Muzzle training a toy-motivated dog

Milo is gonna be spending plenty of time around the baby with a muzzle on.

Training him to wear the muzzle with bits of cheese, while not much is going on, is pretty simple.

Training him to act normal around stimulation (baby, other things) with the muzzle on with bits of cheese is a way different story.

It JUST occurred to me that whenever we're dealing with a high stress situation, and with things that send him over threshold, I use toys. He likes them WAY more than he likes food. He can not play with his squeaky toy while wearing a muzzle.

Uh-oh.

Can you train him to push toys around with his muzzle on? That way he can still interact with them.

What exactly behavior(s) are you trying to train him to do with the muzzle on? I.e. what does "act normal" mean??

I'm just trying to train him to wear the muzzle around the house/in public...so just lying around, walks, running around the yard, looking out the window, basic day-to-day applied obedience, etc...whatever he's doing when we're not playing fetch or something. I'm not trying to train him to wear the muzzle for something like vet visits or anything specific, just as a precaution around people.

I recently trained Simi how to be comfortable with a muzzle and had a similar situation. In 9/10 situations, Simi would prefer a toy to treats. So she has jolly egg that she'll nudge with her nose with the muzzle on. I keep it on me (it's a pain that it's so big, but any ball bigger than a tennis ball, really, could work) and if I want to reward her, drop it, let her nudge it around a bit, then pick it up, offer a treat just as a secondary, and then continue on.