Mean beagle puppy

[weldking888]

I just bought a beagle pup about 4 days ago. It's about 10 weeks old and very cute. Today I was holding it on my couch. My 5 year old daughter walked up and put her hands under the puppy's belly. The puppy growled growled, so my daughter took her hands away. My daughter tried again and the pup turned into satan and tried to bite my daughter. O.k., maybe the puppy really didn't turn into satan, but it seemed like. I thought that beagles were one of the most docile breed of dogs. Does anybody know if I'm doing something wrong, or do I have a beagle with a mean streak?

[JesandDeb]

Puppies will try you....as they do with eachother while in the litter, still with their litter mates. He may have been comfy and letting your daughter know this by growling when she tried to move him. Normal for any pup to do....ya just have to teach the pup he can't do this or any other behaviour that isn't acceptable. Mine is 14 weeks old now and he did this just yesterday while laying with me on the couch.....all snuggled up asleep and I tried to move his little butt a bit and he growled.....I gave his "Mama don't play that" correction right then ....a shake of his collar and "NO"!.....They are smart, and a loving breed, we just have to teach them just as we would our children with the basics....a good book on training your puppy may also come in handy......good luck....Debby ---P.S....I wanted to add.....I don't know if you have done it, but we did....(been a while since we had puppies),pick the puppy up to hold him a lot....we found out real fast that behind the front leg puts stress on him and causes pain and he may yelp at times....we always do a 2 handed lift under the belly and chest to put less strain on him. Also after shots he is tender . We have crate and nap time for him to unwind and rest.....mostly from us, playing and huggin' him so much

[ArrowsFlight]

All isn't lost. When our beagle was 9 weeks old he made a play to rule the roost. I went to move him off the couch and the little bugger nailed me! Drew blood. I growled like a momma dog and shook his scruff as described above and the little turd went for me again.

So I swooped him up, sat down and held him belly up in my lap till he calmed down and submit. Do you know that pup SCREAMED for 52 minutes by the clock. I have never heard a dog make that noise before and kept waiting for the cops to bust down the door to arrest me for skinning a dog alive. Then he gave up screaming and just kicked and squirmed for a few and I released him when he relaxed and yawned twice. He went across the room and sulked for about 5 minutes then came and snuggled at my feet.

After that he never challenged that much again but for 2 weeks at any tiny sign of challenge or resistance (a dirty look, playing deaf, etc) I would growl and shake and if he didn't give right in I'd hold him belly up in my lap, but he never screamed like that again, he'd just squirm for a few and then give in. We also did lots of obedience training and lots of exercise. In just those couple of weeks he went form a moody little satan's puppy to the sweetest thing you've ever seen. Now he is almost 10 months and 100% submissive, greets you with a "happy hound dog dance" that ends with him squirming on his back for a belly rub, very eager to please, will actually fetch me and give up edible things (like when my daughter dropped her sandwich, he pounced on it but brought it too me and gave it too me when I told him - I gave it to him as a reward...she wasn't eating it after that!!) He is great with kids and my 2 year old nephew can pull on his ears or take things from him and Scooter just wags his tail

Now I want to point out I never hit him or was mean to him, I just outstubborned him and didn't cut him any slack. Just don't let him even think about getting out of line, if he even thinks about pushing it give him the evil eye and a growl. When I look what a good dog Scooter is and think how many people would have given up on him when he was a 9 week pup pitched a fit like that and BIT me I'm so glad I didn't. Now he sleeps on my daughters bed every night. He's just a really gritty dog with alot of brains and had to be taught to use that brains and grit for good instead of evil. Stick it out and hopefully you'll be just as glad.

[RHYRE]

Don't worry too much yet. I had a male pup when I was young that you couldn't pick up with out him trying to bite your fingers off. It actually got so bad that my dad was going to put him down. I am glad he didn't because that mean little pup turned into the best beagle I have ever owned. Give him some time.

[bluemouse]

growl and bite the pup back, it works for me