Pioneer State: Massachussetts House Passes Dog De-Barking Ban Bill

Sheesh, what is it with all you people thinking it's okay to de-vocalise dogs? Here in the E.U. this kind of "mutilation" is banned along with ear-cropping, declawing and de-fanging because the vets themselves refuse to perform such cruel procedures. (No need for PETA here - the vets are at the forefront of fighting for animal welfare).

People should think more seriously of the welfare responsibilities involved with owning an animal before getting one and then chopping off the bits that "inconvenience" them in some way. Owning a pet is a privilege not a right, and it's certainly not compulsory. So if they don't fit your lifestyle then don't get one.

I applaud Massachusetts for taking steps to ban devocalisation, and hope that other states will follow their example of treating animals with respect and humanity.

This is great news! What on earth is wrong with you people who think mutilating an animal in any way is OK? Thank Heaven I live in the UK where we care for our pets as the living feeling beings they are.If we don't like that dogs bark,we don't get a dog.If a neighbour's dog barks, so what,we live and let live.We don't chop bits off dogs tails ot ears either and we don't cripple our cats. Come on the whole of the USA catch up!!!!!The rest of the civilised world are waiting for you to do just that.

Bark softening? Who gives YOU the right to decide that a dog should be operated on to soften the volume of it's bark so YOU can live happily with your neighbours? Some of you have repeatedly had it done to your dogs, some have had it done and gone on to own further dogs. Come on folks owning a dog is not a right that gives you power to adapt that dog to your specifications. Don't get a dog if you're not prepared to hear it bark, don't get a dog if you live unsuitably close to other folks, what about if you got a child with annoying habits eh? And what about babies who cry loud or squeal? Would you soften their voices? No, so why mutilate dogs. Just don't get a dog! I thank God for this legislation!!!

I can't believe so many people are against a ban on a cruel practice which is banned in our country and many others. Dogs bark, they are born with the abbility to bark for good reason! The people who don't want debarking made illegal are probably the same ones who think it's acceptable to mutilate cats by the amputation of their last toe joints,with the misnomer 'declawing' I hope this bill in Massachusetts is soon passed in the rest of the USA too and is closely followed by a statewide ban on declawing cats. ANY uneccessary surgery on any animal is wrong !

Research done at the Humane Society of St. Joseph, Mishawaka, Indiana, by a team of veterinarians lead by Gary Patronek VMD, PhD, found that excessive barking was given as the cause in 41% of dogs surrendered for behavorial problems... almost HALF!! When you factor in the number of dogs surrendered in this country for behavioral issues and realize that almost half of those are due to barking, you simply cannot rationally deny that excessive barking leads to many dogs being euthanized in shelters. How many of these lives could have been saved had the owners known that bark softening was a viable option (as recognized by the AVMA.)?

People.....PLEASE WAKE UP!

What this bill is NOT about is bark softening; if it were, the animal rights groups wouldn't be so staunchly behind getting it passed. Interesting to see Joel Woolfson, DVM speaking out in the video above although I had to wonder why there was no mention of his position on the Board of the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association. OK, well, I honestly didn't wonder too much since all of us know that the HSVMA is the veterinary arm of the Humane Society of the United States... we all know that, don't we? And we all know that the HSUS' goal is the eventual elimination of domestic pets in American homes, don't we?

What this bill is NOT about is whether bark softening is inhumane and cruel. It's about forcing breeders to stop breeding, forcing pet owners with dogs that are excessive barkers to re-home or surrender those dogs to shelters and/or rescues. For those dogs not lucky enough to go to a friend or family member end up in a shelter or rescue where they have two options; euthanasia if not adopted or if the shelter/rescue is a "no kill", spending the rest of its life in an 8 X 10 ft cage. So, someone please explain to me which is more inhumane and cruel.

I am a dog breeder (Yes, I can hear the collective gasps!) Two of my dogs are here with me as I type this, lying around the living room waiting for Twilight to come on again. (these girls just LOVE that movie!). The other two are outside playing. I know what you're thinking... as a breeder, I must have dozens of uncared for dogs crammed into little cages but in the 30 years I have been involved in breeding and showing dogs, I have never met a breeder that keeps their dogs in that type of environment. I'm sure they exist but I would argue to the end that this type of breeder is the definitely NOT the "norm".

