[modogg]

We have a 6.5 year old beagle. He is in great shape and healthy. We also have a 17 month old son who is getting too aggressive with our beagle. Our son pets him fine, and slaps his nose with no return aggression from our dog. Our son feeds him bread as well. Occasionally our son will pinch the dog and our dog jumps and walks away and sits somewhere else. A few times he gave an irritated snap without biting. It was kind of a hey stop doing that' kind of warning. We are very concerned as we love our beagle very much and do not want to give him away. We always read beagles are good with children? Any advise would be great!

To top this off, he has recently found baby rabbits in our yard and kills them. Today he ate one which absolutely worried us. He plays outside alot and we have rabbits, mice, moles, possums. We don't want him eating these animals! Please help!

 

[Smeagle]

Originally Posted By: modoggWe have a 6.5 year old beagle. He is in great shape and healthy. We also have a 17 month old son who is getting too aggressive with our beagle. Our son pets him fine, and slaps his nose with no return aggression from our dog. Our son feeds him bread as well. Occasionally our son will pinch the dog and our dog jumps and walks away and sits somewhere else. A few times he gave an irritated snap without biting. It was kind of a hey stop doing that' kind of warning. We are very concerned as we love our beagle very much and do not want to give him away. We always read beagles are good with children? Any advise would be great!

He sounds very tolerant. I don't think the beagle is the problem here, no dog should have to tolerate being pinched/slapped etc and from the sound of your post, your beagle is being more than tolerant and is acting like any dog would - he snaps or gets up and moves away when your son goes too far and physically hurts him.

I would be supervising them as closely as possible and because your son is quite young, if you can't teach him not to hit/smack etc your beagle, keep them separated. It's not fair on the beagle to be subjected to being physically hurt.

Yes beags are great with kids but that doesn't mean they should tolerate being hurt by them.

Quote:
To top this off, he has recently found baby rabbits in our yard and kills them. Today he ate one which absolutely worried us. He plays outside alot and we have rabbits, mice, moles, possums. We don't want him eating these animals! Please help!

Beagles do have a high prey drive, so this can be tricky. Is your yard fenced off?

 

[modogg]

Yes we have a 1 acre yard with a wrought iron fence. We never seen him actually eat the baby rabbit. Whenever he catches a critter, he usually kills it and leaves it. Should we be concerned?

 

[gnome]

I had a mut that was allowed to free roam, on the occasion she would bring back a baby bunny or bird that she had gotten a hold of. It's nothing to worry about it's natural for them to hunt and it's not going make them more aggressive.
I would consider playing with him more or more exercise as it might be a sign of boredom if this is a new thing. What makes me think this is he's not eating them, which makes it sound like he's doing it for something do.
I agree with Smeagle if you can't keep your son for picking on the dog keep them separate except for the times you're working with your son in playing nice. While from the sound of it your dog would never do anything to your son you don't want an accident happening either way.

 

[modogg]

We watched him swallow a whole baby rabbit! He never ate them before. This is what concerns us.

 

[My2Beagles]

Shiloh B. is a R.E.A.D. dog (Reading Education Assistant Dog). We go into our public library where small children - young elementary school age) are encouraged to practice their reading skills by reading to the dogs - really, it can be very beneficial. Being there in the library, the dogs MUST be on their best behavior which they have been trained to do - HOWEVER, we do occasionally have a youngster who has literally no idea how to treat a dog. At that time, the responsibility falls to us - the dog owner to educate the young person on the proper etiquette for safe and responsible interaction between human and dog.

I must agree with Smeagle - no dog should EVER be subjected to being treated the way your son treats your Beagle. I'm sorry if that sounds harsh but I am doing it for the safety and well being of all concerned. Your Beagle is being extremely tolerant of what is happening - heaven forbid if you had a different breed, especially larger. I have seen and heard of too many family pets that had to be put down because they were treated the wrong way by a child. Just as a child needs education such as in school, so too do they need it when it comes to how to treat an animal - yes, a dog too. If anyone slaps me on the nose enough, I'd probably get upset and eventually lash out. Just as it is up to you to keep your child safe from things that could harm him such as the electical outlet and a stove that is on, it is also up to you who will teach him how to treatyour Beagle.

As for the rabbit problem - Beagles have been bred for centuries to hunt rabbits - likewise they are great family pets. They can be safely used for both at the same time.

 

[araine]

I would suggest working with the child and how to properly be around dogs. No need to rehome the beagle because it's being subjected to the pinching and hitting. I know the child is young, but this is where they learn the most. If he wants to pet the beagle, then he must be nice to the beagle. No pets if he can't be nice. Try working with him with stuffed animals. You don't want this to get to the point where the beagle is going to assume every touch from the child is going to cause discomfort, which might not be a good thing.

 

[janna]

I too would teach your child how to act around dogs. I think it's unfair to your beagle to expect him to tolerate such behavior. How would you react if someone was pinching and slapping you?

 

[Smeagle]

Originally Posted By: modoggYes we have a 1 acre yard with a wrought iron fence. We never seen him actually eat the baby rabbit. Whenever he catches a critter, he usually kills it and leaves it. Should we be concerned?

