Daniel Azlan aka Daniel Yorky called me yesterday to ask if I know anything about debarked dogs. I did not – the only thing I knew is that it is tampering with Nature and quite cruel.
Daniel was contemplating buying up this debarked dog from a breeder. Apparently, the breeder had this poor little dog debarked simply because “it barks too much”, and now the dog cannot be sold. And you know what usually happens to animals which breeders cannot sell…
So, our knight-in-shining-armour, Daniel Yorky, feels that the only way to save this dog is for him to buy up the dog and look after it for life. But Daniel wanted to know more about debarked dogs.
So I checked with the vet and he said they ought to be “okay” if they have no breathing and eating problems (that was just a short text msg reply).
Later, I checked on the Internet and learnt more about debarking.
You can google it too, and I shall not repeat what I’ve learnt here. Rather, here are my thoughts on it:
Barking is a very natural thing for dogs, as natural as speaking is to us humans. It is their way of communicating with others. To remove this ability, in my opinion, is really very cruel.
Having said that, some people choose to do it because it’s the lesser of the two evils compared to sending the dog to the pound or having neighbours report against the dog, or throw poisoned food to it, and the million-and-one evil things that humans can conceive of doing to a poor dog simply because it “barks too much”.
Can we also do something to humans who talk too much (or those who shout all the time, like my neighbour, who irritates my dog with her incessant shouting?).
Why can’t we humans be a bit more tolerant of other creatures’ behaviours and just live in harmony with them? Why must we do all kinds of unnatural things to them and alter Nature just because we are the stronger species?
“The meek shall inherit the earth” – take note. The dinosaurs died out, the lizards and cockroaches survived. The animals knew the tsunami was coming when it did, we humans were still happily frolicking on the beach.
All said, I reiterate again my stand that the King/Queen of all creatures is never the one who is the most powerful, but the one most capable of showing compassion to other beings, especially those weaker than he/she/it.
Have you heard of Darwin’s Lost Theory of Love? Google it, and you’ll see that towards the great scientist’s last days, he realised it’s not the survival of the fittest that will rule the earth, but those who practise and live by LOVE and ALTRUISM.
Love and altruism will ensure the survival of this planet.
Live and let live, shall we? And let the dog bark, please…
Comments
5 responses to “Debarking a dog”
I wonder if there is any way to restore back the vocal cords of a debarked dog?
i second that!!!
how can a breeder be so cruel? dog barks for a reason. find the root cause of why they bark too much and teach them instead of using a shortcut to solve the problem.
My dog was debarked by his breeder owner at 5 months. At 9 months, the surgeon had problems intubating him for his neutering procedure because of scar tissue. He was sent back to the original surgeon to fix the debarking. The breeder gave up on him and I went and got him. At 3 years old, he was wheezing and had exercise intolerance. I took him to a surgeon who did an endoscopy and at that time found that His airways were 45% blocked with scar tissue. The surgery to correct this was not minor. The surgeon removed the scar tissue, grafted skin over the incisions and stitched it back so that the tissue would not web in his airways again. His quality of life is much better now, he has more energy and he has a slight sound when he barks. This procedure cost $3,000 to help the poor guy. I would never, never recommend debarking as my dog suffered at the hands of the first owner and surgeon who did it to him at 5 months old. He had to be sedated for six weeks after his final surgery to correct all this. Hope this helps someone make the right decision.
Just want to add that the corrective surgeries required my dog's throat be cut about six inches each time. By the age of 3 years, my dog went through four major surgeries, the last one being the one I paid 3,000. My surgeon claims she has fixed it for good.