This is certainly one of those "hot-button" issues. This isn't something I would want to see performed as an everyday thing on just any dog, but I've observed the procedure many times at work and I do think there are definitely situations where debarking is preferable to the alternatives. The Los Angeles SPCA actually has supported debarking, as it reduces surrender rates and allows problem dogs to remain at home (and alive!). I am currently fostering a ten-year-old rescue (miniature Poodle) that barks All. The. Time. And I do mean all the time. Barks when he's happy, barks when he's excited, barks when the phone rings...you get the picture. He has a voice that could shatter glass. If I lived anywhere *but* in the middle of a forest in Maine, we'd have real problems. I think that for someone who lives in much closer quarters with very annoyed neighbors, debarking the serious chronic barker is far better than the dog being dumped at the pound, death by euthanasia or worse.
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