Most dogs wear muzzles to stop them from attacking other dogs. But Olive, the French bulldog, needs it to stop her eating grasshoppers.
Her owner, Megan Lasuzzo, 32, says she eats them ‘like they’re skittles’.
However, they give Olive a poorly stomach so Megan has had to buy her a special mask that makes her look like Hannibal Lecter.
Olive only wears the mask for a few minutes at a time while she’s being supervised, but it helps give Megan a bit more peace of mind.
Marketing and design lead Megan, who lives in Texas with her husband, innovation manager Matt, 34, and their two French bulldogs, Olive, two, and Valentino, nine, said: ‘She’s our little Hannibull-dog Lecter!
‘She’s not allowed to eat them because it gives her an upset tummy – they give her diarrhoea – but she eats them like skittles, so she has to wear this mask.
‘She can still open her mouth and breathe and pant; the mask really just makes her less accurate at hunting, capturing and consuming the grasshoppers.’
Megan bought the dog mask, which is typically used by vets and groomers, for $13 [£10.62] on Amazon.
‘We noticed last year that our backyard had so many grasshoppers,’ said Megan. ‘But we didn’t realise she was eating them and didn’t know why she had an upset stomach for a couple days.’
‘We began monitoring her closely outside and realised what she was doing. Anything that jumps around captures her attention and must be stopped.
‘We noticed her actively hunting them and eating them. The problem is she wouldn’t stop at just one, and then later that evening, her tummy didn’t agree with them as well.
‘Ever since then, we never leave out of our sights while in the backyard. She doesn’t always get the mask treatment, only when she’s feeling especially murderous.’
Megan added: ‘It’s more so used as a training tool to get her to stop. It’s a work in progress – she still wants to eradicate all the grasshoppers.
‘After we got rid of the grasshopper diet, her tummy returned to normal. We did make a call to the vet and let them know what was going on and they said to prevent her from eating them, so that’s what we’re doing.
‘We also get a lot of comments about how she looks like and some really clever comments like “she was born in the darkness” or “houndable lecter” or “Hannibal licktor”.’
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