Shut Up Dog or I'll Have Your Vocal Chords Removed
posted by: alicia graef 31 days ago
Unfortunately, some pet owners who are looking for a little peace and quiet may choose to have their pets devocalized, or debarked, to get it. If you missed this last time around, you can read the full post here.
Devocalizing involves a not so minor surgery with a high risk of complications that uses either an oral approach, or a laryngotomy that essentially results in cutting or removing an animal’s vocal chords, a controversial procedure many veterinarians will also refuse to perform.
“One snip of soft tissue in the back of the throat is the most painful thing. Many times, the dog has to be re-operated on because the membrane grows over it. It’s not good for the dog. It’s only good for people,” according to Dr. Nicholas Dodman, a professor at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University and renowned animal behaviorist.
This type of quick fix also does nothing to encourage responsible pet ownership, and is an easy way out of working on behavior modification.
Some who are in favor of this “convenience surgery” argue that it can help animals who may otherwise be surrendered to shelters due to barking. However, debarked dogs still wind up in shelters and may also have a harder time finding homes, since some may find the wheezing, raspy or throaty sounds they make even more bizarre and irritating than barking.
Once devocalized, dogs also lose their ability to communicate and socialize normally, which may cause frustration and lead to behavioral issues, along with making them potentially dangerous to people without their ability to give warnings when they’re upset.
As the result of a grassroots effort led by Care2 member Jordan Star and the Coalition to Protect and Rescue Pets, the Animal Law Coalition (ALC) has drafted a bill, An Act to Prohibit Devocalization of Dogs and Cats (H.B. 344), sponsored by Rep. Lida Harkins, and co-sponsored by numerous others, that would ban devocalizing dogs and cats in Massachusetts, unless it’s done for medical reasons.
Currently the bill is still waiting in Committee, and is getting some opposition from the likes of puppy mill breeders, hoarders, dog fighters and those who think they can do whatever they want with their pets because, well, they’re just a piece of property, right?
If you live in Massachusetts, please take a minute to contact your legislators today asking them to support HB 344 as written. If you don’t know who your legislators are, call 1-800-462-8683 or go to www.wheredoivotema.com and fill in your address and then look for "Rep and Senate in General Court."
Please also sign Care2’s petition to ban devocalization.
If you’re not a resident of Massachusetts but know someone who is then spread the word!
Read more: animal welfare
comments
June L.............what the hell are YOU doing on here lady ? This is a site where members RESPECT animals especially when it comes to their pets. You should not own any pets if your answer to a problem is to beat the hell out of them. Shame on you.
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Cesar Milan is not a good source for things. Sometimes that guy is full of crap. To say that one breed is not more prone to barking than another breed is untrue. Several breeds are DESIGNED to be barkers. Smaller dogs, especially. It was their job to bark to alert guard dogs.
Now, back to the issue: Debarking is cruel and inhumane and should be illegal. We would not do it to a human being for talking too much, why would we do it to 'man's best friend'?
My dog, a papillion, is a barker. He is extremely bright, quick to learn, but the one thing he will NOT do is NOT bark, and I don't care. He's alerted me to people lurking outside of my house. He's alerted me to my psycho ex coming home and attempting to touch me in my sleep. He's a good boy, and sometimes he barks too much, but I'd never debark him. Never.
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I'm sorry, but I would like my dog to be able to WARN me about something dangerous. Besides, part of having a relationship with another being is by accepting him/her--both the bad and the good.
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To June....let me find a wooden stick and crack that on your butt. See if you would like that.
I have 3 dogs> 2 Boxers and 1 Am. Bulldog,they are all the same age, 3 yrs old.They also like to bark,but i would never hit them with a stick!!!!!
If you don't like dogs that bark maybe you should get you a cat!!! And yes if i knew you, and i would see that you hit a dog i would send my AM. Bulldog over to you. You sound like a very cruel person,i wonder if you have any kids, and if so do you hit them with brackcratchers also when they do silly things??
People are really dumb if they think devocalization is ok, lets take yall's vocal cords out,because dumb people do not have a reason to speak.
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What is wrong with you people who want to shoot,maim & kill those who debark their dog?
This is so extreme it borders on the insane! Evidently you have never had a dog that barks constantly. Borrow one for a week & you'll be thinking of devocalization too. Personally I would never do this to my barkers,but I have certainly thought about it many times. A dog barks & that's a fact. That is what dogs do. They bark at the mailman,the paper boy,the stranger appoaching your door & sometimes they seem to bark at nothing. My Boston Terrior & Cockapoo do this several times a day & it drives me crazy!! I am not going to debark them! My mutt rarely barks,but when she does I sit up & take notice. My way to control this & other bad behavior will probably send the crazies up the wall & they will come looking for me with a gun. I have a small wooden backscratcher. When this bad habit started I gave each one of them (not the mutt) a good crack on the butt. It only took one good crack. Now when they start that nonsense I show them the stick Or even just say the word stick & they shut right up. Such a simple lesson & it WORKS!!. No unhappy people or dogs. Now folks,don't come looking for me as I'll sic my mutt on you!! Lets get reasonable. PLEASE!
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This world has gone MAD!
How can any pet owner even think of such a horid act?
This just blows my mind out to even think about this!
Where does cruelty end on innocent animals?
Who is the nut case that can even come up with such despicable torture?
They deserve this act be done to them when they speak out of turn or utter any kind of harsh words from their filthy mouths. My God, where does it end! And Sanity returns?
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This bill is sponsored and led by Coalition to Protect and Rescue Pets. I just filed it. Also, I'm glad to see all the support, but, think about what you're saying. Saying that people who do this should get the death penalty is harsh and too much. Yes, it's absolutely horrible and inhumane, but bringing death and stuff like that up isn't good.
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Vecoalisation most certainly should be banned. I am an active member of multiple animal welfare/ rescue organisations both in Australia and worldwide and I am appaulled by this procedure. The morons who want it done and the so called vets should have their own (vocal cords) larynx severed and see how they like it.Give the vets who performs this procedure and the dropkick owner the death penalty!!!
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The practice of debarking a dog is horrific and wrong. How could you torture an animal this way just for your own convenience?!? What is wrong with people? Why do we torture our pets, farm animals and wild animals? People ought to be ashamed of themselves, and any veterinarian who performs the debarking procedure should be arrested for animal cruelty and lose their license. Don't they take a "do no harm" oath like regular doctors? If not, they should; no veterinarian should be allowed to practice animal cruelty. Debarking needs to be outlawed!!!
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Wow so If I decide to have what I thought was a minor surgery performed (under total general anesthesia) on my pet only as a last resort then I should be shot? You really need to listen to what you are saying. I am a member of PETA and just about every other animal rights group known to man but I don't think most of your reactions are justified. Wanting to murder or torture someone who gets this surgery for their dog is ludacris. I considered this surgery for my dog only after YEARS AND THOUSANDS of dollars in unsuccessful training..after staying up for hours upon hours in the middle of the night holding a squirt bottle to make my dog be quiet..after trying EVERYTHING possible to make him stop incessantly barking I considered this surgery. I was almost evicted due to my dogs constant, non-stop barking where he would bark for 6 or more hours straight through the night. I decided against the surgery ultimately but please think before you post such hatred. I love my dog like he was my child and could never give him away and I thought, like im sure many people do, that the surgery wasnt that big of a deal. Sometimes people just don't know.
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