Sizing With Measurements
Size A Muzzle With Measurements
Sizing a muzzle is not an easy task, even I after 6 years can still struggle with it, especially if the dog sits in-between muzzle sizes (which will be explained more below). If you are at this stage you would hopefully have the 6 needed measurements, they will either be accurate, partially accurate or approximated.
They are length, width, closed height, open height, closed circumference and open circumference. For this example I will use Evelyn's Doberman from our how to measure chart. We will pretend we don't have all his picture measurements and had to 'approximate' his width and have no circumference measurements.
His measurements are;
Length: 4"
Width: 3" *
Closed Height: 4"
Open Height 6"
Circumference: none
Open Circumference: none
In this example he is a bite risk so that rules out any non bite proof muzzles. Which means we should only look at charts from suitable brands/make. You can learn more about picking which muzzles will suit in the Comparing Muzzle Options tab above. He also needs a muzzle to fit a full pant.
For this example we have picked CHOPO, JVM, JAFCO, BIRDWELL as they are all bite-proof.
The next thing to do is pull up their size charts (you can find all charts in the Accurate Muzzle Charts tab above) and start with looking at HEIGHT. If you are using our charts (which we highly recommend as most others are incorrect) it could be labelled as height, front height or back height depending on the brand/chart.
So starting with height we know that the dogs full pant is 6" which means any muzzle under 5.5" is 100% ruled straight out since they want a muzzle for full pant. You can also rule out any muzzle over 7" since we don't recommend more than 1"/2.5cm over full pant height. This leaves sizes: 20C, 21C, 65C, 63C, 32C, 39C, 29C, 30C, 69C, 29F, 30F.
Then the next measurement to look at is length, anything shorter than 4" will likely be too short and anything over 4.5" will also be too long so you can rule them out. You will see Chopo has wire length too and this is the length the noseband can be cut down too. So if you can't find a length that will work, next look at the wire length. This leaves sizes: 20C, 21C, 65C, 63C, 32C.
Next you look at front width, with the dog being roughly 3" width, anything less than this in front width likely will not fit which rules out 32C as it is 2.5" front width.
Now you are left with 4 muzzles, technically the front width of the 65C and 63C would work for this dog but since the 20C and 21C has a good front width and not too wide back width they would be the better choice. Remembering width can be squished in and also sit wider on the dogs face for a full pant. Now looking at 20C and 21C, they are both really similar but the dogs full pant sits in between the two heights. We would recommend going the bigger size when making this choice, though sometimes smaller is fine if not needing full pant all the time. This leaves the 21C, which yes, is the exact muzzle that fits this dog.
You can repeat this method with every brand though the less sizes/options the harder it will be to find the best fit, though you can see height is the more important measurement.
Next you could look at the JAFCO chart and you can see the biggest size is only 5.5" height so it could work for this dog but not fit that fullest pant.
When Picking: Is A Bit Small Or A Bit Big Better
This will completely depend on your dog and what it is needed for. If your dog has breathing issues or pants a ton then you will be better with a bit big, where as if you don't need it for a full pant often a bit small would be okay as it would still fit a regular pant. Height is usually the first measurement people ask about, which can be up to an inch taller than the dogs pant, though this will depend on the size of your dog too, since a small dog having a whole extra inch of room is much more than needed, compared to a large dog adding 1", that is not much when compared to how big it is already.
When looking at width, it is slightly more relaxed than height as you can go a bit wider than what your dogs width is, however you can't go any narrower since enough width is important for panting and comfort too. A small dog with a 2" width could work in a 2.75" width muzzle and a large dog with a 3.5" width could fit in a 5" width. You will also need to check if you're looking at front or back width since front width is more accurate to what the back width can be squished to.
Length is bit harder since more dogs will be bothered by a muzzle that is too long since it could push up the face and into the eyes. While we have never heard of a dog injuring themselves this way, we still obviously don't recommend the muzzle touches your dogs eyes. In this case you wouldn't want the muzzle to be more than 0.5" than their exact length. BUT because so many muzzles can have length easily modified it is much easier to go with a slightly long muzzle and modify it down. It is also possible to go slightly short on length or the same as your dogs length, it will just sit a bit further from the eyes. We don't recommend any more than 0.5" under length to ensure it doesn't sit halfway down the nose.
The Exception: In-Between Sizes
Sometimes you will have a dog that sits in-between the muzzle sizes. This usually happens when the dog has a really large pant or an exceptionally small width or basically no nose length. An example would be a Staffy with a huge pant, whilst they are a smaller type dog their pant can reach up to 5.5" height but their width and length may only be 2.75". To make it quicker this dog would be narrowed down to 24C and 29C because of their height and length, the issue being that the 24C may not be enough height to correctly fit, but when you go to the only other Chopo option the 29C it could end up wide/bulky on the dog because there is such a jump up in height and width the muzzle could end up being too big for the dog. But the only way to actually judge that is by trying it first.
If you have a dog that you just can't seem to find the right size for it's very likely its because they're sitting in between sizes and sometimes you just have to find what will work best, not what will work perfectly.
The Chin Length
The chin length on a muzzle you will notice is something MTT do on most wire muzzles, this is because of their shape/make, some come with longer chins, which is fine for most dogs but for dogs that need the length modified down to 'wire length' it can cause the muzzle not to fit correctly since the chin stops the muzzle being moved back once the noseband length has been modified. Unfortunately it is really difficult to know if that will be an issue with your dog since it depends on how the muzzle sits on your dog, how low the chin is etc so it is not something that can be checked before purchase, however if you have a shorter nose dog but have to go for a longer muzzle and modify down, be sure to check the shape and chin length of the muzzle to get an idea of how much longer chin is compared to length. A great example is the 9F/40C on the Chopo chart above, it has a shorter length of 4" with the noseband and 3" wire length, which a 3" length dog should fit in, but because the chin length is 5.5" it would be 2.5" longer than the length of the muzzle, thus making the muzzle sit 2.5" from the eyes, or you will get the chin really tight on the neck underneath.
Use The Muzzle, Dog and Comparison Charts To Confirm
If you find yourself struggling to narrow it down further or just would like to confirm the options you have got, you can use MTTs dog and comparison charts. The comparison charts are mostly muzzle compared to muzzle but some will have dogs wearing them too, not every brand/size will be listed, but if that's the case it is probably one that does not fit many dogs compared to the other popular sizes. The dog charts will have the dog wearing and/or panting in the muzzle, with the dogs measurements in the photo too, these charts are incredibly helpful when sizing and picking a muzzle and is one of the main ways MTT size other dogs, by using all other dogs we have sized.
MTT and our members have also gone and taken a photo of nearly every size we had measured too, so you can see the individual measurements and shapes of the muzzles too.
Find these in the Accurate Muzzle Charts tab above.
Frequently Asked Questions
What If I Pick Custom?
If you are going with a custom made muzzle, be sure to read over the companies recommended before purchasing. As for sizing, head to their website and talk to the creator for all info. MTT just recommend the company but don't give info on how to measure/size their muzzles. They still of course should fit the same way as all other muzzles.
I Can't Narrow It Down?
I really can only explain so much, its quite hard trying to explain something that does require experience to complete easily. If after reading our instructions and you are still confused I would recommend looking at the dog charts and find a dog that looks similar to yours.
I Can't Find A Perfect Fit?
This is fairly common for a whole range of reasons, if you have minimal measurements or info you may have this problem, or your dog is in-between sizes which is explained more in sizing with measurements tab above. Your best bet is going with as close to perfect as possible while deciding what small sacrifice you may need to make on fit for it to work.