Easily available on Amazon, the colourful Barkless Silicon muzzle is a new entry to the dog muzzle market.
So, naturally it came to my attention! I approached barkless, and didn’t get a response, so, given that it was a relatively low pricepoint, I figured I’d just pick it up to try it out and see if it was a nice, affordable solution for pet parents who wanted to have a cheaper entry option to the muzzle world!
This one didn’t need all that extensive testing for me to rather quickly figure out the full story with the Silicone muzzle from barkless.
I purchased this muzzle with my own money in order to write this review. Barkless did not reply to my invitation to participate
The Metrics…
What Do The Metrics Mean?
These are all things there important to consider in a well fitted muzzle. If you need a guide on how to accurately fit a muzzle for your dog? This is a wonderful guide!
Value – Not all muzzles are made equal, this metric is to describe how valuable these muzzles are vs others in their price point.
Bite-Proofness – Surprisingly, not all muzzles are biteproof! This is a way to show you how secure the muzzle is if your dog is a bite-risk.
Comfort – Whilst I can’t ask my testers (Aka Indie!) how comfortable it is, I can get an idea of how comfortable it is for him.
Robustness – is the muzzle able to take a hit? Is it brittle? Is your dog likely to chew through it?
Security – Can it be slipped easily? Is it secure? Or is it likely to fail you? High stars means it’s secure!
Weight – Is it heavy? Ideally we want it to be lightweight so that we can intrude upon our dogs in a minimal fashion.
Treat Delivery – It’s important as a part of training that we can deliver treats to our pups!
Mouth Movement – the ability to pant, drink and vomit is critical when looking at muzzles for safety reasons.
Airflow – the ability to breath is … not really an option is it? But some designs can be more restrictive than others.
In short…
Truthfully, even though it’s labelled as silicone, I didn’t expect for this to be fully silicone – I expected some amount of rigidity.
Consequently, this muzzle isn’t an effective muzzle for dogs. The best I can say is that it’s possibly okay for a ‘recovering’ dog who doesn’t really need a muzzle but you’re using it for visuals, but it will not stop your dog from biting, picking up things, or indeed performing most of the actions that I (as a trainer) would recommend a muzzle for.
The shape is fine – the problem is the material.
It’s silicone. Which means that it just flexes around your dog’s attempts to do things whether that’s scavenge or bite a child…
Is Your Dog
Reactive?
If you’re looking for a
muzzle for your reactive
dog, this is just your first
step in your journey.
In Detail
What Do I Love About The Barkless Silicone Muzzle
It’s super colourful
I love how colourful it is. Muzzles are often boring, cold or ‘sterile’ – but the barkless muzzle is absolutely not. It’s fun, and comes in a range of colours and patterns that just make the whole process really fun. It does also mean that there’s a lot less stigma around it, people view a colourful, fun muzzle in a much less threatening manner.
It allows for great airflow
Where it is so open, it’s wonderful and I have zero fears about overheating or even stagnating air – the barkless silicone muzzle allows total freedom of air.
Strong straps and rubbing considered.
Whilst it misses the nose pad I do like to see, this silicone muzzle has cotton on a lot of the surfaces that will come into contact and potentially rub your dog – which is great! The straps are strong too, you can feel they’re sturdy, even if they’re soft to the touch.
Readily Available
It ships quickly from Amazon and is at a reasonable price. But I’m really scraping the barrel here!
What Don’t I Love About The
It’s not biteproof – or even deterrent
One of the big reasons that this muzzle just shouldn’t be used is the fact that it’s silicone. Silicone flexes – but unlike vinyl – it doesn’t hold enough rigidity to prevent your dog from biting.
Yep. It’s not biteproof, it’s so easily destroyed (even with proper supervision). It’s not the shape, I support another similarly shaped plastic muzzle – but it functions as a deterrent! Which is great! So long as you understand that.
But this one is just … so easily destroyed and if your dog were put in a position where they may bite? This is not going to save anyone.
It’s flexible, but doesn’t fit right
Where the barkless is flexible, and where amazon ships it out, it came pretty much in a flat envelope. It seems to have been stored like this too. Consequently, it’s really long – vertically? And Indie’s little nose is a bit more square – so it has the space to be perfect – it’s just too flat. I’ve been I’ve been trying to reshape it and it’s still longer than I would like.
The design is suspiciously familiar…
Now, I knew it looked familiar when I bought it, and I thought “no… surely not…” but on closer inspection? Yes, it’s suspiciously similar to another muzzle I’ve reviewed, just missing the branding. If I were that company, I’d be angry. And consequently I’d encourage you (if you can and if the muzzle works for you) to support the original.
Do I Recommend The Barkless Silicone Muzzle?
Frankly… No.
The Barkless Silicone Muzzle doesn’t do the tasks that I’d want a muzzle to do, sorry. It’s only benefit is that it can be sized properly. For that, and that alone it barely ranks above a fabric muzzle. But truthfully? This is not safe.
But, if you need a better muzzle? One that will actually work? Head over to Best Dog Muzzles where you’ll find my most current and up to date list of favourites!
Author, Ali Smith
Ali Smith is a professional, qualified, and multi-award winning trainer is the founder of rebarkable. She has always believed animals deserve kindness and champions force free methods. Believing that dog guardians will all choose the kindest options if proper information is provided, she aims to help all dog guardians who need it and make dog training as accessible as possible
Ali lives win Maryland, US with her husband and her three dogs.
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