I now live in the country so I don't have the concerns about neighbors complaining. However, 15 years ago, I lived in the "burbs" and had neighbors, Mrs. Satan and her spawn, who complained incessantly about my barking dogs. I had police at my house at least twice monthly. One Sunday, I had returned home from a dog show, placed my dogs in the backyard while I finished unpacking my van, and looked up to see a police car coming down the street. Basically, the neighbors waited until I got home to call and complain that my dogs had been barking loud enough to "wake the entire neighborhood" at 5AM that morning. After assuring the police that I hadn't even been awake at 5AM, I asked the police officers to walk 10 feet sideways onto the grass to where they could see the backyard ... there, at the fence, were four of my dogs barking furiously...yet, because they had been bark softened, the police could not hear them over the normal conversation level 50 feet away. I asked the officers if they thought the sound of those dogs woke anyone up at 5AM considering the distances to the homes of the neighbors complaining. That was the very last time the police ever visited my house. How different that entire scenario would have been had the option of bark softening not been available.

I am a dog breeder but I am also a dog lover. I would NEVER intentionally have any dangerous or risky procedure done to one of my dogs. In the many years I have been involved with breeds that are genetically hard wired to bark (herding breeds such as corgis, collies and shelties) I have only known of one dog that has had any complication from the surgery and that was due to the vet's error. Just like there are veterinarians who specialize in cardiology, orthopedics, etc, there are vets who routinely perform this surgery and who are very skilled at it. Complications, if they occur, are extremely rare and are usually the result of another health issue or a reaction to the anesthesia, not due to the surgery itself.

Finally, we need to look at some "facts":

Dr. Gary Patronek, DVM, conducted research on the reason on why people surrender dogs to shelters and found that of those dogs surrendered due to behavior problems occurring daily, 41% were reportedly due to excessive barking.

It important to address facts about canine communication. Researchers tell us that wild canids rarely bark past the adolescent stage, belying those who claim that bark softened dogs can't 'communicate', can't 'warn' or 'sound the alarm.' Barking in our companion dogs has been attributed to domestication. As such, it's incorrect that dogs use barking as a main means of communication. Wild dogs communicate using body language, smell and a series of yips and growls that bark softened dogs can still make.

There will be those reading who have made up their minds based on emotional input rather than the truth. But for those of you who have read this with an open mind, who can acknowledge the truth that I and others who have had decades of experience with this procedure have posted, I hope you will rescind your support of this horrible bill that will at best, cause loving pet owners to give up their noisy dogs and at worst, cause those dogs their lives when no home(s) can be found for them. If you TRULY care about animals, you cannot let the animal rights groups to slyly lead MA legislators by the nose into passing this travesty of a law.

I thank you, sincerely, for allowing me to share my thoughts.

What people fail to realize is that the videos and pictures used are done of dogs that may have had cancer surgery or if I look at the pictures correctly they were done by someone who has no idea how to bark soften a dog. And this procedure is not done on cats at all. Think of the squealing sound a balloon makes when you stretch the opening to allow the air to escape. The smaller the opening the louder the sound. High pitched barks travel long distances and disturb the neighbors. All Bark softening does is to make the opening larger and just as you release the balloon the air comes out with a softer sound. An experience vet can open the vocal chords just enough to allow the sound to be less intense. There should be no scarring or over growth unless the vet did not do it properly. This law will kill thousands of dogs and that is why the animal rights people push this law because they know dogs cannot be trained to stop barking except when the owner is there day and night. They know this will make it more difficule to own a dog. That is why they push these laws. Notice that they worse surgery that humans perform upon their animal that has no health benefit to the animals as shown by numerous research studies and in fact causese severe behavior, health , growth problems and is the number one leading problable cause of bone cancer is spay and neuter surgery where the sex organs are ripped out of the body after the muscle tissues are cut through. This surgery is done only for the convenience of the owner. Notice that all of the animal rights people are pushing mandatory spay and neuter when already 93% of all owned pets are already spayed and neutered. In ten years there will be no more pets. Already the rescues and shelter groups in the north east states are shipping in over 375,000 feral dogs with unknown tropical diseases, rabies, and things like bot fly into shelters in the north east so these rescue groups can keep operating. This is harmful to the public and puts our food supplies at risk. The bot fly grows inside the body eating you from the inside with no outside evidence other than a bump. The eggs are deposited on your skin from the mosquito once it has landed on an infected puppy. Do you know where your rescued puppy came from? Do you?