The Silencing Of The Dogs
Feb 4th, 2010 | 16 responses
My love for dogs is boundless and so naturally I read with curious interest a story in The New York Times earlier this week about dogs who had their vocal cords snipped, a surgical procedure called debarking.
The result is rather than a bark — ARFF — or a Beagle’s hoot owl howling — AAARRROOO — the sound usually is muted, muffled and raspy. Which is pretty funny coming from a Great Dane.
But barking dogs in apartment complexes and suburban subdivisions is not a funny matter. As a last resort, some veterinarians will debark a dog when owners are faced with the cruel option of moving or having the pet put to sleep.
The surgical procedure is frowned upon by a new generation of vets, especially with P.E.T.A. and other animal rights advocates looking over their shoulders. As the Times article points out, the procedure is simple yet delicate enough that if done wrong could create scar tissue on the larynx causing the dog to suffocate.
I come from the school that believes debarking does no harm to the dog. But, first, let’s hear from an expert as quoted in the Times story:
Dr. Sharon L. Vanderlip has been performing debarking surgeries for more than 30 years as a small part of her veterinary practice in San Diego County. She calls herself a “big, big, big proponent” of the procedure if it is done the right way, for the right reasons.
“They recover immediately and they don’t ever seem to notice any difference,” she said. “I think that in certain cases it can certainly save a dog from ending up being euthanized. If properly done, they behave totally the same afterwards and don’t seem to have any health problems.”
The Times story reported New York City’s 311 line fielded 6,622 complaints about barking dogs last year, And, then this:
Critics of the debarking procedure say it is outdated and inhumane, one that destroys an animal’s central means of communication merely for the owner’s convenience. Many veterinarians refuse to do the surgery on ethical grounds. Those who do rarely advertise it.
And, this:
Although there is no reliable estimate as to how many dogs have had their vocal cords cut, veterinarians and other animal experts say that dogs with no bark can readily be found — but not necessarily heard — in private homes, on the show-dog circuit, and even on the turf of drug dealers, who are said to prefer their attack dogs silent.
The school I referred was the University of California at Davis where some of my friends were pre-vet students. One told me that for free rent, he and his buddies lived in a barn housing about a thousand Bassett Hounds. The constant howling throughout the night drove my friends crazy.
Some sense of quiet was restored when the students talked the professor into performing debarking surgery on all the hounds under the “quote unquote” premise of educational research.
Years later when the San Diego City Council was debating a controversial dog barking ordinance, I told the Bassett hound story to my Metro editor. She assigned a reporter to bird dog it. He reported back the vet school vehemently denied ever performing debarking surgery on any livestock.
Yeah, right.
My experience with dogs is that owners must treat them as canines, not people. That doesn’t mean you can’t train them for the purposes of aiding mankind which dogs do well. The owner is the pack leader, no ifs, ands or buts. It’s the Cesar Milan school of dog training we see on the National Geographic channel.
Dogs bark for a reason although sometimes it is impossible to determine why.
My son was a K-9 officer for the National City Police Department, a city immediately south of San Diego. Nick, his Belgiian Malinois, was a ferocious creature forever showing his fangs and displaying a mean disposition. His fellow officers called Nick “Psycho.” for good reason. During his tour of duty, Nick was the cause of a dozen claims against the city for biting.
On duty, Nick’s bark would scare the hell out of anyone in earshot. Off duty, his bark took on a totally different tone, one my son described as the designated neighborhood watch dog. It was a kind and more gentler bark. Nevertheless, I never felt comfortable leaving Nick alone with my newborn granddaughter.
As an adult, I owned two dogs. The first was Cognac, a standard Poodle, and the smartest dog I ever knew. I broke his barking habit by slapping his behind with a newspaper and sternly telling him No the second he barked or even thought about it. Cognac always got in the last word. Rather than bark, he would lay down, bare his teeth and growl.
Honey, my Australian shepherd, had only one purpose in life and that was to please me under any and all circumstances. She knew barking was a no-no. But she wasn’t as disciplined as Cognac and would slip out a bark inadvertently as dogs do so naturally. Caught in the act, she would slink around in a circle and come up to me, put her head on my lap, wag her tail and beg for forgiveness. My hard heart immediately turned to putty.
One of the saddest moments for me came during the Christmas holidays. My neighbor who owns a Beagle traveled to her family for a week, leaving the dog at home where a caretaker twice a day would walk and feed it. Left alone, the dog barked non-stop for the entire week.
I put up with it after I learned she had at least someone look after it. But three other neighbors protested and complained to the apartment manager. I saw the woman in the hall the other day and asked her about her dog.
“I had it euthanized,” she said, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks. “Why?” I asked dumbly. “He barked too much.”
