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Beagles/please help w/my beagle

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Expert: - 5/10/2011


Question
My beagle is 8 1/2 months old.The training problem I struggling with is-when ever i take him for walks it is always challenging and frusterating.On our walks i can't get him to walk beside me he's always pulling,trying to pull him back ends up just choking him to death the whole walk, also if he see's people or dogs at all he goes buzzerk,trying to charge after them,growling,and barking this goes on all the time. Also playing w/my 6 yr. old my beagle has bit him. Is this normal for this breed? what am I doing wrong or what am I not doing. Please help me I'm about to give up!

Answer
Hi Amanda, I can understand how frustrating this is for you. Your young beagle needs to go to obedience classes and get socialized with other dogs and learn how to heel, stay etc. If you have a dog park this will also help. Try using a "haltie" instead of a collar, it can also help with the pulling, it is a halter type collar instead of around the neck but nothing will take the place of 6-8 weeks of obedience school. Many pet stores offer it as well as the local parks.

As far as the biting you didnt give me enough detail to really comment on what happened.

Beagles are not normally aggressive but can be somewhat unruly if not trained well, they are ruled by their noses and it will over take their brain, they are very smart but need a lot of consistent training

Give me more details on issues and I will try to help more.

Beagles

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Have4Paws

Expertise

I am happy to answer BEAGLE BREED SPECIFIC behavioral questions. Please DO NOT ask CRATE TRAINING OR MEDICAL questions! I am not a vet nor an expert in the use of crates.

Experience

I currently have one beagle, a male age 5, an 12 month old Pit Bull, and a 8 year old min. poodle. I have had to let go of three of my dogs, 2 beagles and 1 whippet/rat terrier mix in the past 5 years, most recently my whippet mix. The two beagles lived to 15 and the whippet mix to 13.5, it has been hard to say goodbye to them. I have done rescue work on and off for years as well as fund-raising for the local animal shelter. I worked for a dog magazine in the past (Southern California Dog Magazine). Being a psychotherapist has encouraged me to do in depth studying of animal behavior as well. I have worked with many people to help curb undesirable behaviors in their dogs (or them!) or to form good behaviors. My life is devoted to and surrounded by my dogs........The picture you see here is Zeppelin but we also call him the "miracle dog". He was hit by a car April 2010 while out with the dog walker and had very serious injuries... 4 surgeries and $17,000 later my boy is whole again and back to loving life. He is so special to me and he weathered a lot of pain and trauma yet is still the sweet boy he always was! I also work to stop Breed Specific Legislation and help to get pit bulls adopted.

Organizations
HSUS, PETA, SPCA DONT SHOP...ADOPT!!

Publications
Dog Fancy

Education/Credentials
I am a Marriage and Family Therapist licensed in the state of CA and am also credentialed as a Certified Addiction Treatment Specialist

Awards and Honors
Honored by the Agoura Animal Shelter for my volunteer work.

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