We’re excited to feature Clara Hewson, CEO of The Muzzle Movement. Clara’s journey started with her search for safe, comfortable muzzles for her own dog, Tolly.
This personal need grew into a global mission to promote the safe use of muzzles and change how people see muzzled dogs. From working as a senior training advisor in dog rescue to launching a successful Kickstarter that raised £46,000 in just 30 days, Clara has built a brand that’s making a difference.
With a passionate team, creative designs, and a strong commitment to ethical practices, The Muzzle Movement is changing how we care for our dogs and shattering myths about dogs who wear muzzles.
What inspired you to start The Muzzle Movement?
Can you share the story behind the brand and how your experiences with Tolly led to its creation?
I worked as a senior training and behaviour advisor in the UK’s largest dog rescue, working with some of their most challenging cases such as dogs that have bitten people, dogs or were going through the court system.
I felt frustrated at the lack of appropriate muzzles for the dogs in our care and I also had adopted a Pointer called Tolly who needed to be muzzled due to worried around strangers and I experienced first hand the looks and comments from members of the public. I started an Instagram page called ‘The Muzzle Movement’ where I shared informative posts and generally advocated for safe muzzle usage!
I shared my ideas of what would make the perfect muzzle and realised I wasn’t the only one looking for this! I decided to run a Kickstarter with just an idea – and raised £46,000 in just 30 days! Sadly, Tolly was diagnosed with an inoperable spinal tumour so he was never able to try one of the muzzles I designed for him.
Since then, I quit my full-time job. We have grown to a team of 12, and we ship 40 – 100 muzzles per day all around the world!
What challenges did you face when first launching The Muzzle Movement, and how did you overcome them?
Every new venture has its hurdles. What were some of the initial obstacles you encountered, and what strategies helped you succeed?
One of the key difficulties to begin with was trying to find the time to physically make the muzzles! We hand assemble all the muzzles, including cutting and painting all of the strapping. I was still working a stressful full-time job, including weekly travel, when the Kickstarter ended, and I had thousands of muzzles to make and ship! Once I had managed to work through them and make the leap to run The Muzzle Movement full-time, things got a little easier!
One of the biggest challenges we face now is trying to track our inventory and processes, because we offer such a huge range of colours and literally thousands of combinations! There is currently no software available to help us with this as we have so many options to offer our customers a truly custom experience! It’s something we are working with manufacturing groups to solve!
The key strategy for us to succeed is definitely to be flexible! Our plan for 2024 was to work on designing and releasing small dog sizes, however once we heard of the XL Bully ban at the end of 2023, we had to completely pivot to get one of our larger designs produced and went on to then design two further large sizes to accommodate the dogs who just didn’t have suitable muzzles available to them.
We hope 2025 will be our small dog era!
How do you ensure that your muzzles are both functional and comfortable for dogs?
Could you walk us through your design process and explain how you combine functionality with comfort?
Our original designs were based on real dogs that I had in front of me, so I used their measurements to make the first 4 muzzles. From there, we have seen feedback from customers, we have held countless fitting days and visited rescues to try new designs on, and we work as a team to test new ideas!
We usually produce a 3D printed prototype which we try on dogs to check fit and measurements. From there we make alterations with our designer, and we can have anywhere between 5 and 15 versions before we are happy with the final product!
The key points we look for are that the muzzles are comfortable (they fit well, the shape sits well on the face etc) and that they are fit for function (allow space for panting, the treat hole is in the correct position, the straps are in the correct place etc).
To make sure that the muzzles are sturdy enough to offer protection from a bite, they need to be strong and quite hard. The plastic we chose can be boiled and reshaped to improve the fit on some dogs, and we also created a foam noseband for extra comfort.
What sets The Muzzle Movement’s products apart from other muzzles on the market?
There are many muzzles available; what makes yours unique?
Our muzzles are designed by a Clincal Animal Behaviourist for a start, and the priority has been ensuring safety, comfort as well as trying to remove the stigma attached to muzzles.
Our muzzles take into consideration the dogs’ welfare and freedoms – if a muzzle is not allowing a dog to pant fully, they are unable to regulate their body temperature which is a huge welfare concern. We designed our muzzles with pant space in mind, and we want dogs who are wearing our muzzles to be able to pant fully, eat, drink, safely vomit and even play.
Our muzzles also have a purpose designed treat hole at the front, where you can easily deliver treats to the dog when muzzles. We recognised that this posed a problem for dogs who scavenge so we designed a patent pending Scavenger Guard which clips to the front of our muzzles and can easily be removed and replaced by the guardian as needed.
Our muzzles come in a huge range of colours, we have 7 standard basket colours as well as a few limited edition basket colours, as well as over 20 strapping colour options plus several limited edition and seasonal strapping sets, and even 4 metal hardware colour choices!
We want people to see muzzled dogs as safe, not scary, and having beautiful, colourful muzzles goes a long way to help change the public perception!
How does The Muzzle Movement aim to change public perceptions of muzzled dogs?
