Debarking??
 

During Christmas dinner, my cousin told me she was going to have her dog debarked. :eek: It is a (long haired chi mix) I think. She said it barks every night while the family is trying to watch TV. She said her vet gave her sedatives to give it every night so it wont bark. Apparently it doesnt work good enough and she said she had an appointment to get it debarked. It seems wrong to me. I didnt know what to say to her. Well I know what I wanted to say, but I didnt want to start a war at X-mas because as you might have guessed, she isn't the most stable individual. I feel guilty that I didnt say what I was thinking, but wanted to keep the peace. I was horrified. Do all vets offer this procedure? I thought it was something of the past.

Not all vets will do it. Mine wont he says its inhumaine

I agree. It's inhumane.. :thumbdown

It is a sick practice as far as Im concerned and you have every right to feel the way you feel. You were also right to not start a fight about it because really there is nothing you are probably going to do or say that will change how she feels..its sad but I am pretty sure its still a practiced procedure :(

Dawn

I dont' really know what to think about the practice. It seems that barking is part of a dogs nature and to take that away with such a procedure is wrong. On the other hand, I know several people (members of this site even) that I have alot of respect for that have had this done on occasion and I understand their reasoning behind it.
I guess my issue is, people shouldn't have it done as a quick fix to a problem that they just don't want to be bothered to address. I have never personally had a dog that I couldn't break from the habit of just barking constantly, but I imagine it does happen and when and if it happens to me (knock on wood, it won't) I might feel differently then.

That's a cruel thing to do since its part of their normal behavior:mad: It would probably cost less for some training than it is for the actual surgery. How else is she supposed to express her feelings if you aren't looking at her. :confused:

You should tell her that just because she gets it debarked, doesn't mean it won't try to bark. and when they try to bark, its an even worse sound than their regular bark!

I think its inhumane and cruel. It should be outlawed. Barking is how dogs TALK. If the owner can't stand it, then go see a trainer or something like that.

I think it is inhumane and cruel. And not many vets will preform the surgery as they think the same.

And as Megan said above, it does NOT stop the dog from barking. They will still bark but their bark will be horse and raspy, which in my opinion sounds a whole lot worse.

I refuse to believe that a dog can't be trained to not bark. I feel debarking is just an easy way out for owners to take. Now if they do everything in their power to try and correct them from barking which includes bringing in dog trainer professionals who have had years of experience with this and they still aren't able to get the dog to stop barking then maybe. Well no I can't even say that because I can't believe that no one could stop the barking with the only option being debarking. There are soooooooo many techniques out there for training a dog to stop barking and unless you go through every one of them you can't say you have tried. JMO

Oh and this may be irrelevant but I love to watch Victoria in "It's me or the dog." And there has been a few episodes where she had some owners who had a dog wouldn't stop barking. They tried everything they said but yet when Victoria comes in she is able to stop the behavior quickly with one of her techniques. So they must not have tried everything.

I think there is something about the presence of a dog trainer. They know how to control their heartbeat and everything so dogs don't get stressed out. a lot of times when owners try to train their dog, they are so frustrated or confused that they just get upset, which upsets the dog.

Dog trainers are a blessing lol.

The same technique won't work for every dog. She needs to try hundreds of different things. Maybe she'll have to make some up herself! Tucker used to be a horrible barker. Whenever he heard something outside he'd bark for 15 minutes straight. We realized that to make him stop barking, we need to LET him bark, then say "Thank you Tucker." and he'll stop. Its crazy how things work sometimes, but she needs to explore her options!

I can't believe anyone would do this.:mad: And yes, I know exactly what living with a loud mouth dog is about (Ellie) and I would never do that to her.

Someone I know rescued a dog who had this done. Her bark was so raspy and very annoying. I much prefer the regular bark. Your relatives will have fun with the noise when they find out it's worse than the actual bark.;) It isn't your responsibility to stop them though and it's not worth a war.

Not to bash the owner....
 

Zoeybear said her cousin wasn't the "most stable individual", I doubt she would of been able to continue the training effectively without a trainer present. Tigger36792 just got a female that was previously debarked, and it broke my heart when she told me she "air barks".

