To Bark or Not to Bark? Debarking a Dog - is Surgery the Right Remedy?

Debarking is a painful, confusing temporary solution to a much deeper human management, miscommunication and training problem. When the urge to bark is suppressed and not dealt with properly, then even after undergoing the surgery, the bad behavior only redirects and then surfaces in other inappropriate activities. Ultimately, the animal lives an unhappy life, and may lose their home or more tragically, can even lose their life.

I’m a professional animal communicator and animal behaviorist who works with resolving different problems with dogs, and I can tell you that in all my 40 years experience, debarking is completely unnecessary major surgery. Barking in a chow chow, corgi or other dogs is easily corrected when they are listened to and managed properly. That’s why debarking is so controversial!

I worked with a fellow dog lover, Kim, whose dog pal Jody had recently become horribly aggressive – barking and attacking and biting strangers or other dogs… to the point that she thought she was going to have to find a new home for her… or put her down.

Kim was heartbroken as she and her kids loved Jody very much. She couldn’t take Jody for a walk without fear that there would be a fight – with other dogs and even people! Kim couldn’t figure out why all of a sudden this was an issue.

It was heart wrenching to see and Jody’s behavior had escalated to a critical point. She just wanted to know WHY her dog’s behavior made a turn for the worse, and what she could do to resolve it without having to put her friend to sleep.

Was it something she was doing wrong? Did something happen to Jody or was something else going on that she didn’t know about? She just needed to know that she was doing everything she could before she made the final decision. She needed those answers FAST!

Come to find out it was all a misunderstanding! One that almost cost Jody her life.

Kim and the kids had been watching TV and seen several shows where some really bad things had happened to some people in their community… tragic stories of people attacking and hurting other innocent people… and where dogs had attacked and hurt people too…

It had made them afraid. And Jody got the message. After that, Jody just wanted to protect her family from all those bad things… but since she didn’t know exactly where or who the bad people were, she became indiscriminate in her aggressive defensive actions.

Jody’s behavior changed dramatically after our consultation, and I’m delighted to report that Jody is still happily living with her loved ones and doing her job.

Jody was reacting to something in her environment as are most dogs. Once you know why your dog is barking, you can take the proper steps to correct their behavior.

What can you do if you have a bad barker? One of things you can do is so easy! Train your chow chow, corgi or other dog out of this by teaching them to Bark (Speak!) on command. Once they know the command, then you can teach them Quiet! Easy!

Chow chows, corgis or other dogs who continue to bark are simply not being managed correctly or they have something important they need to communicate with you. Considering the expense and the risks of surgery, debarking a dog should never be the first option for corrective behavior modification, but rather different management, communication and other training methods should be adopted.

And by all means, learn how to talk to your dog. Animal communication is vitally important! You can’t really know what’s going on from their viewpoint until you ask them. And they can participate in resolving things, once you know what they’re thinking.

Just like humans, animals have their own side of every story to tell! But if we don’t take the time to listen to them, then their life, happiness, health and well-being will suffer…