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I witnessed something yesterday that made me cringe and I felt very sorry for the dog. A friend of mine has a sweet little poodle who was laying on the couch at her house. Her daughter came along while we were visiting, sat beside the dog, put her mouth to his ear and gave him a loud smoochy kiss.
If you've ever had someone kiss you loudly on/in your ear, you know how painful it is. Dogs can't talk back, so of course he couldn't tell her how much it hurt. With their hearing so much more keen than ours, even kissing a dog on their head must hurt a lot. I explained to her why she shouldn't do it.
Please, if you see a friend/family member doing this, stop them and explain why. Your dog (or cat) will thank you.
A few of the dogs we've had have barked so loud at times that they shake their heads because they're irritated their own ears. We had a retriever mix who was always flapping her head after barking loudly. We'd always tell her, "Y'know, there's a very easy way for you to stop that earrrrr-itation, Hallie!"
I think you're concerns are way overstated. Even the loudest smoochy kiss would never be as loud as Hallie's bark.
Now...let's talk about how much it hurts US when dogs bark directly into OUR ears.
I agree that a loud bark or a loud smootch is still causing hearing damage to both humans and animals.
But I disagree with the statement that they hurt their own ears to the extent you say when they bark. Their own bark is projecting the sound away from their ears, not directly ON them and IN them like a person giving them a loud smootch does.
I feel sad for the dogs who have to ride in the car with the blaring stereo, or sit home while the stereo or TV is very loud.
Few rules I make clear to my friends, guests in my environment and situations I will remove my dog from, Smoking, I have never allowed smoking around my dogs. Loud music, tv and such.
I agree that a loud bark or a loud smootch is still causing hearing damage to both humans and animals.
But I disagree with the statement that they hurt their own ears to the extent you say when they bark. Their own bark is projecting the sound away from their ears, not directly ON them and IN them like a person giving them a loud smootch does.
Disagree all you want. When your dog only shakes her head and flaps her ears right after she barks as loudly as she can, she's doing that to herself. Noise travels from a center point outwards, not in a straight line.
Our two dogs wrestle and play all the time. They bark like crazy right into each others' faces and ears. Our retriever has a very very sharp bark to indicate she's ticked off that our Aussie mix has a toy she wants. She gets right in his face and lets loose with it. Trust me, no one can smooch half as loud as Karma can bark.
Whatever. You won't convince me that a dog isn't sensitive to a human kissing loudly on their ears or head for that matter.
The dog could very well be sensitive to a smoochy sound directly over the ear, just like you or I could be...
But unless that smoochy sound is louder than about 135 decibels (for illustration, if someone screams in your ear at the absolute top of their lungs, that's going to be around 110 decibels), it isn't going to cause any damage over a duration as short as a smooch.
So objectively, I think, you aren't hurting your dog's ears... Which is to say nothing of whether or not you are annoying your dog, but I'm not sure that a private campaign to raise public awareness is called for just yet.
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