Are dog de-barkers cruel?

[Shell Beau]

I have a mini-pin that loves to bark. It wouldn't be so bad if her bark wasn't a shrilly yappy type bark. She is my angel, but her incessant barking can drive me nuts.

[Modem Butterfly]

1. If you can find a veterinarian who will de-bark your dog...

...run far away.

[Shell Beau]

7. I mean the kind you put around their necks.

I would never ever want to permanently shut my dog up. That is cruel.

[Taverner]

14. Nothing wrong with debarking

The dog doesn't mind - TRUST ME

OUr dog is debarked, and he's fine. He's in a home where he's loved and that is the MOST IMPORTANT THING.

[DS1]

2. People that actually own the beasts are already questionable.

[Shell Beau]

8. Hey now!

[youspeakmylanguage]

20. As opposed to cat owners...

...who are usually covered in cat hair, live in houses that smell like cat piss, and are batsh*t crazy.

:popcorn:

[Shell Beau]

21. Now that does call for the popcorn!

:popcorn:

[DS1]

24. I don't smell like cat piss or shit

because I let him outside each morning to feed on the songbird and shit in your yard.

[youspeakmylanguage]

25. I only wish that were true...

...instead I find cat shit outside every morning. We have about 12 outside cats that camp out in our yard. I don't mind them outside because they take care of any field mice or other rodents we may have to deal with.

I didn't say the owners smelled like piss, I said their houses do. They owners are usually just covered in hair.

[Mutley]

3. I think so.

They use electricity to inflict enough pain to condition the dog not to bark.

[Texasgal]

4. Oh shit....

:popcorn:

[Sannum]

5. Yes they are...

How would you like it if a jolt went through your body every time you tried to speak!

[Shell Beau]

10. I probably wouldn't like it. I was JUST asking.

I would never want to hurt my babies.

[youspeakmylanguage]

23. Think about it this way...

It isn't the most humane thing to do. But if the dog barks too loud and too much, it may be more humane than what your neighbors will do to it. I've heard of barking dogs being stabbed and poisoned.

[Shell Beau]

26. Luckily she is inside when she barks and the

houses around me more than likely can't hear her.

[ernstbass]

6. Yes!!!

Barking comes with the territory when you have a dog - try spraying her with a squirt bottle if you can't stand it - I have 5 dogs so I know how irritating it is (I think I'm developing hearing loss after yrs of living with barking dogs!!)

[Shell Beau]

9. I do that (the spray bottle). It just gets her going even more.

I have three dogs, so I too know the craziness.

[Taverner]

11. There is nothing inhumane about debarking

Tigger was debarked shortly after birth. He has no qualms with it, and you can hear him bark still. Just more of a raspy hiccuping sound instead of the yarp yearp of a Samoyed.

The dog doesn't mind, but if you do it do the full debarking, as a half debark might grow back.

[Shell Beau]

12. You are loony!

What do you mean half and full?

[Merlot]

29. The dog doesn't mind?????

how do you know, since the dog can't tell you?

[Gildor Inglorion]

13. Cruel? I'd never thought about it...how about those "invisible fences"...

are they cruel? They also shock the doggies when they attempt to pass beyond them... I love dogs too much for either one, I guess. The miniature dachshunds I've had in the past could usually be reasoned with. Once they understand what you want, they'll do it most of the time.

[Shell Beau]

16. You've never met my Lolly.

She reasons with herself. She is the boss. I've had her so long that it is hard for her to change. It just recently got worse when I brought home our new pup.

[Tyler Durden]

15. Try the one that just vibrates and beeps.

Worked fine on our Male Corgi. All it does is just freak him out a little, and the tone REALLY freaks him.

No pain, just a little psyops.

[Shell Beau]

17. So no electrical shock?

[Tyler Durden]

18. Nope. Just beep and vibrates.

Charlie HATES it. Haven't had it on him recently, so if he starts up, we yell "BOX!" at him and he shuts right up. Comes from "Do you want us to get the box?"

[Shell Beau]

19. I know how that goes. I say "wanna take a bath"

and my dogs are out of sight.

[Tyler Durden]

22. "behaviour mod don't need a cattle prod!"

Motto of our the members in my Psych 305 Behaviourism class who did not approve of the methods used by Ivar Lovas in his autism work.

[Strawman]

27. They have non-shock ones with citronella

That spray when the dog barks. Seems more humane than the electric shock ones at least. I've never used either, but I've seen them.

[Shell Beau]

28. She would probably like the citronella, but I'll try that.

I just found out that they have non-electrical ones.