can my dog eat stuff with a muzzle on?

She shouldn't be able to eat with a muzzle on. But...Where are you letting her off leash? I wouldn't let a dog interact with strange dogs with a muzzle on. It can make them quite fearful and later dog aggressive.

If your dog can get her tongue out, yes she can sneak stuff into her mouth.  If the muzzle is that tight tho, she can't open her mouth to pant and since that is the only real way dogs have to sweat, you're putting her in danger by not letting her pant.
 
Rather than use a muzzle, I'd be installing an excellent LEAVE it command, along with a DROP it.  Ignoring you is rewarding because she gets the food....make attention to you MORE rewarding by having really premium (and smelly) treats for when she does leave it.  And you'll really not be able to do that off lead...not at first, but you might be able to use a dragline.  Spiritdogs has an excellent TRADE protocal and you might do a search for her and ask her for that via PM.
 
I hate to say this, but the DOG isn't the one you should be mad at.....when dogs make mistakes it's because they haven't been properly trained to ALWAYS heed what we say.  When I take my dogs out in the woods off lead they are often up to 50 feet ahead of me, but I can call out a leave it when I see a nose go down and they will....sometimes more reluctantly than others, but leave it they will....and typically trot back to see if I have something good to offer for complying.  If I don't happen to have the treat bag, well they get a ton of praise.  Since you're dog is a glutton, I'd make sure that I always, always had something of higher value than what she is finding on the ground.

Glenda has given you good advice.  Any time a dog disobeys it is usually because you haven't taught the command properly, or proofed it in all situations.  Time to go back to class and learn to teach her to "leave it".  But, if you are walking in an urban area, where people are tossing crap all around, and letting your dog off leash, I question your judgment in doing so.  It isn't the stuff on the sidewalk I'd worry about.  If your dog blows you off when you issue a command, you won't be able to help her avoid traffic either - and may find yourself crying when your dog is lying dead under the wheels of a car for the crime of wanting to chase a rabbit... Please don't take the chance.  Teach "leave it", but buy a couple of 30' training leads and put some knots in them (she can drag them, but you can step on them to stop her instantly).  Then, she can frolic a bit in the safer areas, but you can reel her in when you are near the streets.

P.S.  A muzzled dog is not safe off leash - ever.  She cannot defend herself against an assault by another off leash dog, nor would she appear friendly if she got lost, so who would try to pick her up to return her to you? 

the only time I even consider putting a muzzle on Molly is when someone strange comes to our house. Molly has developed a rather aggressive approach to answering the door. She's fine when someone comes in and we are working on me answering the door rather than her - but when we have company maybe once every 2 months it's hard. As soon as I feel she is calming down the muzzle comes off.
BUT - she can still pick items up from the food (such as cat food) with the muzzle on. I do have the kind a dog can wear and still pant/drink water.
She has on one for 5-10 minutes at the most and when ordering one every one I saw said a muzzle should not be on any longer than 20 minutes.
So if you dog is off leash wearing a muzzle and does run off you are looking at the probability of the muzzle being on much longer than the recommended 20 minutes.
I wonder if that is the time limit for a dog to overheat due to not being able to pant properly.

I just want to say to the OP:  Yes a dog can eat with a muzzle on, at least certain types of muzzles.  A good friend of mine has a toy aggressive dobie bitch that wears a basket muzzle at the park.  She can still pick up all sorts of toys, toys that she shouldn't be able to...like a frisbee or a tennis ball.  If your dog is determined, she'll eat with the muzzle on.

Training is importanint above all else. If your having a difficult time training your dog, and many people do, then you should seek a trainer. Even if it's for one privet lession to teach you what to do about thie one problem.

A muzzle is more ment to be used as training aid. Or if at the vets office to keep the vet and staff safe so they can help the dog. I once had to almost always have a muzzle on Giz for her fear agression but now I don't use it as often as I did before. I never taker her anywere off leash so I can monerter at all times when she is wearing the muzzle. It's to keep her safe and other dogs safe as well.

I've tried several types of muzzles and brands but I found that the cage muzzle works the beast and give the dog the most freedom, they can still bark and pant. Most muzzle are desinged to allow the dog to at the very least drink while wearing it. The only ones that I can think of that would compleatly stop the dog from eating would be the solid leather ones, like you would see on a police dog. I don't think thoes are really nessacery if your just working on training your dog.

Muzzling a dog gives many the wrong idea of that dog. Someone sees a muzzled dog and suddenly assums that that dog is mean. They will walk on the other side of the road to avoide that dog. I've gotten reactions like "It's not safe for you to bring that kind of dog out in public" and other "why do you keep such a vicios dog" they tell me these things without even knowing the reason why I muzzle. I muzzle my dog because I know my dogs and can handle her well, It's other dogs and people I worrie about.

ok. i guess the muzzle won't work then. but i do want to clarify a few things. i didnt think it would be necessary to explain all this in my original post.
 