Public perception can be tough to change. How does your brand work to educate and shift views on muzzled dogs?
This year, we have been to 11 events! From Crufts and DogFest, to several professional events and conferences. We go to these events, not with the expectation or purpose of selling muzzles, but to spread awareness! We have had some beautiful signs made which show the different reasons dogs wear muzzles. We have a member of staff whose job is education and engagement, and she has written blogs and magazine articles in Dogs Today Magazine and is currently working on a comprehensive muzzle training course.
We have written a Muzzle Support Pack which contains lots of useful information about all different kinds of muzzles, the importance of good fit, tips for measuring your dog, as well as links to further information online. This is available free of charge for dog professionals to download and hand out to clients who need the help or can be purchased professionally printed at cost price.
We also have a huge community on Social Media, where we post information and educational posts, as well as muzzle advocacy and positive training messages.
Can you tell us more about your commitment to ethical practices in both your products and business operations?
Ethics seem to be at the heart of what you do. How does this influence your approach to both product development and business management?
A majority of our team have worked in the training and behaviour team at a dog rehoming charity previously. Within that team, we have over 70 years of experience in rescue, a MSc and diplomas in behaviours, as well as memberships to APDT, ABTC and IMDT. We are all passionately force-free so it made sense to be loud and proud about that as a company too!
Traditionally, muzzles have only been available from companies who also sell aversive training tools so we are proud to be able to offer the public and chance to support an openly force-free company.
We run a successful affiliate scheme which is only open to force-free organisations (such as vets, trainers, groomers etc) and we are soon to launch the wholesale side of things, where we have committed to only supplying UK businesses who do not have aversive tools (shock collars, prong collars, invisible fences, choke chains and pet correction tools) on their shelves.
This means that when we were approached by the UK’s leading pet store, we said no until certain products are removed from our shelves! We understood this was a huge opportunity for the business and many people will think we are crazy for saying no..
but we will stand by our ethics and this proves that we are here for the dogs, not the money!
How has the community responded to your products and mission?
What kind of feedback have you received from dog owners and the broader community?
We have had generally really positive and supportive feedback from dog guardians as well as professionals. Our open stance as force-free has ruffled a few feathers with some balanced professionals but that is to be expected, and we have had a lot of support and good feedback from trainers from all camps! The force-free community have been amazing and seem to be really excited that we stand by our ethics and they can support a company they believe in.
We have the most incredible messages from customers who tell us that their dog hasn’t been able to be walked for several weeks but is now out playing because of out muzzles, that dogs who have previously hated restrictive muzzles and try to get them off, are comfortable and happy in our muzzles. I recently spoke at BVA Live, a veterinary conference, and we had an overwhelmingly positive and excited response from vets and nurses.
What role does social media play in building The Muzzle Movement community?
Social media appears to be a big part of your outreach. How has it helped grow your brand and spread your message?
The Muzzle Movement was built on Social Media! What started as simply and advocacy page on Instagram has flourished into the business we have today. Since the Kickstarter in 2022, our growth has been entirely organic – we have never done any paid advertising other than ads in show guides etc at events we have been to!
I think the large and supportive community on social media have done an amazing job of embracing the muzzle advocacy message and have helped to spread our name and our muzzles far and wide! It’s also a great way for us to share training tips and to help guardians of muzzled dogs feel understood and seen. It’s amazing to see our muzzles out there in the ‘wild’ too, and to see dogs enjoying their lives when muzzled!
What are your future goals for The Muzzle Movement?
Where do you see the brand heading in the next few years? Are there any new projects or expansions you’re excited about?
We want to continue promoting the safe use of muzzles to dog guardians worldwide, advocating for muzzled dogs in all walks of life and educating the public and professionals about appropriate muzzle fit and training.
From a practical point of view, we are working on improving the ease of adjusting strap length on our muzzles to be easier to use in veterinary and rescue settings, as well as plans to visit rescues all around the UK to fit and donate some muzzles to dogs in need. We have already visited 3 SSPCA centres up in Scotland and donated 23 muzzles to individual dogs who needed them, plus lots more muzzles for future dogs!
Another exciting new stage for us is to take the step into wholesale which we are gearing up for right now.
Our long term aims are to keep designing and releasing new sizes to ensure a fully inclusive size range for all dogs!
Are there any new products or initiatives you’re particularly excited to share with us?
Is there anything on the horizon that your customers should look out for?
We are just getting started! Our team has grown to 12 and we all have exciting roles to play in the development of the company. We are launching an online training academy, with comprehensive courses for dog guardians as well as professionals. We are working on exciting designs for small breeds, including a much-needed brachycephalic style muzzle.
We are also super excited to have been chosen as finalists in the PetQuip 2024 Awards for Most Promising New Business and Rising Star awards.
I have also been invited to speak in Parliament about our work, by the All-Party Parliamentary Dog Advisory Welfare Group in December which is incredible and so exciting for us all! We can’t wait to see what the future brings!
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