Then came the day my husband was diagnosed with cancer. I wont go into the roller coaster ride we were thrust on but we had to sell our home and buy a condo because he was too sick to care for it & the yard and I had to continue to work to support us.
We found a condo that allowed pets so it all worked out wonderfully.
Except for the barking issue. When we were home, no problem. But there were doctor appointments, radiation treatments, and we couldn’t be home 24 hours a day.
We rented just about every training video & training book we could get from the library, talked to our vet, talked to trainers, even had her stay with a trainer so she could get professional one-on-one training. That didn’t work either. She still barked the second we were out of the room. We then tried a citronella spray collar and miss smarty-pants outwitted it. She learned to bark once and wait for the collar to reset then bark once again…We used activity balls, turned the radio to talk radio so she would hear voices, took her for long walks to tire her out prior to our leaving….. Nothing worked.

We received notice from the condo association telling us we would have to sell and move or get rid of the dog if her barking continued.
We talked to our vet again and she suggested that since we were having Peanut’s teeth cleaned the next week, she could debark her at the same time. I was immediately horrified! I couldn’t! No way! I also couldn’t bear to get rid of her.
Here we are fighting this horrible cancer, and our then 14-year-old sheltie’s health was starting to fail and now this!
My vet explained to us that it was a very simple surgery. While she was already out for the dental cleaning, they would go in and trim the vocal fold tissue. They DON’T cut vocal cords. It’s not even as bad as having tonsils out. She explained there were some risks and she could get scar tissue and need more surgery, she would still be able to make some noise, the amount was up to her will power. There would be less tissue for the moving air to vibrate against which is how they make their barking sound. She doesn’t offer this as a solution to just any dog owner. But she knew all we the work and different training methods we’d tried.
So Peanut had her teeth cleaned and was also debarked.
She had no complications, no scar tissue, she didn’t even seem bothered by it.
A year later we had to help our other senior sheltie to the rainbow bridge and it hurt so bad but we were glad we still had our Peanut. Two years after that we got an all clear from the cancer doctor and moved into a house on a small lake.
Peanut will be 13 this April. She is still healthy, still spins in circles when we step outside even though she can see us standing there, and she is still a compulsive barker. She has the job of herding the wild geese off our lawn and is very good at it. We’ve also done some agility training with her and what an incredible dog she is! She makes a breathy barking sound and we can hear it but it doesn’t bother our neighbors and Peanut doesn’t care. The other two dogs we have don’t care that Peanut makes an odd noise. And by the way, we have never debarked any other dogs and don’t plan to.
A year after moving to this house on the lake we decided we were ready for our first puppy from petfinder.com. We didn’t quite end up with a puppy, but a 9 year old double dilute sheltie, born deaf & with vision problems who was rescued from a puppy mill where she was forced to pump out litter after litter-and passed those deafness and vision genes on to countless puppies. She had many medical problems due to neglect and forced breeding (tail injured from pinning it up!) Stage 4 dental disease, colitis, etc. She had lived in a small cage her whole life. She was an angel I know we gave her a loving happy home for the last two years of her life. I don’t regret it for a second. Only that her time with us was too short as is always the case with these incredible souls.

So, I agree, debarking isn’t something that should be done willy-nilly to all dogs just because you don’t want to be bothered by them. It doesn’t replace training and attention.
I don’t like it when breeders debark all their dogs as standard procedure so they don’t bother them.
But I don’t believe we mutilated our dog! I don’t believe we acted inhumanely and irresponsibly. I don’t think what we did was cruel.
In our case debarking Peanut allowed our family to stay together!
I know some will still have issues with our decision. But try to put yourself in the situation we were in. Do you think it would have been best for Peanut if we brought her to the animal shelter? Do you honestly think another family would spend the time we did and still keep her when she continued to bark her head off?
I believe we saved Peanut’s life and we will continue to love her for all of her days!
You can see our Peanut here: http://www.dogster.com/dogs/813812

I did not ask if merely “noisy” dogs would be euthanized under the proposed legislation. I asked specifically if those dogs who failed environmental enrichment, training, etc. (i.e., those dogs for whom a cause for the excessive barking could not be identified and/or corrected) could be debarked under the “medical necessity” category. I gather, now, that they could not be.

