Bite Guards for Dogs: Brilliant or Bizarre?

You’ve heard of bite guards for boxers, but what about bite guards for boxer dogs? Swiss inventor Tim Saciri has been working for years on the replacement for dog muzzles, similar to the rubber mouthpiece pugilists, teeth-grinders and athletes use to keep their own teeth from getting damaged.

In Switzerland, where 29-year-old Saciri lives, there are stringent laws about supposedly dangerous breeds of dogs (spurred by the mauling of a child by pit bulls in Germany several years ago). The inventor has a rottweiler, one of 15 breeds — including various mastiffs and pit bulls — which are banned except under specific conditions. In the Swiss city of Geneva, owners of those breeds must have a permit, make sure the dog is spayed or neutered and keep them constantly muzzled outdoors.

Saciri came up with the alternative to the scary-looking muzzle and even showed his prototype to parliament in 2007, which is now available for sale in the country. And research from Switzerland's Bern University showed that a dog couldn't pop a balloon while wearing one — a good sign that your skin would be safer in the jaws of a biting pooch.


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