Expert: Have4Paws - 3/25/2010

Question
QUESTION: Hi, I have 2 beagle dogs.  One male year and 2 months old and a female of 8 months old.  

The male dog (Juba) are going crazy when we take them for walks.  At home he is very obedient and learns very quickly. As soon as we go outside of the gates for a walk he starts to pull like crazy and does not listen or respond to treats.  He is going wild with excitement and we cannot seem to control it.  When he was little he use to cry and sniff all the way (while pulling). Now he will just pull and bark.  Sometimes he listens if we tell him not to bark and leave other dogs but not always.
Maggie on the other hand walks next to you as per the training and listens.  

A dog behaviourist told us to castrate Juba and this will ease the dominance.  

Maggie and Juba are great friends and he never show any anger towards her.  

What do you propose we do?

Thank you for your assistance

Kind regards

ANSWER: I absolutely agree with having him neutered. This will not solve all of it but it will calm him down some. As well he then wont be able to impregante the female. Breeding is better left to those who are experienced and know about heriditary traits etc. Having him neutered also protects him from testicular cancer. Lastly, take him to obedience classes if they have them there so he can learn to be around other dogs and not go crazy, you need the help of a professional trainer

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi

Thank you for your valuable advise.

We took it and neutered Juba last week Wednesday.  

The weekend we went to a pet friendly cottage and Juba bit a 10 year old boy on the bum.  We took Juba and Maggie for a walk on lead and the boy came toward us on his bicycle.  Juba went for him and first nip his leg and then his bum.  Juba torn the sweat pants he had on and left a scratch on the boy's bum. We felt terrible and cannot understand how it happened.

Usually Juba will be dominant towards other dogs but not people.  He barked at children before but then played with them.
How do we go about his now?

When Juba was little, he was bullied by my parent's Jack Russels when we visited some weekends.  He was bitten by the Jack Russel a few times but played with them afterwards.  

We are going to go for professional training at a trainer and behaviorist.
Currently we are busy deranking the dogs at home as well.  They may not get on the couches or bed anymore.  

What else can we do.

Look forward to your advise

Kind regards

Answer
Hi, glad to hear you got the neutering taken care of, as I said though it will only take care of some of it and it will take a few months for the hormonal changes to take effect. This does not include or change the recent event of biting the child. This is very serious! In California he would have been quarantined and evaluated for whether he is at risk for further biting and may have been destroyed. I cannot tell if you already have or not but if not you must get a behavioral trainer who is experienced in aggression on board immediately!!!!! Once a dog bites it is only a matter of time before it escalates.

Good to hear you are not letting them on the couches or beds anymore, this is one way to curb dominance, also make sure that when you feed them they have to sit before eating and cannot go for the bowl until you release them. This is another way of showing you are ALPHA who provides the food. As well never let them go out a door in front of you. Use your sit command often and make them adhere to it faithfully, this is part of the "no free lunch" thinking that they must work for everything and you are the boss of this program. Just in case, also want to remind you to not do any kind of roughhousing with the male or tug-o-war activities,this encourages aggressiveness.

The behaviors that Juba is exhibiting are things that can be fixed but the longer you go without fixing it the worse it will get and the harder to fix so please do not wait on the trainer!

Good luck!