There was an article in the New York Times recently about people who are apparently choosing to debark their dogs by taking them to the vet and having the vet cut out the animal’s vocal cords. These aren’t the kind of people you would think of as being cruel to animals; they’re likely educated folks who theoretically love their pets and who certainly have some excess cash if they can afford this type of thing. And I have to ask … wtf?!?

I love animals but I am by no means an animal rights activist. In fact, by the standards of how San Franciscans spoil their dogs, I was probably not even a good “mom” to dogs. (Not only would I never call myself my dog’s mom but I’d also never dress it in clothes, buy it gourmet food or have it stay in a hotel while I was away.) So I’m pretty average when it comes to my pets. But there was a definite part of me that stood up and screamed in horror when I read this article.

The people who are doing this have their justifications for it. They say it doesn’t hurt the dog. They say that the alternative would be to give up the dog because its barking is out of control and it would probably end up euthanized so it’s better to just debark it. They say, “hey, this surgery has been going on for decades so it’s clearly not that bad”.

I have to disagree. I’ve owned lots of dogs. I’ve seen why they bark. They bark because they’re defending themselves or their home, because their excited or because they want to get your attention. To take out your pet’s vocal cords so that instead of barking it just makes a wheezing sound is just not right. Just not right. Justify it however you want, I’m not buying it.

And frankly, it seems like the owners just shouldn’t be do owners if they feel the need to do this. They clearly aren’t doing it for the dog. They’re doing it because they’re annoyed by the barking or because their neighbors are complaining about the noise or because they want their attack dogs to be silent predators. It’ selfish. Get the dog trained. Move to a dog-friendly area. Get a cat.

Tags: animals, debark, dog surgery, remove dogs vocal cords

I recently went to the California Academy of Sciences which is a really cool place located in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. I got to see really cool animals in the aquarium as well as in the other sections of the science center. I wasn’t able to get too many good pictures of the animals but I did like this one of some giant lizard whose actual name I’ve now forgotten:

Tags: animals, california academy of sciences, desert animals, kathryn vercillo, lizard

I believe that it’s important to get your dog spayed or neutered. I know all of the good reasons for this. The most important reason is that there is a huge problem with pet overpopulation in America which results in a lot of unwanted and uncared for animals. I support getting your dog spayed.

However, I have to confess that not all of my pets over the years were spayed or neutered. When I was growing up, we had one dog that my parents didn’t bother to get spayed. every year we’d have a litter of puppies to enjoy and to learn from. Watching those babies be born and grow up was educational and exciting.

Even as an adult, I had one dog that I didn’t get neutered. I had a female and a male dog. The female was already spayed. I put off neutering the male and then more and more time passed and I’d never done it. He was almost always kept in the yard but there were definitely some times that he got out. I admit that my failure to neuter him was irresponsible because of that.

So I’m thinking about the pros and cons of spaying your dog. When I weight them against one another, I come out of it believing that almost everyone should get their dog spayed or neutered. It’s the responsible thing to do. However, I can see some reasons that you might not get your dog spayed.

The main reason that you wouldn’t get your dog spayed is because you want to breed the dog. This could be because you’re breeding a dog for money or it could be a more general case like when I was a kid and we liked having puppies around. You have to consider the consequences of your actions if you want your pet to have puppies but for some people it’s going to be the right thing to do.

What do you think? Is it always wrong not to get your pet spayed? Or is it acceptable for some people to choose not to neuter their pets?

Tags: animals, dog, health, home, hubpages, kathryn vercillo, neuter, pet overpopulation, pets, spay, spay and neuter