It seems to me, then, that outlawing surgical devocalization could be problematic where convenience euthanasia IS still legal. Owners may well choose euthanasia if debarking is not an option. While some vets refuse to euthanize an animal for frivolous reasons, a vet who will do the deed is usually only a few phone calls away. This I have learned from several acquaintances who have had their pets euthanized for minor behavior problems with little or no investigation of the underlying cause.

I understand that some dogs that undergo the surgery may eventually be euthanized anyway, but clearly not ALL of them. Thus, it seems likely that debarking does save SOME lives. Most dogs would probably choose debarking over death.

I did a little reading to find out what is done in other parts of the world, and learned that some or all of the Australian provinces, for example, have outlawed debarking, but at least one of them has made provision for debarking of what I will call persistent barkers (with the hope that you will understand what I mean by that, and that I am not referring to dogs that are merely “noisy”). The provision requires an evaluation by a third party to determine if all other options have been thoroughly explored. In such a system, routine debarking by breeders or by anyone else is not a allowed, but in the rare case of a persistent barker for whom all other options have been exhausted, it is allowed. This is something I could support.

BiBi, you mention that some shelters tell us that rehoming is preferable to devocalizing a dog. Clearly this must be true in some cases. However, it is probably not true in ALL cases. If one thinks that a dog is sensitive enough to experience psychological trauma as a result of surgical debarking, it is likely that he is also sensitive enough to be traumatized by the loss of his human family, however imperfect. This is certainly true for human children, and removal of a child from a home is never something to be taken lightly….but we need not digress in that direction.

And, unfortunately, rehoming an animal can be difficult if not impossible. I did a little research on this, as well, and found that fully 56% of dogs and 71% of cats that enter shelters in the US are euthanized, due to insufficient space or insufficient funding to deal with illness and injury. Only about a quarter of dogs and cats that enter shelters are ever adopted:
http://www.americanhumane.org/about-us/newsroom/fact-sheets/animal-shelter-euthanasia.html
So, does a persistent barker really have a better chance if brought to a shelter than if surgically devocalized? Probably not.

I agree entirely that responsible pet ownership is to be encouraged, and convenience surgeries discouraged. Further, I agree that ROUTINE debarking by breeders or by anyone else is unacceptable and should be illegal. But a law that makes no exception for a persistent barker is too black and white.

In a perfect world, everyone would spay/neuter their pets and care for them responsibly. There would be no need for shelters and convenience euthanasia would be unacceptable. But we live in an imperfect world, where convenience euthanasia is legal and rather commonly performed. Thus, it is difficult for me to support the proposed debarking law.

Why? Because devocalization does NOT ensure any animal a secure home. Dogs and cats are surrendered for many reasons unrelated to barking or meowing just as many declawed cats are surrendered or convenience euthanized.

And if owners are unable or unwilling to pay the price of procedures to treat tissue regrowth or other complications, where do you think the animal will end up?

Reputable shelters tell us they prefer the animal be rehomed rather than devocalized.

The purpose of the bill, along with stopping an unethical, cruel procedure, is to foster RESPONSIBLE pet ownership. Live in close proximity to neighbors? Don’t bring home a dog predisposed to hypervocalization. To do that and then mutilate him is the height of immorality.

Don’t have time to spend with a dog? Don’t get one. Leaving him alone all day or outside for hours on end invites excessive barking and complaints from neighbors. DUH!!

Couch potato? Better do some breed research and get a dog who’s equally inactive, because a dog that needs exercise and doesn’t get it is going to…guess what? Bark excessively!

Dogs also bark excessively when they’re in pain, frustrated, afraid.

Cutting their vocal cords doesn’t change any of that. The animal remains in distress, which he then may express in other ways, say, by biting. And then what? A shelter or the gas chamber.

It is far more humane and reasonable to choose the right pet for your living environment and lifestyle, care for her appropriately, and work with a behavior specialist to diagnose and treat the underlying cause of excessive vocalization. THAT is what the bill encourages.

Think how you would feel with chronic laryngitis or emphysema. Think how hard it is to communicate. Why would you do that to the pet you pledged to love and protect?