Shut Up Dog or I'll Have Your Vocal Chords Removed

[Giselle]

Unfortunately, some pet owners who are looking for a little peace and quiet may choose to have their pets devocalized, or debarked, to get it. If you missed this last time around, you can read the full post here.

Devocalizing involves a not so minor surgery with a high risk of complications that uses either an oral approach, or a laryngotomy that essentially results in cutting or removing an animal’s vocal chords, a controversial procedure many veterinarians will also refuse to perform.

“One snip of soft tissue in the back of the throat is the most painful thing. Many times, the dog has to be re-operated on because the membrane grows over it. It’s not good for the dog. It’s only good for people,” according to Dr. Nicholas Dodman, a professor at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University and renowned animal behaviorist.

This type of quick fix also does nothing to encourage responsible pet ownership, and is an easy way out of working on behavior modification.

Some who are in favor of this “convenience surgery” argue that it can help animals who may otherwise be surrendered to shelters due to barking. However, debarked dogs still wind up in shelters and may also have a harder time finding homes, since some may find the wheezing, raspy or throaty sounds they make even more bizarre and irritating than barking.

Once devocalized, dogs also lose their ability to communicate and socialize normally, which may cause frustration and lead to behavioral issues, along with making them potentially dangerous to people without their ability to give warnings when they’re upset.



http://www.care2.com/causes/animal-welfare/blog/shut-up-dog-or-ill-...




Warning: These videos are very disturbing and very sad.

[Giselle]

Yet when children scream or throw tantrums, no one says their vocal chords should be removed. A dog's bark is its most important form of communication, just because a dog barks too much doesn't mean it's a good reason to devocalize them. It's not fair to the dog.

[Giselle]

There's no excuse for it. The whole practice should be banned everywhere.

[Giselle]

Also, if the dog is lost or hurt, how is it going to call out for help?

[Belles]

Kongs filled with treats last for hours.. this from someone who obviously doesn't own a dog. I get 10 minutes with frozen yogurt and peanut butter in mine.. then it's onto guarding the house from mean men and golf clubs in their golf cart escape vehicle, designed for fast getaways.

[Niko's Mom (Abbey)]

My neighbor growing up was going to lose his house because the neighbors complained so much about the barking dogs. Neighbors were even threatening to kill his dogs. He lived in an HOA and was approved to own the number of dogs he did...but the neighbors ganged up on him, he wasn't a man of great means in fact his dogs were about all he had in the world...moving wasn't an option, unless he were to go homeless and that wouldn't be a good thing for him or his dogs especially in our winters, they would have all died. He looked into the shelters, but was told his dogs due to hyperactivity and over vocalization (they were all Huskies) they would most likely be unadoptable. He did the only thing he could do to keep his dogs and his home. As unfair as it was, I understand his reasoning.

And it wasn't a lack of attention or exercise that caused the dogs to bark either...because i know a lot of people think that that's the only reason dogs bark uncontrollably.

[Niko's Mom (Abbey)]

The surgery isn't that expensive Shaya...and I'm afraid you just have never been around a vocal breed...it has nothing to do with training, with exercise, with amount of attention, with how much he was gone (as he was always home)...it's nothing like that at all.

Niko talks to me all the time, for no reason at all other than to talk. Should I get a trainer to make her stop something natural to her breeding? Sounds silly to me.

[Lani]

Abbey, you are right with that...you have a husky mix if I recall correct? You should check out a video I made just last week of my kids singing and talking...they do it to have their say and no trainer will take that out of them...

[Niko's Mom (Abbey)]

I dont know where you got that figure, but there is a vet in our town that will do the same proceedure for $50-$100/dog. And again I stress that you have not been around a vocal breed long enought to know that it's not just exercise and attention that causes "talking". Huskies, just TALK to TALK. I don't know how else to put it...these dogs are well cared for, and are a sled team, they get pleanty of exercise, and they even get house time every day. But trust me when I say Niko just talks my ear off, even though we are almost always together and run every day.

[Niko's Mom (Abbey)]

Huskies don't really bark, they talk. Well Niko does both, but whatever she is mixed with must be a barking breed but I get a lot of "Wooo-Wooo" noises from her like she says "hello mom!"...and they do it whenever the mood strikes them.

It was $50-$100 based on the size of the dog and the vet is reputable and licenced.

[Lani]

Abbey, you will never get through to Liddy...once she has her mind made up on something it will never change. You might as well be banging your head against a brick wall.

You are right on though. Huskies are BIG talkers, not barkers. My Diamond is a barker, she's part GSD though...she will bark at the deer in the yard in the morning, the barn cat as he strolls by, she picks up on the coyotes and barks and howls along with them...Even if she is well exercised and attended to. Maybe we should call Cesar and get him to whisper the talk right out of our dogs. NAH, I like who my dogs are and their talkative nature is part of that.

[Lani]

LOL Liddy, you have never been around a husky dear...they are a vocal breed, not problem barkers. It would be like telling the coyotes or the wolves not to howl to tell a husky not to talk. It's not exclusively exercise or attention related when it comes to the Sibes. It can be, but not exclusively. I know mine are well attended to and get plenty of daily exercise...it does not silence them dear.

[Lani]

Liddy Dear, I was making reference to Abbey's comment and what she is saying is dead on. You may have seen a husky or two you do not live with one and you do not share your life with one...end of story.