De-Barked
- Thread starter labman
- Start date
I disagree with de-barking, but in a serious situation with a nuisance barker, I would rather de-bark than put a shock collar or some other similar torture device on my dog.
Dogs bark, period. De-barked dogs bark too, so if you really can't stand barking, you probably shouldn't get a dog.
My Eve is the quietest dog I've ever met, and even she barks once in a blue moon.
Dogs bark, period. De-barked dogs bark too, so if you really can't stand barking, you probably shouldn't get a dog.
My Eve is the quietest dog I've ever met, and even she barks once in a blue moon.
I don't like it. Plus what if your dog is lost/hurt/scared or warning you of something? I just love how we have to mess with them 
I was talking to my neighbours today, we get very paranoid about the dogs noise level because we got complaints to the council from neighbours at our old house(we'd asked them to please tell us if they were misbehaving and we'd fix it but they just rang the council), turned out they were barking a lot when we were away because they could see straight through the fence.
So I was tlaking to the neighbours today and asked how they'd been, she said it wasn;t bothering her and it wasn't excessive (thankyou wood paling fence), and ofcourse they were going to bark, we have 4 of them so don't worry. I fel t so relieved. After the last neighbourhoods we were in its so nice to be in a nomrla area again where dogs make noise and people are nice enough not to look down their nose at you just because you have a blue dog.
I was talking to my neighbours today, we get very paranoid about the dogs noise level because we got complaints to the council from neighbours at our old house(we'd asked them to please tell us if they were misbehaving and we'd fix it but they just rang the council), turned out they were barking a lot when we were away because they could see straight through the fence.
So I was tlaking to the neighbours today and asked how they'd been, she said it wasn;t bothering her and it wasn't excessive (thankyou wood paling fence), and ofcourse they were going to bark, we have 4 of them so don't worry. I fel t so relieved. After the last neighbourhoods we were in its so nice to be in a nomrla area again where dogs make noise and people are nice enough not to look down their nose at you just because you have a blue dog.
I always thought people could train any dog to not be a yappy mess and always blamed the owners.
BUT- our westie we have had for a full year now completely changed my mind on the subject! I have tried everything! We have had so many dogs and even more fosters in and out and never has it been such an issue. Its like this dogs goal in life is to yap. And its not at anything-any random thing or nothing at all results in hours of yip yip yip.
We went with a bark collar. If it hadn't worked he would have been having his chords cut. Its been a huge argument between me and my mom because she doesn't want to use the collar but everyone in the house was loosing it and its amazing with the collar-I forgot what it was like to live in a quiet house.
I think this is an extreme case-I've only ever met one other dog like him who yapped like him and it was a sheltie that was the most neurotic thing I ever met. I hopefully will never have to use one on another dog and I hope will never come across another yappy dog!
So yes I hate to think of people doing it but having been through this with morty I understand the need to do something. I have heard of dogs where the collars don't help so maybe it is needed-otherwise what should you do? put the dog down? I'd be afraid to rehome mort cuz it literally drives me nutts and I've wanted to throw him out the window-I think a lot of people lack my control
BUT- our westie we have had for a full year now completely changed my mind on the subject! I have tried everything! We have had so many dogs and even more fosters in and out and never has it been such an issue. Its like this dogs goal in life is to yap. And its not at anything-any random thing or nothing at all results in hours of yip yip yip.
We went with a bark collar. If it hadn't worked he would have been having his chords cut. Its been a huge argument between me and my mom because she doesn't want to use the collar but everyone in the house was loosing it and its amazing with the collar-I forgot what it was like to live in a quiet house.
I think this is an extreme case-I've only ever met one other dog like him who yapped like him and it was a sheltie that was the most neurotic thing I ever met. I hopefully will never have to use one on another dog and I hope will never come across another yappy dog!
So yes I hate to think of people doing it but having been through this with morty I understand the need to do something. I have heard of dogs where the collars don't help so maybe it is needed-otherwise what should you do? put the dog down? I'd be afraid to rehome mort cuz it literally drives me nutts and I've wanted to throw him out the window-I think a lot of people lack my control
I have a friend with a mentally retarded dog (not sure if that's the right term or not) and she had no choice but to de-bark her. Her dog barks at anything and everything, for no real reason and she has no way of responding to any sort of training really. She just doesn't grasp concepts. So, in her case, it was necessary. I also know somebody who almost lost their home due to their Collie mix's barking, so I believe it was necessary in that case as well. So, I agree with de-barking as long as there is a good reason for it, but if somebody just finds a dog's barking annoying, I disagree with it.
My thoughts for the most part. Breeds like Shelties are GOING to bark and bark a lot. You should know this before getting them. I can't understand these breeders and people that have this breed but won't deal with it so they opt to debark all their dogs. It's like any other breed with a breed trait- you should expect it from these dogs. Don't be surprised if you get a pit that is dog aggressive, or a sighthound that wants to chase and kills small animals, or a sheltie that barks just to hear itself bark. I think of it as the same sort of thing.
Routine debarking of these highly vocal breeds REALLY bothers me. (about half the shelties at dog shows seem to be debarked!) Should not be seen as a 'quick fix'. If it were life and death, I'd be more understanding, but I'd hope that an owner would exhaust all other options before resorting to surgery.
Not to mention that I HATE the sound a debarked dog makes. Gives me the chills.
Routine debarking of these highly vocal breeds REALLY bothers me. (about half the shelties at dog shows seem to be debarked!) Should not be seen as a 'quick fix'. If it were life and death, I'd be more understanding, but I'd hope that an owner would exhaust all other options before resorting to surgery.
Not to mention that I HATE the sound a debarked dog makes. Gives me the chills.
I have to agree that the de-barking creeps me out. But, people get dogs, dogs develop barking problems, neighbors complain and some dogs get dumped at shelters. I'd rather tell someone about the de-barking option than have them give up the dog.
The reality is, many dogs have barking problems when the owner is away, so the only options that will work reliably are bark collars or de-barking. I think for some dogs the de-barking may be more humane than the electric bark collars. (and forget the citronella collars- very expensive, horribly unreliable, and do they cause cancer?) And I think for almost all dogs it would be more humane than a one way trip to the pound.
The reality is, many dogs have barking problems when the owner is away, so the only options that will work reliably are bark collars or de-barking. I think for some dogs the de-barking may be more humane than the electric bark collars. (and forget the citronella collars- very expensive, horribly unreliable, and do they cause cancer?) And I think for almost all dogs it would be more humane than a one way trip to the pound.