I saw a dog this morning and it was barking but it did not sound like a normal dog barking, it sounded like a duck quacking
Somebody else told me that the owners had had problems with it barking so got the vet to "debark" it. They said that it was some kind of cut in the throat that meant that the dog could never bark again.
I was horrified!!! I have never heard of this before. I had a dog that was a problem barker but I worked through it with behavioural training so that he can still bark when it is appropriate but knos not to when needed.
Has anyone else heard of this before. Surely it is not right??

Debarking, as far as I know, is illegal in the UK, it involves cutting the vocal chords. I did have a dog who "wore his bark out" whilst in kennels though, he sounded similar to a duck.

Oh my lord!! I'm horrified! I've never heard of this before. That is down right cruel, how can anyone do that to a dog??

They do all sorts to animals in the States that are illegal here.  Debarking - declawing cats - minor ops at shows ....

Learning something new all the time.  I always thought cats being declawed was legal as well as standard. 

Really? Are you in the UK?

If you are asking if I am in the UK then yes

It is illegal in the UK, a conversation we got into with our vet purely by accident, took our dogs for their jabs and one of our girls was barking her head off, OH jokingly said she needs debarking...........we ended up with an hours conversation about it.

I have to day you would probably be horrified if you heard Maddy :D :D Most Malamutes don't bark anyway, they WOOOOooOO. When we got Maddy, she actually barked, but she has stopped that now and tries her hardest to WOOOo. Only it always comes out like a hoarse burp LOLOL

SOMETHING tells me Geeky Girl KNOWS what a Mal sounds like Mel ;) although of course she only knows the "normal" ones. lol

HI Mel,
Yes I do know what a mal sounds like :-D, at least I thought I did until I took Delta into the ring and I was amazed ;-)
Geeky Girl

Ah but Maddy DOESN'T sound like a Mal ;) Oh and NOW I know who you are :D :D

Haaalllllooooo!!!!! :-D
Just keep my identity to yourself - there are some doggy (or should that be dodgy) people around here :-D :-D

*Putting on best Rolf Harris impersonation*

"Have yer guessed who it is yet?"

:D :D :D

LOL Yeah ...*clink* ...that was the penny dropping :D

It appears to be quite commmon practice in certain states in USA where there are strong atni dog barking rules.

I uderstand that in #australia moves have been set in plce t have it banned except as a last resort.

I have met several dogs imported after debarking and they sound like geriatrics or a dog with a sore throat, they can still bark, but there is no resonance.

If you are in the UK it wasn't a Spanish Water Dog, a black one?  My friend has one and it's the funniest bark ever, sounds like a duck and I believe that many of her relations have the same bark.  It's hysterical to listen to, but she HAS NOT had an kind of operation!

No it was a BC!!!
Any more questions??? :-D :-D

Yep...How old are you, where do you live and most important...WHO are you??? LOL :D :D :D

Love Dawn *totally clueless in Liverpool!

Sorry but just like superman, geeky girl never reveals her true identity ;-)
Only true alies will know geeky girls' "clark kent" :-D :-D

Ohhh on a need to know basis huh??? I smell a CON SPIRE ESY!!! If you crack the secret code I will have to kill you! LOL

I knew a debarked dog in the US, and he barked VERY loud indeed -the owners said he used to be 4 times louder but he was sure loud enough to hear from far away. They say the vocal cords can repair themselves to a certain extent, not sure if that is true or not, in which case it needs doing again. :( I also remember seeing a TV programme, again not sure how correct it was, where it was explained that if the vet cuts just a millimetre to the wrong side, the dog ends up dying.

Have had heated discussions in the past with people from the US who claim it's kinder to de-bark a dog than having to re-home it or put it to sleep because it barks all day long and they are threatened with eviction beause of it. The way I see it, it would be far kinder to re-home or even to have the dog put to sleep, after all it will be barking for a REASON! In the cases that were being discussed it was when the owner was at work all day and no provisions were made for the dog.

I know of 2 dogs who were "de-barked" because their owners were receiving neighbour complaints - it didn't work - they started barking again, so the vet didn't do a very good job.

This was in the UK so its not illegal.

debarking use to be legal in the UK... but no longer.

I live in the states where is was common practice to have done.  Not sure about here, but you can be evicted for a barking dog.  Cats were declawed so frequently, it was more surprising to find a cat with claws than anything else (This was due to a children safety issues as well, while everyone loved cats, children being scratched by kittens got major press... oh... and also to prevent the nice furniture from being scratched)... shrugs.

My parents loved cats... my father hated being scratched in the groin when the cat jumped in his lap.

Are shock collars illegal in the UK?

quirky
Dont go down that road 'please' :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Donna :-)

no problem.. scratch the question, i'll check on google.  Thanks...

