De-barking?
I thought I had pretty much heard of everything in the dog world, but this one is new to me!
We were at the dog park Sunday morning and in the small dog side was a yorkie-type dog who's bark was nothing more than her mouth moving and whispers. I asked if something happened and the owner proudly stated that she had her 'debarked'. As a preference, not a necessity for medical reasons. I'm floored.
Maybe there is something I'm not understanding about the whole concept... but why would vets agree to debarking surgery in a pet dog?
Isn't that part of the responsibility? Controlling/conditioning and training when unwanted behaviors occur?
When we adopted Kitsune, he would bark at EVERYTHING - repetitively and LOUD! But we taught him "thank you" and we check out what he's alerting us to, thank him and treat him. Done. Barking controlled.
there is still so much to learn in the dog world I guess.
We were at the dog park Sunday morning and in the small dog side was a yorkie-type dog who's bark was nothing more than her mouth moving and whispers. I asked if something happened and the owner proudly stated that she had her 'debarked'. As a preference, not a necessity for medical reasons. I'm floored.
Maybe there is something I'm not understanding about the whole concept... but why would vets agree to debarking surgery in a pet dog?
Isn't that part of the responsibility? Controlling/conditioning and training when unwanted behaviors occur?
When we adopted Kitsune, he would bark at EVERYTHING - repetitively and LOUD! But we taught him "thank you" and we check out what he's alerting us to, thank him and treat him. Done. Barking controlled.
there is still so much to learn in the dog world I guess.
Comments
Ridiculous
Jesse
I bought a tiny black box that sat on my counter and emitted an ear piercing shrill sound whenever the dog barked...Cody was trained in one day. To think, that for 19.00, this person could have humanely trained their dog instead of the hundreds she spent on a morbid surgery of convenience....just boggles my mind!!
Why in the world would anyone want to do that to a dog??? There are times that Bella barks at the UPS man, the big pink ball, something out of place, etc. that I would love to have her shut up... But I would never ever EVER have my dogs vocal cords cut or removed or whatever they do. That is just mean. There are definitely easier, cheaper, and nicer alternatives. If Bella gets too bad about barking at the boogie man, we will put her on a leash and tie her to us. That kills the barking immediately.
Ugh... Some people should be subjected to the same treatment they give their animals. I agree with Osy, rip out her vocal cords.
I do not like this unless there truely is a very good reason for this and all other options have failed. If people really don't have the time to train their dog to "quiet" (or whatever their choice of command is). I'd much rather have someone throw a muzzle on a non-stop barker or heck even a bark collar. I think much better choices then de-barking surgery.
Oh, and Jessica made me think of this...Meet Rhacodactylus Leachianus, Leachie gecko. These geckos are known to bark, especially in the middle of the night when they are most active. I breeder I once talked to used to get complaints from neighbors stating that his dogs don't stop barking during the night, not knowing that the geckos were the culprit. If you try de-barking one of these, your bound to lose a finger or two:
I kind of wish my iguana made SOME sort of noise. It's impossible to tell if he's in pain rightaway because he DOESN'T make a sound.
He will hiss when we go to the vet tho. Sounds like a gator's hiss. ~
I'm speechless (no pun intended)
The only time I could accept someone de-barking their dog is if there was some neurological problem and the dog would constantly bark unless it was sleeping and it was perfectly normal otherwise (played well, very social, etc). Then I could accept that.
PS - Could you tell me how you did that "Thank You" training? I need more things to teach Yoshi.
Nancy, that is (beyond the cruel aspect) a main concern I had for this lady's dog.. I mean - she's at the dog park expecting it to interact with other dogs and yet it has lost a vital part of its communication. When you de-bark, you are bound to de-growl and de-whimper, too, right? Luckily, all the dogs there seemed to be able to read its body language alone, but I love hearing the play grumbles and low ruffs of my shibas at the dog park. I love their ability to 'warn' of passerbys and I love that Kitsune saved us both from being sprayed by a skunk by growling at it in the dark!!
Ryan - it was fairly simple - Kitsu would bark madly at anyone passing our yard/windows, repetitively and loud! We tried, after his third bark, to call him from the window to a treat, but his concentration was on that window!
After seeing a behaviorist for other issues, we learned that Kitsu needed to feel protected, and in that he would gain some confidence. So when he would start alerting us, we'd wait for the 2nd or 3rd bark and go over to him, put a gentle hand on him and say "thank you" and treat him when he stopped barking. After 7-8 months of this, we can now just say thank you from another room or go and touch him lightly if he's really worked up and he releases the alert.
In retrospect, I'm sure this would have been much easier with a clicker, if you are into that.
So it shouldn't be the first option, but if you were in a situation with repeated "disturbances of the peace" and neighbors, HOAs, police, and animal control were on your case, what would you do to keep your dog?
Conceptually, does this differ greatly from declawing cats?
Cookie is really good about only clawing the things she is allowed to claw, like her favorite scratching post.