[Dailydrool] Worn-out vocal chords

[saraberry at aol.com]

Ok, you know I am going to jump in here on this one.

If a dog's vocal chords are indeed worn out due to repetitive vocalizations, then that means more than just honey and lemon for the throat.

That also means that if anyone is within earshot, they are either complaining or wearing ear plugs, and chances are very good that the dog is stressed to the max and the entire body is suffering the results of that stress.  

Even if the animal is vocalizing non-stop in play or at a squirrel enough to wear out vocal chords, that is way too much stress on an animal.  I would say that at the most, 10 minutes of non-stop vocalizing is really the max.  Now if they are starting and stopping, I think that can be ok depending on the situation and reason for the barking, but even that can become stressful, especially if the animal is doing it for stress reasons, not to mention, again on the human ear over time.

Some bassets get into a rythym with their barking.  A big reason to prevent or stop the barking quickly is that the more they practice the behavior, the "better" they get at it and it becomes normalized.  In some cases, even to call them and reward is ok.  If they stop barking to come to you, you will be rewarding the recall and not the bark.  Same if you ask them to sit or down first.

Example: When we have yard men come, everyone goes bonkers.  So I get out the biscuits and Mr. Yard Man is asked to go around and give everyone a biscuit when they sit.  That normalizes him and reinforces sitting as an acceptable behavior when strangers come.  Afterwards, they are totally quiet.

A number of assessments must first be done to see why the animal is vocalizing and what is going on before, during and after.   Then there are a number of ways to redirect a dog to a better behavior, calm a dog down, change around the environment to stop them from engaging in whatever is causing the barking, and hopefully set up a situation where the barking never starts to begin with.

You can email me off list, or better yet, get with a local trainer who can help you assess and get a plan in place.

Since most neighbor complaints and animal control issues start with barking dogs, this is essential in this day and time to avoid any difficulties.

Best*

Sara
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