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In case you haven’t heard, the Business Development Institute is hosting its Second Annual Social Communications and Healthcare event next Tuesday, May 11, 2010 at the The Graduate Center of The City University of New York in midtown Manhattan, New York City. 

The meeting, which starts at 8:30 AM and continues until 1:00 PM, will consist of a serious of plenary talks followed by moderated round table discussions on a variety of social media and healthcare-related topics. Yours truly will be leading a roundtable discussion on non-promotional uses of social media in the life sciences industry.

Agenda

For more information, including registration, please click here to visit the event website. Or contact Steve Etzler at setzler@bdionline.com or 212-765-8045.

BioJobBlog readers can use promo code BC for a discounted rate of $155.

I hope to see you at next week's meeting!!!!

Until next time …

Good Luck and Good Tweeting!!!!!!

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There was a very disturbing article on the front page of today’s New York Time about an increasingly popular practice of debarking dogs by people who live in urban areas like New York City. Debarking is accomplished by severing a dog’s vocal cords. The practice may be more widespread than reported because of nuisance pet policies imposed on apartment owners by co-op boards in the city. According to the article, the surgery usually leaves the animal with something between a wheeze and a squeak in lieu of a bark.               

While I am not a card-carrying animal rights activist and find excessive barking annoying, I am a dog owner and a biologist who strongly believes in evolution. And, as far as I am concerned, if dogs weren’t meant to bark they wouldn’t! Taking away a dog’s only means of verbal communication (one of my dogs “whines” when she needs to go out and the doggy door is shut) is, in my opinion, detrimental to a dog’s physical and behavioral well being. As one animal behaviorist said in the article:

“Dogs are usually barking because of some frustration. It’s frustrating to be a sheepdog with no sheep. What I’d be concerned about is, if you are debarking a dog and it has an underlying happiness.”

Proponents of the procedure say that it is a harmless procedure and dogs that have been debarked don’t act any differently than they did before the operation. Luckily, many younger veterinarians have deemed that the surgery unnecessary and unethical and refuse to perform it.

My first experience with debarking was after I inadvertently purchased my two dogs from the daughter of a notorious and nefarious New Jersey-based puppy mill breeder. I learned that it is not uncommon among puppy mill owners, to silence their dogs to prevent detection by authorities by shoving metal rebar down their throats. The repeated assaults on a dog’s vocal cords caused scarring and sometimes rupture which, in turn, renders the animal unable to bark. Imagine my outrage when I read that some veterinarians knowingly and willingly perform this surgery because pet owners requested that it be done!

I think the practice of debarking is repugnant, reprehensible and not justified in any circumstances. If your dog has a barking problem, hire an animal behaviorist or call Cesar Milan, aka the Dog Whisperer. It is likely there is an underlying behavioral problem or cause of the problem that can be fixed by behavior modification or pharmacological interventions. Debarking surgery is a convenient and facile solution for pet owners who say they love their dogs but are unwilling to spend the time and effort required to solve the problems. 

In conclusion, if dogs weren’t meant to bark then they would not have when they first appeared on the planet!!!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Don't Forget to Hug Your Puppy Today!!!!

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