pet earmuffs?

[Jeanie]

I watched the video w/ Iris the cat - I have often wanted to take my small dog with me in the plane but have been concerned about his hearing and the decibels in the plane -
Do the earmuff for dogs that are sold nowadays actually fit well etc? Anyone ever tried them?

 

[EdFred]

I have a pair of muttmuffs for Kaiser and his 20" circumference head but they slide off. He doesn't mind them on, they just slid off. My plan is to take an old pair of compression shorts, and cut a couple holes in them where the muffs need to go, reinforce them, and hopefully that will do the trick. Then cut and stich as necessary so his whole head isn't covered.

 

[rmciottijr]

I have the same problem with the Mutt Muffs sliding off. I flew with Colby (my Dog) about 11 times and only had them stay on one time. Now my dog is a little wild and does not like them on her so that's half of my battle. Ed has a good idea I am going to try that.

 

[steingar]

I wouldn't mind flying with my dog. Doubt I'd notice if she went deaf, she doesn't listen to me anyways.

 

[poadeleted20]

If you can keep them on, great, but I can't imagine any of the nine dogs we've had over the last 35 years tolerating the MuttMuffs for a second longer than it would take to pull them off. YMMV. That said, we've never noticed in any reduction in the ability of our dogs to hear the sound of a cat walking down the street a block away despite many unprotected flights.

 

[timwinters]

If you can keep them on, great, but I can't imagine any of the nine dogs we've had over the last 35 years tolerating the MuttMuffs .

My dog tolerates them fine, they typically stay on (I might have to reposition them once on a long x/c). But...

The design of mutt muffs really sucks. The quality is very poor and if you examine them you'll quickly determine that the dB attenuation isn't much.

Anything is better than nothing...but mutt muffs are pretty much nothing...nothing that will begin to crack and fall apart in 4 to 6 months.

Some foam and an ace bandage would provide better protection for far less money.

 

[twdeckard]

I use Mutt muffs on and off for Big Dumb Dog. We bought a tiny pair for Stupid Little Dog but the ladies have announced it is too fragile to fly.

They work really well but if the lab is in the baggage compartment and we are by ourselves I leave them off becuase I cannot reach him if he gets them tangled around his neck. He tolerates them well.

My flight instructor had a poodle with more hours than I've got and it was deaf as a doornail.

 

[Ted]

I have transported 182 animals in my Aztec since late August, and somewhere around 215 total in my 1.5 years of doing this. None of them have had any ear protection, and none of them have complained about it either. Of course these dogs are only in my plane once for a few hours at a time, but I've not found it to be necessary.

Sure, something is better than nothing, but it's seemed to work out just fine.

 

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

A search on "mutt muffs" brings up several threads where this has been discussed.

A lot will depend on you and your dog and if he/she/it can be trained to wear them.

But from what I read in other threads, the "mutt muffs" are less than effective.