16 Responses to “The Silencing Of The Dogs”
Another dog person !
I knew there was a reason I liked you
I had never heard of debarking a dog until fairly recently, and I feel the same way about it as I do about declawing a cat: It horrifies me. Aside from anything else, what happens to a debarked dog who gets lost or otherwise separated from his human family? That's a real nice thing, to eliminate a dog's ability to bark defensively or in warning.
I've got a Great Pyrenees, who, when he's outside, likes to bark at other dogs, passing cars, passing people, small animals, insects, trees, growing grass, the wind, and some other things we haven't figured out yet. It's okay because we keep him far enough from the neighbors that they don't care. I just couldn't image him (well, ex-him) without his bark.
I also had to deal with apartment living while owning a dog (she was a part of the wife package). The two (a dog and apartment living) don't go together well.
We have 4 dogs at home, and sometimes of course their barking gets on my nerves, but I could never consider doing that. It is so much of who and what they are.
Unlike KK, though, I finally broke down and de-clawed our cats (front only). I tried so many other things, and it was a HARD decision (I was the one that was adamant for years we would not do it), but in the end the cats are all happy and unaffected, and one of the calicoes actually became way more sociable and loving after the operation.
p.s. – I also believe (know from experience, actually) that you can 'humanize' your dogs AND maintain the proper discipline and position as the pack leader at the same time.
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So we do have more in common: We both love *both* dogs and cats.
I had a calico for many years before I was married and through most of the marriage itself. She died over 10 years ago, and that was really hard.
You get a pass (from me, at least) for de-clawing your cats, with one condition: As long as your cats are exclusively indoor cats. Letting a de-clawed cat go outside is putting the cat in way too much danger.
How many cats do you have? Currently, I have two.
I currently have 2 cats and one dog. I've always had cats and dogs in the house and they are great companions. One cat has been declawed (in front) and the other has all weapons intact. I didn't have the cat declawed, my girlfriend did. That cat is very well adjusted and pretty much the boss of what goes on around here, all 7 pounds of her, but I also remember the adjustment it took for her after the procedure and I personally found it rather upsetting. I would never have it done to a cat myself. I've found it's actually quite easy to keep the front claws on a cat clipped using human toenail clippers, and as long as you're careful many cats will purr away calmly while you do it. But there are worse things that can be done to cats, letting them roam outdoors, feeding them only dry food, or failing to neuter them for example.
OK, dogs: I have a 4 year old australian shepherd now and she is the second one I've had. The other I had for 14 years. I love these dogs, they are smart as whips and very tuned in to their owners. Never had any problems with barking. I'm out in the country and there is plenty of room for a high energy dog to get lots of exercise – frisbee throwing is a twice daily event here, rain, snow, or shine and that is an exercise that lets a dog to get up to full warpspeed. In the absence of enough exercise it's harder to establish enough structure to keep a dog well balanced, and I have to wonder how much barking issues are related to that. Now, maybe some dogs don't need much exercise, but all my dog experience has been with setters and herding dogs – they don't like to be bored for very long.
So, about de-barking dogs… (yes, I remember this is the subject) my gut level reaction is that I don't care for t. It strikes me as a shortcut for people who perhaps don't have the time and energy to provide the kind environment that dogs require. That said, I think it's certainly preferable to having to put a dog down. So yes, if there is no other option, but only then. One more comment, I dislike the sound of endlessly barking dogs as much as anyone, but my ire is always directed at the owner, not the dog.
I would NEVER de-claw a cat (even front only) if they ever went outside. Plus, to be safe, they are micro-shipped and collared with name tags that have contact information.
We currently have three cats, two calicoes (an American short-hair and a Manx), and an orange tabby.
So Shaden, isn't clumping cat litter the best invention ever?
One of them, yes!
Two cats: a black and white, and a calico, which are both indoor cats and de-clawed. They're (ex) brother and sister. My wife and daughter went to get a cat, that my daughter wanted, from a friend of ours, and somehow it split into two younger ones before I got home. When the dog is out for a walk, his “fan club” watches him through the storm door until he gets back.
I also have eight guinea pigs (4 males, 4 females), but that's a few other stories.
11 year old Chihuahua here. I'm pretty sure he thinks he is number 2 in the pack….he has my wife wrapped around his little paw. So when she is home, he is quick to bark at everything. When it is just me at home…he sleeps, snores, and fights german shepherds in his dreams.
If given the ultimatum to either get rid of our dog or move….we'd move.
De-barking dogs is always wrong. If people did their research on getting the right dog for their lifestyle in the first place there would be no need for this cruel practice. Only in America …
Good on you, Schade.
I'm not Schade, but I will answer this question with a very loud, exuberant YES!!!!
My two kitties are mother and daughter. They are torties.