I sometimes type faster than i think.

They will be shortly thankfully by the sounds of things!

Debarking has been illegal in the UK for very many years - certainly 15 - along with de-clawing cats - because it's of no medical benefit to the animal. In fact declawing cats can substantially shorten the cat's life, because it can't climb a tree to escape a chasing dog!  Any procedure which is purely for the benefit of the owner is considered unethical and the vet runs the risk of disciplinary procedure and might be struck off.

Was google searching and on the first page was a 4 year old topic from champdogs!

http://www.champdogsforum.co.uk/board/topic/9890.html

Also if you had a cat that was declawed abroad, you'd not be able to enter it in a show in the UK.

I would like to know which law this is everyone seems to have both opinions. Anyway, no of course anti bark collars are not banned why should they be?where on earth did that notion come from anyway? we live on a large estate and There are quite a lot of them used here. We took on a BC cross something when its owner died ands used a static anti bark it was making a din, dog owners are accountable to neighbours and the community, dogs are accountable to owners, any community problems and the dog has to go, so I dont know about debark ops and people seem to have mixed opinions and no one quotes a law, but anti bark collars are the lifeline.

I don't know of any in my neighbourhood.  How strange that most areas contain people that can get a grip on the problem of their dogs being a barking nuisance without resorting to these nasty things but yours continues a whole rash of people that can't :rolleyes:

of course you cant stop a dog barking when yoiur out, how can you? your out shoping, maybe miles away or whatever and the dog starts to bark and thats it. Its not the anti bark collars that are nasty, it is the dog itself which the neighbours see as nasty, so you use an anti bark colar and everyones happy, or better the neighbours have no problems with you keeping the dog it does not interfere with them.

You put a very small effort into accustomising your dog to spending some time on its own.  There is always the odd person who can't get a grip on this, or doesn't care, but most neighbourhoods don't resort to this so clearly it's not necessary.

>use an anti bark colar and everyones happy

Well, the dog won't be :(

Anyway, why an electric shock? Why don't they use the smell ones?

ithink you will find most neighbourhoods do use anti barks, sprays dont work, the difference between us is that if you had a dog casing a barking nuisance your dog would end up in rescue, ours now has a secure home for life. we know why it was barking, it was almost certainly haveing difficulty adjusting to a new owner/home and missing its dead owner, you might beleive in bringing in a spiritualist to make the dog happy with a ghost but your dog would have to go, ours now can stay.It isa matter of if you accept social responsibilty and neighbour compatibilty first, anyone with any comon sense knows neighbourhoods will not be disrupted by nuisance dogs.

>your dog would end up in rescue

No, it wouldn't.   Mine would happily bark at every passerby if I had not taught her not to.  When I am not in, I simply remove her to a room where she cannot see out so she is not tempted to have a go. In addition, like most people, I put a little effort in to ensuring she is not stressed about being left.
Do you think every dog that has a barking problem is not cured unless you give it an electric shock?
Clearly not, as I say my neightbourhood has not resorted to such methods infact I have never heard of a whole neighbourhood doing this.  Dog wardens often loan scenting collars but I have never heard of electric shock collars being on loan in this way so I doubt very much this is a general way of approaching these matters.  I certainly hope not.

yes most people here recomend statics, the only problem is some people cannot afford them.
As I said no one can stop a dog barking when you arenot there and again as I said, when we had theproblem (better when the dog caused problems) we could and did deal with it, your dog would be at risk and end up in rescue, fine if you have a quiete dog but in your case a noisy dog would simply end up in rescue because you will not (according to you) behave in a socialy responsible manner and your dog would suffer as a result.

>As I said no one can stop a dog barking when you arenot there

and as I have said, you can and people do, as evidenced by whole neighbourhoods that do not resort to electric shock collars.  Rest assured, my dog would love to be very noisy, by nature, if I had not troubled to be responsible and teach her otherwise :)  Would suggest you have a word with your local dog warden regarding training methods that are very simple to apply and do not cause your dog any pain.

Isabel, sometimes I think some posters are HAPPY to argue the status quo...waste of time trying to educate them, they'll never accept when they are wrong! :rolleyes:

"you might beleive in bringing in a spiritualist to make the dog happy with a ghost but your dog would have to go".

I can't get past this line.

>you might beleive in bringing in a spiritualist to make the dog happy with a ghost but your dog would have to go

Talking about contacting the afterlife makes me wonder if this is not a reincarnation of a departed* member? 

*departed read banned ;)

You mean the OP?

Nope :D She's real enough lol

No, I didn't mean the OP :)

Yes - I finally have a guarantor (sp?)
:-D :-D :-D