DeBarking Surgery or Soft Bark

Every dog in my house is done, and only one has grown back. I had her done twice, and it grew back both times.

I have not had any dog have any side effects from it, nobody wheezes or coughs or has trouble breathing or anything else some people describe. I do let the vets office know when I leave them for surgery, just so they don't think they've broken the dog.

Most of the dogs have a 50% reduction in volume, one has a more metallic sounding bark that I really don't like. The Collie has a nice deep, resonating bark, even debarked. She doesn't squeak like some Collies, but she didn't squeak before the debark. The only thing worse than a squeaky Collie is a debarked squeaky Collie. Gah, can't stand that.

The rest of them just live life. They herd sheep just fine, because sheep don't care about noise (and the dogs shouldn't be barking at sheep anyway).
 
Both of my dogs are debarked/bark softened for reasons already stated - breeder show prospects and the number of dogs she keeps plus the close proximity of neighbors allows her to continue breeding and showing her Shelties without creating ill-will amongst neighbors.

Both of my dogs have pretty healthy barks on them even with the debark procedure done. In the 7.5 years I've had Edan and 5 years I've had CJ I have seen no issues with either dog's health as a result of the debark. Edan's is definitely louder than CJ's but you can hear both dogs anywhere in the house. It's DEFINITELY loud enough to wake us up in the middle of the night.
 
Sheltiez4evr said:
My Sheltie, Whisper, was de-barked when she came to us. To this day, she has hacking problems that our vet attributes to the surgery. But her bark has come back over time, and we love to hear her whiskey tenor.

Barking is a Sheltie joy, but if it's a nuisance that threatens someone's permanent place in the home, I suppose some will choose to de-bark.

As a companion guardian, I'm definitely not a fan of the procedure.
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OMG! Indy has the same thing, and I never attributed it to his debarking at all. He hacks all the time! I thought maybe it was his weight....we are on weight loss regime current, but he was up as high as 36 lbs.

Never even considered his debarking as a possible reason.....thanks for sharing....
 
Echo came to me bark softened at 10 months. Also a show dog that the breeder decided to let go (much to my delight :smile2:)
She also does the hacking thing sometimes, especially if she drinks a lot of water too quickly.
She can still bark just fine, and she is a world-class barker.
It's just a lot quieter than the normal Sheltie bark.
 
Tully does the hacking noise, esp when she drinks and she isn't debarked. Had it vet checked, incl the vet anaesthetist before her surgery, and apparently that's perfectly normal for some dogs to do.
 
Zoey does the hacky thing off and on. But still being voice softened she still has different barks and just gave me her alarm bark. A cat must of been walking through the yard at the right time. LOL
 
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