My Life with Dogs

Beagles are one of the most non-aggressive breed of dogs.  They are known for being non-aggressive to other dogs and people.   Yet, here is a question I received about a little pocket beagle that is  a bit “off-center”.

The Question:

We purchased our 10 inch beagle in Downeast Maine in 2001.  She is 8 years old and weighs about 18 lbs.  My question is, are they known to be a bit protective or aggressive.  Ours is a little aggressive with men who enter our home that she is not familiar with.  If a woman or child enters our home, it has never been a problem.  If an unfamiliar male enters she growls and tries to get their ankles.  She never really seemed to do this until we moved from Maine to our apartment in Florida.  My husband was also on a ship at that time, leaving for a couple of weeks to a month at a time.

We now live in Western NY and she has a yard to run in.  She still seems to be a bit agressive though.  Outside we do have to keep her on a runner (it reaches about half of our full backyard with plenty of exercise opportunity for her) as we live near woods and I do not want her to run off.  I am afraid if she were to get loose, she may either bite at someone she does not know or be hit by a car.  She also tries to bite the tires on cars as they drive by when we have tried to take her for walks.  I am really not sure how to help her with this behavior.  I would appreciate any advice you have.  There are not a lot of pocket beagle owners that we are aware of, so it seems information is hard to find locally.

My Answer:

My pocket beagles are not protective nor aggressive.  It is not the normal nature of a beagle to have these traits.  I do believe that these traits can have a genetic component so, personally, I would not breed a pocket beagle or beagle that showed this kind of behavior.

The other side of the coin is that your pocket beagle could have learned this behavior.  After reading your message, I have several questions for you:

Since the beagle didn’t develop this till you moved to Fl, could your dog have been reading off your apprehension being in a new place in FL without your man when other MEN came into your home?  Dogs are extremely sensitive to your emotional nature.  Dogs that care about you easily pick up on your apprehension and maybe it was her way of keeping Men at bay for you.

Regardless of the cause of the behavior the important question is: What do you do when the beagle is aggressive?  How do you tell you it is not acceptable behavior?  You always make a response to her behavior whether you know it or not.  You either show her you accept it or you are displeased with it.

I think for the behavior to have continued over this long period of time, your dog thinks you accept her behavior. You must take more control of the situation if you want the behavior to stop.  You need to read your dog’s behavior and stop it before she starts it.

I also  think that putting a dog on a runner oftentimes makes them more aggressive than they would be – which may be related to the frustration of never being free.  Is your yard fenced – no?  I don’t want her to run off and bite someone or get hit by a car but she has to have some time to be a dog.  Do you have a dog park?  Beagles are bred to run and even at her age her instinct is to run and follow that scent.

So I would suggest that you get her more exercise. At 10″ and 18 lbs she is a chuncky girl.  Work out some of the extra energy and take more control of her behavior when she is aggressive..

For great pointers on how to work with this problem check out The Dog Whisperer on National Geo  – also check out his website Cesar Milan.  He often has dogs with similar problems on his show and talks a great deal about this problem

Hope this helps.  Keep us in loop with your progress.