Printed on August 27, 2007
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Beagle-Mania!
Breed isn't destiny for every dog, but sometimes, a dog's frustration or anxiety is expressed through breed-related behavior. The more purebred the dog, the more likely could happen. When the owners do not fulfill the breed side of a dog by helping him to utilize his innate abilities, then he is going to use those breed characteristics to control the environment and the humans who live with him.
In the case of Gizmo the beagle, his owner knew what beagles were supposed to do, but she didn't know how to control his beagle behavior so it expressed itself in a positive way.
My method for this is to introduce the dog to beagle-type activities, but activities which I control. I don't take him away from sniffing the ground; I tell him when to sniff the ground. I don't take him away from howling, I tell him what he's supposed to howl for. I don't work against the nature of the genetics of the animal, I make sure that he sees me as the one who begins the game and ends the game. Eventually we have to bring him back into the dog side of himself (not the breed side), because the dog is the social side of him, where the follower is. It's the dog side that allows a dog to interact happily with animals of his own and other species.
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13 Comments
Dear Cesar
Hi I am garrett and my dog mason is a real hand full with all of his peeing around the house and sometimes poops to he knows to bark in front of the door if he need to go but it still happens all the time. In an hour he can pee 7 times. And he wont stop bitting but he is a pup so it isn't a problem...is it?
from Garrett
P.S. Mason is 10weeks old just to let you know.
P.S.S. Me, my mom and dad, and my sister love your show. Keep on rocking- or in this case- keep on BARKING!!!!!
This understanding was one of the bes gifts I have gotten from Cesar's way - learning how to keep a breed's natural abilities satisfied made SUCH A DIFFERENCE when I had to travel wit a recue beagle and a lab/grehound.
The lab lived to frolic down by the stream muddy and wet as it was to see him wading through the creek bed chasing fish and ducks provided lots of laughter for us and exercise for him that we could not have hoped to provide without the treadmil, and in such a small access area for this dog who loved and lived to run!
The beagle on the other hand had his meadow, every morning there were fresh scents to follow and here is where the flexi leash really paid off as he would follow the squirels and bird trails around and around this smaller area as well.
In both cases - they would have their migration walk where it would be "rule's boundaries, limitiatations. But setting aside 15-20 minutes of "play time for them meant we had hours of quiet time to enjoy our fireplace and booksduring this vacation quiet time!
Hi I have a beagle that I can tell she is frustrated with me because she constantly wants to destroy anything that is not hers. I try to play or walk her whenever I can but I can never seem to wear her out. I would love for her to be able to use her hunting skills or let her run free but I do not have a fenced in yard nor do I have somewhere to take her. If I take her off her lease she runs away from me after leaves blowing in the street or anything that goes by. It takes me at least an hour to catch her again. She is constantly on the move. Any suggestions on how to keep her from chasing anything and everything or how to get her exhausted?
I have a 6 yr old beagle that I got as a 1yr old from a shelter and he is nearly the perfect dog. He has almost no bad habits, but i can't get him to play with toys. He won't even chew a rawhide unless we are living with other dogs and he has some competition. I would love to wrestle with a rope bone or play fetch with a ball but he doesn't have any interest in anything but food, not even food scented toys. If I have a toy and try to initiate play, he doesn't care. What can i do to get him interested? Also, I would love to know where to get your rollerblades.
I have a three year old Basset Hound with a wonderful personality to people. He is a delight with strangers including children in the house. Our problem is that any time we go visiting or let him have the run of the house he pees and seems to mark the house. Needless to say great personality or not, he is not welcome in very many houses. We have not neutered him as he is full blooded and we had thoughts of breeding him.
He is crate trained and does well with it. It just this marking habit that makes life difficult.
Frustrated Basset owner
My wife and I have a boarder collie (or sometime type of herding dog) mix and after watching this episode with the beagle, we decided to up the exercise regimen. We have her pull us on rollerblades and use weights with walks. She barks and goes insane at birds and squirrels when she is inside or outside. We try to take her to the dog park, but she is dominate/aggressive to other dogs. She also will not listen at the park, and just chases other dogs, and it seems like she herding them, nipping and cutting them off when they are chasing balls or playing. I would buy some sheep for her, but I think the subdivision we live in would frown about that. The local agility club says that any aggressive dog would not be allowed. What other types of breed-related exercises could we try so she can lose this energy/anxiety that she has??
