Modifying a B+F Leather Muzzle
(3 Parts)
Learn how to modify down the length, chin and straps on a B+F Leather muzzle.
Shortening Length (1)
STEP 1: To start, measure your dogs nose (as mentioned HERE) to get the length measurement you need, you want the muzzle to be very close to this length, slightly less is usually preferred but a bit long is okay too. Measure and mark out a line on where you want to cut. I want this muzzle to be 3” length instead of 3.75”.
STEP 2: When cutting it is best to cut less as you can always cut again, this way you can test on your dog to make sure you do need to cut more off the muzzle. Make sure you use sharp scissors and be careful. It is fine to cut across the stitching as it is only ‘structural’ near the noseband which will be fixed in later steps.
STEP 3: After the first cut you can see I have taken off approximately 0.5” but I still would like more gone, so I recut along the line and got the length down to 3” as shown in the second picture.
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STEP 4:
Next we look at the noseband, you can see the stitching will come undone when cutting, you can either resew it, glue or like I did rivet it. Using a leather hole punch I put in a small hole, which is offset but I’m not fussed on looks, technically you could make it look more centre but as long as it does the job. You can at this stage add more nose padding , I chose not to but it is done the same way as the methods mentioned above.
If you put the muzzle on your dog and find you cannot tighten it properly because of the chin or straps, continue to the next section below.
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Shortening Chin Length (2)
STEP 1:
This step can be done with the length above or done by itself if the chin is too long but the length is good. You can either approximate how much should come off, or you can put the muzzle on and measure the space it has to move up the nose (if it’s sitting 0.5” away from where it should sit on the nose then you should likely cut the chin down 0.5”-0.75”), the other option is to just cut small amounts at a time and keep rechecking on the dog. Again it is okay to cut past the rivet and over the stitching.
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STEP 2:
Once cut to the desired length you may have some space left to rivet, sew or glue back together. Again even left as is the muzzle is still structurally good. I put a rivet into mine using the leather hole punch.
Once complete, if you put on the dog and now find that the straps are too long or in the wrong position you can continue to the next step to modify the straps.
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Modding The Straps (3)
STEP 1:
You can modify the straps with length and chin or may just be fixing something a dog chewed, either way fixing the straps is quite easy to do.
You can pull apart the rivet and remove straps that way but I usually just cut off the strap entirely.
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STEP 2:
Once cut you need to position the straps in the correct angle and position. It can help by getting the general position you want, putting a hole and rivet/stitch into it and then place the muzzle on the dog, then move the strap angle to the position you want. Pinch/hold that position, take off the dog and put in a hole/stitch to hold it there.
Trim around the strap/muzzle to line them up and then complete on the other side. After this you should be all done!.
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