1. about getting mad: yes, i know it is not my dogs fault. and i very rarely get mad at my dog. but after all i am still human, and it has just been bugging me. the muzzle (which i guess i won't be using after all) was to be a temporary solution, until i reinforce my training.
 
2. my living situation is not the same as most of you guys probably. i live in beijing, china. when i let her off leash, this is only downstairs of my building, where there are no cars and in an eclosed bit of grass. my dogs are very obedient generally, and i have trained them to stay in that area UNTIL i call them and i can trust them 100% on that. this is a VERY good situation for me, because i can control who they are interacting with and so on but still give them the freedom to run their little heads off. so what i want to say is that i am not so irresponsible to have my dog off leash on the side walk. i would NEVER do that. period!
 
3. in this situation she wouldn't meet new dogs. she knows all the dogs in my building and is friendly with them.
 
4. she knows the DROP IT command, and she was obeying it 98% of the time until recently. now, i am working on it, but it's just not as easy. can't let her run with a long leash, cause there are lots of bushes and trees around, and the leash gets tangled ALL the time. and particularily moca is a little on the slow side, so despite months of training efford put into that, she just doesnt understand that going back around the tree will untangle her. (my little one learned that real quick..) and now they planted new bushes around the area and it just isn't as easy to get in there to untangle (or for that matter reinforce my comands)..
 
5. also i don't see how she could get lost. i watch her all the time, and her "come" command is pretty solid. unless there's food lying around somewhere, that is..
 
 
i hope that clears up some of the confusion. i dont want to apear to be an irresponsible dog owner, or one that doesn't understand how to train a dog. i was just looking into the muzzle as an option to a) help the training process and b) give me some piece of mind. me getting mad (as stupid as it is, but unfortunately i DO have emotions) is just not helping my dog either.
 
ps: another thing is just that there's litter (i dont see it, but she does) everywhere  and i can barely keep up telling her to drop it. and especially walking them after dark makes it harder, cause i have problems telling whether she is eating something, or just smelling around..

xebby: i wish i could get a dog trainer here, but in this country (china) people only JUST started having dogs as pets a few years ago, so there is no such thing at the moment.
 
and yes, i have thought about the fact, that it will make my dog look mean to others. but then again i rarely care what others think of me and my dogs. plus most people here know my dog PLUS i was thinking of using the muzzle mainly after dark, when i can't see very well whether my dog is eating or sniffing...
 
anyways, thanks for all the input guys. guess the muzzle idea wasn't such a good one anyways. but that's why i figured i'd ask around first, before doing something that doesn't help the problem, or worse, creates other problems

Oh, sorry, I didn't know where you live, I guess I just assume most people here are in the US[]

There are also great books and videos that can help you. I don't know exactly off hand which ones to sugget (spirtdog help!). It's just that my experance with muzzles is that I try to use them as lest often as I can. I don't at all see you and a irresponsible dog owner, there are many times I question myself if I should try this or that or if it's a bad idea. I had to go thew quite a bit of training myself to teach me what was best for my dog. It's always better to ask.[]

yeah. i think i'm not so much worried about the training. i had her trained pretty well already. this seems more like her acting up or discovering the joys of eating garbage..
it's just due to this situation many techniques are hard to apply, and on top of it all moca is not exactly the brightest dog, so i guess i'll just have to REALLY patient until i see results from re-training...

Aren't you also dealing w/ the whole one dog limit and rabies scare stuff in your area janetmichel? If so a muzzle might put your dog at even more risk of being confiscated since people would interpret it as her being more likely to bite. Just a thought.

What about getting a head halter and using a leash for now to teach the "leave it" command? Then you'd have control of her head. You can also set up "traps" where you put food or similar things on the ground yourself so you can predict when you'll need to give the "leave it" command, thus making practicing more effective and efficient.

yes, stardog, you are right...
this new one-dog thing is really getting to me. also part of the reason i walk them more at night nowadays...
 
as for your suggestion: what exactly is a head halter??
 
PS: how did you hear about the dog issues here in china?

Ummm head halters are hard to explain so here's a picture of a Gentle Leader (my fav model):

A head halter unfortunately does look kinda like a muzzle, but as you can see actually doesn't inhibit the mouth at all and you can get a button that says "no it's not a muzzle" now lol. The idea is that where the head goes, the body will follow (just as in horses). Halters should only be worn while ona regular 4 to 6ft leash as sharp jerks can hurt the dog's neck; gentle pulls are used to move the dog. They work fabulously for pulling on lead as well when coupled with some training.

I heard about the dog issues in China via this site (and one of the news sites, too) - there is at least one other person from China on the board and they posted links, etc. asking for help.

We have heard about the dog issues on TV. 

The Gentle Leader or Halti headcollars are available online, but I don't know if you can order from your country - or what the shipping charges would be.  Gentle Leaders are for use while you are walking your dog, not when he's out at the end of a long leash.  They come with instructions which you should follow.