Cool or Not Cool: Debarking Your Dog?

This NYT story yesterday about getting your dog surgically debarked (having their vocal chords severed) was E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E. And, mostly, people seemed pretty outraged.

Unsurprisingly, I too think its retarded and horrible.

And I speak as someone who has seen both sides of it. In fact, Oliver has a major barking problem. But here's the thing: its not just a "barking problem"...its tied in with the fact that he has separation anxiety and is a widdle biddy baby who doesn't like to be left alone. Shut your traps though...he's MY widdle biddy baby, and its actually a really big deal for him. And the way this manifests itself in our case, is that he barks. And barks, and barks and barks.

When we first adopted him seven years ago, we did a test and left a recorder going after leaving him alone. We had mistakenly been under the assumption that he probably barked for like 10 mins, and then just gave up. We used a digital recorder that had a 90 minute recording limit...and he barked the whole fucking time. 90 minutes + of a a full-on bark-a-thon (apologies to our neighbors back at 50 Murray in Tribeca).

This ain't no sissy bark either...the dude has a deep, loud, full-bodied bark. And trust me, its not so cool when that shit is bounching off of our apartment walls and you live right next door.

For us, the solution was: working with a trainer, AND a citronella collar. Whenever we go out, Oliver gets a kong stuffed with treats and his citronella collar (see pic above; you can get these online or at many pet stores). He knows when that thing is on, he best not let out a bark or he's gonna get sprayed. In fact, the battery was dead for like 6 mos. before he figured it out...but the mere act of putting the thing on was enough to stop him (NOTE: there are also shock collars available, which duh, is also pretty cruel. I promise you...there is no need to shock. Not sure why, but that spray of citronella freaks them the fuck out, and best of all, doesn't hurt at all. In fact, I think the citronella smells way the fuck better than Oliver does).

Aside from being alone, Oliver barks a bit when he gets excited right before we're about to go out for a walk...or when we're at the park and there are some dogs ignoring him. And, yeah, its sometimes annoying. But also he's a dog...and that's how dogs communicate...and express themselves...and even show their love.

I'm not saying you should just let your dogs bark and bark and bark, and I realize there are a variety of circumstances at play here (including breeds who are just, for whatever reason, more prone to barking)...but it just seems like there are about 1001 things one could be doing before the decide to get their doggie's vocal chords chopped?

So yeah...I say waaaay not cool. You?

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