Prey drive is simply the instinct to chase and grab a moving object, a dog chasing a ball is exhibiting prey drive - it's not linked to aggression or anything and it's a pretty common trait in many dog breeds.

I would prefer my dogs not kill anything in case what they kill has disease on it, but by the same token, if these critters are coming into your yard there isn't much you can do apart from supervise your beagle when he's out in the yard.

 

[modogg]

Now hold on...lol. Our son is not abusing our dog in any way. We show him how to pet him nicely without pinching. Maybe I should re-word slapping. He just pets him on his nose. Not a punch or a slap. To even infer that we are subjecting our dog to some kind of punishent from a 17 month old is ridiculous. We are not subjecting our beagle to anything harsh nor do I expect our beagle to not react to it. Whomever wrote those answers needs to rethink what they wrote. I don't think those type of responses are conductive to helping. We work with our son and dog to ensure they are good around each other. I was just a bit cautious when he would try and pinch our dog. I only posted this to get some feedback on how a beagle should respond since we have our 1st child now. What mainly bothers me is that he ate the baby rabbit. Is that normal???????

 

[Mollys Mom]

In regard to the rabbit, beagles do tend to hunt or seek rabbits but will not always kill them. My Molly for example, would chase one down or find one but wouldn't hurt it. Do you know your beagles history - was he trained to hunt? If your yard is large and fenced you could try spraying the perimeter with anti-critter spray. Not sure of the name but hardware stores will sell it - keeps small critters out of gardens and things.

Your beagle does not sound aggressive at all to your son, he is just getting some space. You are doing right by teaching the gentle petting etc. Your son will find that its fun to make the beagle happy by petting him nicely.

 

[Smeagle]

Originally Posted By: modoggNow hold on...lol. Our son is not abusing our dog in any way. We show him how to pet him nicely without pinching. Maybe I should re-word slapping. He just pets him on his nose. Not a punch or a slap. To even infer that we are subjecting our dog to some kind of punishent from a 17 month old is ridiculous. We are not subjecting our beagle to anything harsh nor do I expect our beagle to not react to it. Whomever wrote those answers needs to rethink what they wrote. I don't think those type of responses are conductive to helping. We work with our son and dog to ensure they are good around each other. I was just a bit cautious when he would try and pinch our dog. I only posted this to get some feedback on how a beagle should respond since we have our 1st child now.

Well, hold on, think of it from our perspective. You suggested you might rehome your beagle, because he reacts to your son slapping and pinching him - my responses are completely appropriate considering your original post.

My feedback is that your beagle is being more than tolerant, I certainly wouldn't tolerate someone slapping or pinching me

You're beagle wouldn't be snapping at him if your son wasn't hurting him.

Quote:
What mainly bothers me is that he ate the baby rabbit. Is that normal???????

Yep

My dogs are fed a raw diet, so all they eat are raw meaty bones, muscle meat, offal, vegie/fruit puree etc. I know many people who also feed a raw diet and often feed whole skinned rabbits to their dogs. The only thing I would worry about is whether or not any of these animals carry diseases, but I don't live in the US so I wouldn't know if the rabbits are something you should watch out for.

 

[modogg]

Thanks for all the feedback. It was just weird to see him swallow a baby rabbit whole. It was an eye-opening reminder that these are dogs and they do have a prey drive. We just wish he would leave them alone.

 

[Smeagle]

Originally Posted By: modoggThanks for all the feedback. It was just weird to see him swallow a baby rabbit whole. It was an eye-opening reminder that these are dogs and they do have a prey drive. We just wish he would leave them alone.

Prey drive is what makes them chase and grab things, but when it comes to eating I'd say he was just hungry - that's all about food drive

 

[Erin]

I've never seen either of our two kill a rabbit, but one of ours has killed two birds. I think he was trying to catch it and play with it rather than purposefully kill it, because he didn't eat either one of them. I agree with everyone that I wouldn't be overly concerned about it. I can totally see how it would upset you though. I was really upset when ours killed the bird, but I try to see it from the dogs perspective. And now I just really keep my eyes peeled for birds in the yard when I let them out. If I see a bunch hopping around I just make some noise so they'll fly away before the dogs go running out.

As far as his reaction to your son. We don't have children but our two beagles were around my nephew (he's 2yrs old) a while back for the first time. They did pretty well over all, but we kept a close eye on them. One time my nephew was kind of chasing Rocky and it was obvious that Rocky was a little nervous. My nephew started pulling at Rocky's face/lips. Rocky pulled back and barked and I rushed over. I didn't really reprimand Rocky but I made sure to keep a closer eye on my nephew. It wasn't Rocky's fault my nephew was yanking on his face. And my nephew didn't really understand he could have been hurting Rocky. I guess I'm just trying to say it sounds like your beagle is in fact being very tolerant and it just that maybe there just needs to be a more closely supervised interaction between the two.

Good luck!!

Hopefully you'll be able to keep your beagle from the baby rabbits! I love baby rabbits too, they're so cute!