Contragulations in helping me with my 2 beagles. Have had 1 since she was 12 weeks old and recently adopted a male from a beagle rescue. The great news is that they both get along great and play with each other which I have been very lucky. Since I have been watching your show, I have been working on the female since she was the pack leader in my house and I am making some progress. I know in the morning when they want to take a walk because they become unruly. I walk them for 30 mins and it really helps. I am now starting to work with the adopted male since he was really timid and coward down when we raised our hand or approached him suddenly. My only problem that I have and I am not sure if this is normal, but when I leave the house and put them in their crate, they bark and howel. Is there any solution to this? They don't want me to leave their site.
Thank you for all your advise and the more I watch the more I learn.
Hey. My grandma has a full grown female border collie. It's about 5 years old and her name is Sweetie. My grandma lives out in the country and has a big yard but no one ever plays with the dog. Whenever someone is outside Sweetie just keeps barking at her ball waiting for someone to throw it for her. She's a good dog but she barks too much and is always really hyper. WHAT SHOULD WE DO?
Hi. My neighbors dog Sable is always coming over to our house and we don't want it to. She'll come over and now that we have a puppy it's even worse cause our dog wants to play with her. We have another dog but she's a lot older like 13 and is very stubborn, so sometimes she wants to play and other times she just wants to be left alone.Sable will come over just to poop in our yard or just to eat my other dogs food. Anyway we don't want Sable over here because we know that she's going to get our dog hurt or even killed. How are they supposed to keep track of their dog so that it doesn't come over to our house? And how do we stop our dog from playing with her?
PLEASE HELP!
Regarding potty training -- the dogs don't have much bladder control until about 20 weeks. You do have to constantly monitor them. I was frustrated at first with my beagle, but then I started creating more of a routine and I discovered he really responded to cat treats! In the morning, I would take him outside first thing to pee. Then, I would take him outside again every hour or even half hour. He got a treat everytime he went to the bathroom. Monitoring his routine made a difference too. He always had to pee after drinking water. He almost always had to poop after eating in the morning and then again around 2pm. I only feed him twice a day, which helps regulate the bathroom habits. We are problem free now! I hope these tips will help other people.
Ella Enchanted - get a fence!
Emma E.B. sounds like the best solution would be to play with the dog more.
Firstly I would like to congradulate you on being easily the best dog behavior expert in the world and to say keep it up!
Secondly, I have a 6 month old beagle who is great for the most part, totally submissive, not food aggresive etc but can be a pain on the walk by how his head is down all the time! I watch all your episodes and I understand the importance of his breed and have, therefore taken him to tracking courses but they didnt really help at all! I also understand the fact that he needs to be 'with' me, so to speak, during the walk so I would like to know any suggestions you have please!
Keep up the good work!
James, devoted fan!
i too have a 10 month old beagle female she is a terrific puppy all in all listens pretty well we are lucky to have a fenced in back yard for her to run in and we walk her all the time ( we actually can wear her out) anyways my problem is this....
we get ready to put the leash on her she squats and pee's then she thinks we are mad at her, and runs off and does it more she;ll go outside and hide under the table and if we ask her to come sternly and she doesn;t .. If i go and make her come to me she is fighting it all the way and peeing with her tail between her legs i try to make sure i am calm and my voice doesn;t sound angry so she knows i am not mad but she still wont come to me , if we call her to get ready for bed (she sleeps in her own bed) she doesn;t want to she tries to hide and pee's. If we walk her on a leash and someone wants to pet her she squats down and pee's i don;t really know what to do about it she is house trained she never goes the bathroom in the house besides when she is excited or afraid?!?! help me i don;t know what else to do she is spayed also we love her she is such a great dog we just don't know what to do so we can help her stop doing it.. thanks (:
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