Unit 1 Real-Time Virtual Class: In the first week’s real-time Zoom classroom, we’ll get to know the dog-handler Excel teams. Excel students will practice and demo the skills and exercises developed during this Unit, receiving coaching from Sara. While Excel students demonstrate progress with the Unit material, Sara will coach them on overcoming roadblocks, training refinements, and natural next steps. Engage students are encouraged to bring questions from Unit 1 to the Zoom class; Sara will answer each question and guide the transition to Unit 2 of Muzzle Matters.
2
desensitization and counterconditioning
Skills/Behaviors Covered:
- Opting into the Muzzle Time
- Fumble-free techniques putting on the muzzle
- Movement games wearing the muzzle: Two-Handed Feeding, Sit, Stand, Down, Spins, and other tricks
Unit 2 Curriculum: Sara helps you build on the reinforcement history you established in Unit 1 and begin shaping muzzle-wearing duration. Sara will introduce the first of her “muzzle-training hacks” that make putting a muzzle on your dog less cumbersome and more fluid for you, and easier for your dog. These muzzle-training hacks offer handlers a clean, easy, and repeatable process that reduces fumbling and resizing. The techniques will be useful not only for the dog in front of you now but also for any dogs you may work with in the future. The Unit 2 video curriculum and practice exercises cover foundational desensitization and counterconditioning skills as well as gradual exposure techniques. Additionally, you will learn to identify signs of stress and discomfort in your dog, quickly and accurately, so that you and your dog have fun and positive associations are built throughout the muzzle-training process.
Unit 2 Discussion Board: In the groups.io forum, Excel students will exchange ideas and receive coaching from Sara on their video submissions for the week. Engage students are always encouraged to share their progress. All students will prepare questions for the Zoom class.
Unit 2 Real-Time Virtual Class: In the second virtual Zoom classroom, Excel students will demonstrate their progress with both the Unit 2 behaviors and the Unit 1 behaviors. Sara will coach each Excel team individually and will help troubleshoot the work they have done for the week. Excel and Engage students will bring training questions to the class for Sara to address live during the Zoom call.
3
Practical Applications and Real-World Scenarios
Behaviors with the Muzzle on:
- Relaxation
- Walking and Sniffaris
- Various Food-Delivery Options
- Drinking Water
Unit 3 Curriculum: In this third Unit, Sara will coach you through teaching your dog that muzzles mean more freedom to do the things they love. You will add duration to muzzle wearing and your dog will learn critical skills like drinking water, taking treats, and relaxing while wearing a muzzle. The skill of relaxed behavior while wearing a muzzle is pivotal; it allows for generalizing the muzzle into everyday situations like grooming, vet visits, or social interactions. Sara will also reintroduce the games you and your dog played earlier, this time with your dog wearing a muzzle, so that we can strengthen the behavior of muzzle-wearing through familiar and fun behaviors.
Unit 3 Discussion Board: Post video links of your training progress and cheer on your classmates with comments on the class forum! Sara will offer feedback on Excel students’ videos so that everyone can learn from them.
Unit 3 Real-Time Virtual Class: Excel students will demonstrate their successes and receive more coaching from Sara on the Unit 3 exercises. Sara will also answer any questions from Excel and Engage students.
4
Advanced Skills and After-Class Success
Skills/Behaviors Covered:
- Muzzle Maintenance Mode
- Enrichment Games Muzzled
- Play while Muzzled
Unit 4 Curriculum: This week, Sara will teach you how she incorporates even more behaviors, games, and skills that dogs love, all while they are muzzled. For example, she will demonstrate how to continue to play games like fetch, tug, chase, and more with your muzzled pup. Because muzzle training should continue beyond the end of this LIVE class, Sara will help you fine-tune your muzzle-training skills, build on the momentum you’ve created, and maintain the skills your dog has acquired with a wealth of new games and exercises to use with your dog or clients’ dogs. Sara will wrap up the class by helping all students create a long-term, personalized plan for muzzle-training success. Excel students enjoy direct individualized feedback as they develop their plans.
Unit 4 Discussion Board: In the discussion board on groups.io, Sara will coach Excel teams directly on continuing to build duration and further incorporating games their dogs love as a part of the muzzle-training experience. Watch as the long-term planning and preparation unfolds, and share your own plans for continued muzzle-training success.
Unit 4 Real-Time Virtual Class: In this last Zoom class, Excel students will demonstrate their progress with the skills and behaviors that have been built throughout the course, focusing on those from Unit 4. This will also be the last opportunity for Engage and Excel students to ask questions, receive coaching, and share experiences. You won’t want to miss it!
Remember, you retain access to the course content, including the class recordings, for one year after your enrollment date; you and your dog can keep learning together after this final LIVE class.
