Expert: Have4Paws - 3/17/2009

Question
my husband and i have recently adopted a 1 1/2 yr old beagle from the shelter. he was previously owned by a female who lived in an apt. and supposedly had to get rid of him because of excessive barking. he has had no training (that we can tell) except for housebreaking. he is very intelligent and learned right away to stay off the couch and had done really well with crate training. he gets ALOT of exercise- about 8 miles/day of walking. problem: i think e must have been fed from the table because he completely loses control whenever we get food out. we have gotten him to quietly lie on his bed when we eat a couple of times, but usually we have to crate him because he gets very aggressive when we try to push him off the table or kitchen cabinets. he is not aggressive towards his food at all. we have had him almost 2 weeks and last night he freaked out, hair raised and snarling, racing around the table, and later tried to bite me when i instructed him "off" of the kitchen cabinet. what immediate steps can we take to help him learn control regarding our food. we cannot keep him if he continues this behaviour. any help would be appreciated. thanks, tamrah

Answer
Dear Tamrah, wow, this is a beagle out of control! It sounds like you are doing everything right, training him, establishing boundaries and giving him tons of exercise. This is undoubtedly the real reason he was given up. I have to tell you that with this degree of aggressiveness there is nothing I will be able to tell you through an email that will help and it could even be dangerous to attempt to treat something this serious that wy. This dog needs 1 on 1 training by a trainer in person. You need to seek one out ASAP! What I can tell you though is in the meantime don't use his crate as a punisment and don't yell or be aggressive back, this will escalate the behavior. For now I would ut him in another room so he cannot react when you eat. Clean out the room (such as a bathroom) and ignore any protests. This is not a long term answer, just temporary. Someone with experience in aggression needs to work with you guys nefore something bad happens. This is fixable but it takes experience working directly with the dog for it to happen. You are to be commended for rescuing him and if you can hang in there and get some help he can be te dog you want him to be!