Gerri, what a perfect post on this subject! You are so right! There are times when there is no alternative but to debark a dog. It is not something that I would take lightly and I would use it only in an extreme case such as you mention or where it was a choice of moving or debarking. There are several options when debarking. You can have the bark lessened to a "whisper" bark or you can have the bark totally removed. The "whisper" bark is really the best as it has less chance of side effects and is the one that we chose when we had to use it.
I prefer to breed for quiet dogs and haven't had to debark a dog in at least 15 years. At that time, it was either move, lose my dogs, or debark. Believe it or not, I even had a neighbor complain about my dogs barking AFTER they were debarked so you can see the kind of harrassment we were under. I had to threaten to sue the Animal Control person as she wanted to write me up anyway so the neighbor would quit calling her. I told her that I would call my lawyer if she wrote us up for barking when she could hear for herself that it was not possible for us to be annoying the neighbor. (This was really a property line dispute and he was trying whatever he could to get at us.) At that time, we could not move, but we moved as soon as we could and have never had to debark again. BTW I made sure that I sold my place to an old, fiesty, rich woman who could hold her own with the neighbors. We almost sold it to a pig farmer, but unfortunately his loan did not come through. And the property size was 6 acres so size may have little effect when dealing with a troublesome neighbor. All the best, Susan Cochran ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gerri Dueringer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2002 10:48 PM Subject: Re: [CKCS-L] Debarking > When I was a teenager, my mother would say things to me that I swore that, > when I was a mother, I would never say to my own children. ( I don't have to > give you a reason why! I'm your Mother and I said No!) Now that I am in the > same position that my mother was back then, I find, many times, that when I > open my mouth, my mother's voice comes spilling out! > > I think it's very easy to criticize other people's decisions when you aren't > in their position. It's easy to say to people that have a chronic barker > that they are bad owners who don't spend enough time with their dogs or that > they are taking the easy way out, that they don't spend enough time training, > or they need to find a new home for their dog. > > I lived with a chronic barker (Smooth Coated Collie) for years. She was a > rescue dog. Annie was completely obedience trained and my daughter went to > State competetion with her 4-H and won. But bark she did, loud, and long and > often. We tried everything, from bark collars to distraction training to > muzzling her. It was a nightmare and nothing worked. Annie had to be > constantly supervised. She barked inside, she barked outside. At shadows, > at movement, at noise, at other dogs, at her reflection in the mirror, at the > television, at the fishtank, at the dishwasher, at the computer printer, at > cars, squirrells, at birds, at leaves falling. To to those of you that think > debarking is such a horrible terrible thing, live with a truly chronic > barker, then let me tell you what a bad dog owner you are for even > considering the possibility of a surgical procedure that would allow the dog > to bark happily to it's hearts content without being heard from over a mile > away. A surgical procedure that would let your family get one single decent > night's sleep without someone having to get up to quiet the dog. To have a > dog that didn't have to be constantly supervised that could go out and romp > in the yard without a collar zapping it or spraying citronella in it's face, > or cans of pennies being lobbed off the top of the house to distract her, or > be muzzled or sedated or told constantly, NO BARK! HUSH! QUIET!! > > > Annie lived with us until she passed away with liver cancer. She was not > debarked. I would have NEVER considered passing her and her problems along > to someone else. Pet ownership is supposed to be a LIFETIME COMMITTMENT, not > just until you have a problem you or your dog can't overcome. But...if > another dog comes into my house and I have the same problems that I did with > Annie, I'd have her debarked in a New York minute and could care less what > anyone else thought about it. > > It's easy to criticize other people's actions until you are living with the > same set of problems. It's easy to say what you would or wouldn't do if > you've never actually had to deal with it. Other people may live in a > perfect world where they never have problems or their problems are easily > fixed. Other people aren't so fortunate and we have to make different > decisions. > > I don't wear a fire retardant suit anymore. My skin's already been burned > off. So knock yourself out and flame away. :o) > > Gerri Dueringer > > ========================================================= > "Magic Commands": > to stop receiving mail for awhile, click here and send the email: > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20NOMAIL > to start it up gain click here: > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20MAIL > > E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance. > Search the Archives... http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ckcs-l.html > > All e-mail sent through CKCS-L is Copyright 2002 by its original author. ========================================================= "Magic Commands": to stop receiving mail for awhile, click here and send the email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20NOMAIL to start it up gain click here: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20MAIL E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance. Search the Archives... http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ckcs-l.html All e-mail sent through CKCS-L is Copyright 2002 by its original author.
