Kathy, I couldn't agree more. The only difference between your thoughts and mine are that I have been there and seen what can happen.
Years ago, we lived in a residential area that had houses with large back yards but certainly not acreage. We had several greyhounds at the time They were very quiet dogs for the most part, but one of the bitches was a really silly thing and would let her voice be heard quite frequently. All but one of our neighbors were very laid back and really enjoyed the dogs. But the one fellow did not like the fact that we had all these dogs in the neighborhood. He complained regularly and, because he had to be up at about four AM for work and needed to go to sleep earlier than most, we tried to make sure that our beloved Maimie stayed in after dark. She didn't get to play with the others because that would set her to barking also. This did not satisfy the fellow and he continued to complain and even went to the other neighbors and tried to get them to sign a petition to oust us. He also contacted every possible authority to try to get us out. Out of desperation, we rehomed Maimie. She was gone and we were bereft for several weeks...that is, before the new owners brought her back because she was causing the same problems in their neighborhood. We were thrilled to have her back, frankly, because we had felt so guilty at sending her away. We truly loved her. So, my vet suggested debarking as a solution and I finally bit the bullet and did it. She had a bark, but it was about a fourth of the volume it had been. She did not appear to care one whit and continued to bark happily but muted. It was a real blessing for all concerned. This is the only greyhound I have felt the need to bark as they seldom are noisy at all. I have had some whose voice I've never heard in fact. We now have about an acre of property and live in an area that prides itself on having a semi-rural live-and-let-live atmosphere. No one has complained about our dogs barking, and all of our neighbors have a variety of animals of their own. However there is an elderly gentleman and his wife who live down the hill on the adjacent property. They have a couple of large shepherd type dogs that once in a while bark which pleases me enormously. However, our two boys live to race down the hill and challenge those two dogs to a good fight, or if not an actual fight, at least a barking contest. This occurs every time they are let out to play. Now, in my book, all dogs need to exercise to be healthy...my dogs love to race down to the fence and be macho...I do not want my dogs to cause a problem for my neighbors who are too sweet to complain...No amount of training made even a tiny bit of difference in their behavior...These two desperadoes also barked whenever any other dog was exercising when the pool man comes, when a bird flies by etc. I do not want my neighbors to become desperate and try to take action against our dogs or us, so what should I do? Give them away, lock them up, yell at them? None of these things were the solution to me. So I had them debarked. Now the pool man has made friends, these boys can run and play with everyone else, strut their stuff through the fence at other dogs and not bother anyone. I have seen the process myself. A very mild anesthetic is used because it is a very quick procedure and the guys wake up happily barking. They do not seem to have any awareness of their lack of a bark, they eat dinner as always, and are just as happy and loving as ever. The only difference is there is peaceful quiet at last. Pat ========================================================= "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.
