Beagle and displays of aggression

mountainofdebt

I know beagles are not known for being aggressive are they, which makes the problem all the more weirder.

Basically, our 18 month old dog has - since May taken to 'stealing' stuff. Usually shoes from the hall (should be grateful really as he's achieved in a few short weeks what I couldn't in years) or t-towels of the radiator but could be anything that takes his fancy.

Now usually he wanders in with his bounty, in a come-and-catch me-if-you-can sort of way and 9 times out 10 he will drop it when told to but on that 1 odd occasion he will get aggressive - growling, barking etc when you go to get it off him.

Has anyone any ideas what causes this difference in attitude? Last night was particularly eye opening and if he could have arranged it, I'm sure that OH would have had him neutered there and then.

What makes it all the more stranger is that the dog is great both with other dogs that he knows and strange dogs as well, sharing toys etc.

pawsies

Take him to the vet to ensure it is not a physical cause and he is not in pain first.

If all is well, I would turn it into a game- get him to fetch your socks/slippers etc! So you're not stopping him from having what he wants but when he gives them back he gets a brilliant treat/toy/whatever he likes.

mountainofdebt

We don't think he's in pain - as I said he's not constantly aggressive, in fact if we left him to it then he comes out from where ever he gone with the bounty and there's no growling or barking at all.

The only reservation I have in giving him a treat when he hands stuff back is that it seems to be rewarding bad behaviour - although he is told he's a good boy when he drops things voluntarily when told.

krlyr

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0970562942 may be worth a read

meritaten

mountainofdebt wrote: »

We don't think he's in pain - as I said he's not constantly aggressive, in fact if we left him to it then he comes out from where ever he gone with the bounty and there's no growling or barking at all.

The only reservation I have in giving him a treat when he hands stuff back is that it seems to be rewarding bad behaviour - although he is told he's a good boy when he drops things voluntarily when told.

No, not to him it wont - dogs associate the reward/punishment with the behaviour immediately preceeding the reward.
If he is unwilling to give up his bounty then save the Treat/reward for those times and dangle it enticingly while giveing the command you use to 'drop it'. only give the reward when he voluntarily gives up the item. Never give a reward if you have to Take it from him.
can you loan him to me for a while? I would love to break my OHs habit of dropping his work shoes right inside the hall instead of in the cupboard where they are supposed to be!

Dollardog

Are you sure it is aggressive barking and growling and not just playing?

affordmylife

i have a 7 year old male beagle. he nicks whatever he can whenever he can and loves a game of 'you've got to get it off me' he will growl and tug and grumble but never in an aggressive way. he is playing with you i think but in a way you are new too perhaps.

my boy loves it and soon tires of it if i give up.

is your boy snarling ??

mine was neutered at six months xx

dontone

My Basset Hound does it. He nicks anything, socks, slippers, even the clothes brush if he can. He even pinched the door wedge thing we have until I sprinkled chilli powder on it.
Once walked out of the door to go to the shop and found one of my new trainers on the garden. He did have a phase of pinching his clean bedding out of his crate, but stopped that when I put it straight back in and he had to lay on it if it was a bit damp from the grass.
It's one of those daft games that they get in their heads. I ignore mine as he guards his stolen booty until he realises that I won't come out, so he comes into the house to see where I am and if I make a move he runs straight back out (just in case)
TBH I'm sure mine does it purely for blackmail purposes, he gives the thing up as soon as he sees a Bonio. :rotfl:
I've had all the howling and barking stuff too, it's not aggression, more of a "I've outsmarted you and I'm quicker". It's not as frequent as it used to be, he was neutered a couple of years ago which as "somewhat" calmed him down but I did get a rollocking yesterday as I beat him to the back door just as he tried to run out with a slipper.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

My Beagle went through a stage of being a thieving little gitbag.


And I am sure he deliberately did it to get a reaction, as he would walk right beside you with a shoe or teddy bear, just so he could get you to chase him around the garden and then retrieve it - and the noise was rather like he was murdering me

(I was about 9 at the time).


I got wise quite soon - my stuff was put on the top shelves and if he did manage to get something, I would go straight to his bed, rummage around and nick one of his toys, so he'd have to chase me instead, dropping my stuff as he got to me



My brother started calling the back step Checkpoint Charlie, as that's where the exchange went ahead.


Beagles can make so much noise when they are playing, you'd think they were mini Baskerville Hounds

Fire_Fox

Any change in behaviour should be checked our by a vet in the first instance.

Dollardog

When he was younger, my current lad, and come to think of it, our other dogs have always growled and barked whilst playing.
When my lad I've got now used to go back to his breeder sometimes for them to look after him if I was going to be out a long time, he used to scare their young b!!ch when he was playing with her because he used to growl and 'talk' to her while playing, but it wasn't aggression.
When I was staying with some friends, he was growling when he was playing and they thought he was being nasty, but he wasn't, he was just 'talking' to them and showing he was enjoying the game and wanted them to chase him to get whatever he was carrying off him, usually plantpots that he had pinched.