Ankle Nipper

Hello everyone
First time poster. Been reading around but no answer to my specific question, maybe it's a weird one!

My staffy is nearly eleven years old. I literally watched him get born and he's been with me ever since. He is my best buddy. He has a very soft, gentle, lazy nature, although he can be excitable in certain situations and he sees it as his role to 'keep the pack together and under control'. For example he doesn't like me or my partner dancing, or play fighting, and he WILL join in in this situation, usually by attempting to dominate/hump. He hates the vacuum cleaner and anything similar. He once knocked me off an electric scooter by trying to 'save' me from it. He means well, but his misguided attempts to 'help' can result in behaviour which is mostly regrettable, but has always been quite funny too.

HOWEVER. Last couple of years he has developed arthritis in all of his leg joints. I think he finds humping difficult now, and he has recently switched that dominating behaviour to ankle nipping. I trained him very well and very early never to hold onto toys, never to bite at ANYTHING, so I am quite shocked by this turn of events. He is extremely gently when taking food, he would never ever snatch from a hand, he is such a good boy.

BUT now this. He only ever does it to me and my partner, never to the kids, or obviously I would have taken it seriously sooner. It looks to me like 'play biting', and obviously he doesn't mean to actually bite, because he's done it many times and never hurt anyone.

THEN the other day, my kid wanted to have a race, the dog was standing next to me, I said 'ready steady GO' and the next thing I knew, this horrible pain in my leg that bent me double. I realised the dog had bitten my thigh. Luckily I was wearing trousers, but the bite still faintly broke the skin and the bruise was enormous, covered my whole thigh.

I know what the dog was doing, but he misjudged. Now I feel I should have confronted this behaviour more seriously sooner. I want to buy a muzzle so he can wear it in situations when he might be excitable and feel like biting.

Questions:

- Is a muzzle the right approach?
- If so, what kind of muzzle?
- Will he still be able to interact with other dogs when wearing it?

I cannot reiterate enough that this is the best dog ever. He would never hurt a fly on purpose, he is just getting old and I suspect doesn't see as well as he used to. I don't think there's any sign of dementia, although he is super clingy, much more than he used to be. He's on medication for his arthritis.

Certainly a muzzle, introduced properly and slowly, could be a good idea.

However, it may be worth your while consulting a behaviourist as this behaviour may have been present (albeit not by actual biting) for some years.

You may need help in order to reassure your girl that you are still okay & don't need her help.

A behaviourist is a good idea. I guess I figured at age 11 he might be a bit old to change, so the muzzle is the best thing, but obviously it would be much better for him not to have to do that!! Thank you.

I definitely think it is an extension of the 'controlling' behaviour. For some reason he's just always believed it is his job to keep things in order. We call him the fun police.

Hopefully this picture works. This is him. he is
actually a Staffy X with mongrel.

What a lovely boy!

He is certainly handsome

Thanks everyone i think so