Oh, that's aweful! Most vets won't even do debarking anymore...most agree that it's cruel and unneccessary and doesn't completely stop a dog from barking. It has to be very painful as well...we all know how sensitive our throats are... The AVMA says that debarking should only be done as a last resort. Debarking is one procedure I will never do when I'm a vet

I believe it is inhumane. It would be like taking out our voiceboxes. Imagine how a dog would feel not being able to bark. This is how a dog communicates. Maybe you should talk her into finding a new home for her dog instead.

Instead of debarking the dog, why doesn't she have her dog "trained"?? She can train her dog not to bark when she doesn't want it to...That's a much more responsible thing to do, in my opinion...

I think it's a horrible thing to do and very cruel to the dog. I hope she can be talked out of it.

I know for a fact my vet doesn't do it, and honestly if my vet did do it, I'd be finding a new vet.

I agree with Bama. I have heard of people debarking their dog...heck the poodle that lives behind us has been debarked. We have one vet here that does this procedure. It's done with a laser and during the healing period, you have to try to not allow your animal to bark or else it can make the original bark worse.

Dogs are still able to bark...just more muted and they can eat the same day as the surgery.

I'm not for it or against it...just if someone is considering it, they need to read up on it and find the best vet to perform the surgery. IMO

I couldn't do that to my dog - I think it's cruel and it is VERY sad to watch a debarked dog try to bark. Would I like it if someone removed my vocal cords because I talked too much?? I'm sure there are times when my husband has thought about it, since his training methods haven't worked, but so far I'm safe. :)

It would saden me to have my dog try to bark and only have air come out:( that would be like us having to whisper all the time, my hubby loves that are babies bark, lets us know if there is something out there we should be aware of;)

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: Well said!!!!!!

Maybe she would decide against it if you gave her some information about how cruel it is?

I honestly just think some people aren't smart enough (and/or to lazy) to do research about such a procedure. I had someone over the weekend ask me why I didn't declaw my cat. :eek:

I think there are times debarking can be a benefit to a dog. Some just are neurotic barkers and nothing works.
I would much rather see a dog debarked by a vet than passed from shelter to shelter or on meds that it doesn't really need or even PTS.

If done by a vet it certainly isn't any harder on a dog than spaying or neutering or even dew claw and tail removal. These are all procedures done by owners choice as well. I'm sure no male thinks he needs his family jewels removed. ;)

I don't believe it should be used on a whim but won't condemn everyone who does it as being inhumane.

......oh.......my........god.....! Please, someone tell me debarking isnt what it sounds like. I have never heard of this before.....

I don't agree with debarking either. They slice their vocal cords. :(

As for Chis, I've heard that a lot are pretty neurotic. To me if a dog doesn't have it's bark to put fear into other dogs, the Chi will get even more neurotic and maybe vicious. :( I hope she rethinks it and does research on the net. She'll come across a lot of negative info on debarking that will hopefully change her mind. Or...let her see this thread! ;)

Maybe send your cousin an e-mail with numerous links and info on the subject and kindly ask her if this is what she intended to have done to her beloved family pet.

Maybe if they spent more time with the dog and not in front of the TV the dog would stop barking?

I am certainly not singling you out, but just wanted you to read this excerpt from another thread regarding a dog that is suffering the consequences of being debarked. http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=109704

I had forgotten about health consequences. If the dog ever needs to be intubated, that might not be possible due to scar tissue from being debarked. This was from a thread in another section about a rescue dog that had been debarked and had to have surgery:

Today was the first knee surgery. The right knee was done as planned.
Tweedle incase you did not know has been debarked by her former owner(s).
Debarking is done frequently by breeders and those who want to hoard dogs
but as not to have neighbors notice etc. It is a delicate procedure where
the vocal cords are notched in order to deal with 'volume control'. There is
not a way to do this with precision. You will not know if the dog will be
able to make some sound or none at all. You need to be very careful that
only a tiny amount of cord be removed as not to cause a lot of scar tissue
build up over the years. Tweedle can make no noise, this means that she had
a real butcher job done on her vocal cords; she has extreme scar tissue
which made it almost impossible to intubate her for the surgery. When she
was finally Intubated she was completely purple due to lack of oxygen! Very
scary for just the beginning of the procedure. During the surgery she did
great!!!! She is resting comfortably on medication and the more we keep her
off the leg the better.