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Hi everybody. I just joined the forum this weekend. We recently brought home a 6 week old bundle of energy that we named Julia. My wife grew up around dogs, but this is my (and my four kids') first experience with a dog of any kind. We decided to get a beagle because of their cheerful temperament and their gentleness with children. It's been 2 1/2 weeks since we picked Julia up, and it's been an interesting experience. She hasn't had her second set of shots yet, so we haven't taken her too far from home or to any obedience classes. It's just been us, her, and a lot of reading and research about puppies and dog training on the Internet. It seems like every person who has something to write about training puppies has a different opinion from everybody else.
We've got her to walk on a leash (if we can get her to stop sniffing every few feet) and play fetch with a tennis ball in a sock. She actually brings it back about two-thirds of the time! The kids absolutely love her - most of the time. And that's where my questions come in.
She has her own place that measures about 8' by 6' in our insulated garage, with a doggy-door to a 25' by 12' beagle-proof (I hope) dog run in the back yard. Our yard is fenced, but she has shown us that she can easily slip under our gates and get out of the yard, so unless we're available to watch and play with her, she stays in her run or her room.
She gets extremely excited whenever anyone comes into her area, and obviously wants to play. She lets us know this by nipping at us, biting our hands, and growling. When she bites us, we try to give her a proper chew toy and praise her when she takes it, but sometimes hands, fingers, blankets, socks (and by extension ankles), shoes and shoelaces, nightgowns and pants are all extremely attractive to her. We've tried correcting her with firm NOs, a squirt in the face, a little bop on the nose, and even a loud clap to distract her. Granted, it's only been two weeks, but she doesn't seem to get the idea. She might calm down momentarily, but the very next time we see her it's the same thing all over again.
If it was just my wife and me, it wouldn't be that bad, but when the little kids what to pet her, she scares them and sometimes hurts them with her energetic nipping.
I've tried to hold her until she calms down to let them pet her so they can build their attachment to her without fear, but invariably somebody goes in to play with her unsupervised. More often than not it ends up with one of the kids jumping or running away (which gets Julia even more excited) or crying after having been nipped. The kids have seen us use gentle correction when she nips us, but sometimes that gets translated into not-quite-so-gentle correction when the kids are scared.
Also, whenever anyone reaches for her when she's in her crate or otherwise comfortable or resting (in a lap, on a blanket, etc.) she growls and sometimes barks or tries to bite. I understand that she considers her crate her den, but should we be able to reach in and handle her without being growled at or bitten? She does the same thing when she's being overly rambunctious and we move to put her in her pen.
Obedience training is definitely in the near future, as soon as she's had her second shots and is old enough, but I just don't want to do something wrong now that will be extremely difficult to correct in the future. I also don't want the kids to get scared of her and not take this opportunity to bond with her as friends and playmates.
Sorry for the long post, but we've had a lot of questions, and it's good to find a place dedicated to living with this particular breed. Any and all comments and suggestions would be more than welcome!
Thanks,
Dustin
We've got her to walk on a leash (if we can get her to stop sniffing every few feet) and play fetch with a tennis ball in a sock. She actually brings it back about two-thirds of the time! The kids absolutely love her - most of the time. And that's where my questions come in.
She has her own place that measures about 8' by 6' in our insulated garage, with a doggy-door to a 25' by 12' beagle-proof (I hope) dog run in the back yard. Our yard is fenced, but she has shown us that she can easily slip under our gates and get out of the yard, so unless we're available to watch and play with her, she stays in her run or her room.
She gets extremely excited whenever anyone comes into her area, and obviously wants to play. She lets us know this by nipping at us, biting our hands, and growling. When she bites us, we try to give her a proper chew toy and praise her when she takes it, but sometimes hands, fingers, blankets, socks (and by extension ankles), shoes and shoelaces, nightgowns and pants are all extremely attractive to her. We've tried correcting her with firm NOs, a squirt in the face, a little bop on the nose, and even a loud clap to distract her. Granted, it's only been two weeks, but she doesn't seem to get the idea. She might calm down momentarily, but the very next time we see her it's the same thing all over again.
If it was just my wife and me, it wouldn't be that bad, but when the little kids what to pet her, she scares them and sometimes hurts them with her energetic nipping.
I've tried to hold her until she calms down to let them pet her so they can build their attachment to her without fear, but invariably somebody goes in to play with her unsupervised. More often than not it ends up with one of the kids jumping or running away (which gets Julia even more excited) or crying after having been nipped. The kids have seen us use gentle correction when she nips us, but sometimes that gets translated into not-quite-so-gentle correction when the kids are scared.
Also, whenever anyone reaches for her when she's in her crate or otherwise comfortable or resting (in a lap, on a blanket, etc.) she growls and sometimes barks or tries to bite. I understand that she considers her crate her den, but should we be able to reach in and handle her without being growled at or bitten? She does the same thing when she's being overly rambunctious and we move to put her in her pen.
Obedience training is definitely in the near future, as soon as she's had her second shots and is old enough, but I just don't want to do something wrong now that will be extremely difficult to correct in the future. I also don't want the kids to get scared of her and not take this opportunity to bond with her as friends and playmates.
Sorry for the long post, but we've had a lot of questions, and it's good to find a place dedicated to living with this particular breed. Any and all comments and suggestions would be more than welcome!
Thanks,
Dustin