US woman duct tapes dog's mouth for barking, faces police probe

Houston: A Florida woman who taped her dog's mouth for barking and then bragged online about her cruel disciplinary techniques by sharing a picture of the suffering pooch is facing a police probe after pet lovers jammed the police hotline.

"This is what happens when you don't shut up!!!" Katie Brown had posted on Facebook on Friday along with a photo of her chocolate Labrador with heavy duty tape wrapped around its muzzle.

The South Daytona woman quickly followed up with a second post: "Don't panic everyone it was only for a minute but hasn't barked since... POINT MADE!!!"

The picture racked up more than 140,000 shares and prompted hundreds of tipsters to alert the South Daytona Police Department - so many that police had to beg callers to stop jamming up their phone lines, New York Daily News reported.

"Please everyone understand that this is being handled. Your concern is welcome, but we do not want to tie up our emergency dispatch services," the city police wrote on Facebook.

Police have opened an animal cruelty investigation, but said Brown and her dog were out of state for Thanksgiving holidays. The photo was taken at that out-of-town location, police said.

"However, the police will be contacting this person once she returns to our City. Rest assured that a full investigation will be done and appropriate action will be taken," police said in a statement.