Dealing with a disobedient beagle can be quite a hassle. They will try to push and test you as far as they can to see what you will get them get away with.
Even when you give up and give in, they will still try to take it a step further until they are sure they are in full control.
Why Do Beagle Dogs Misbehave
There could be a lot of reasons for your beagle to misbehave and understanding each one will help you deal with any situation where your dog ignores you, your commands or your house rules.
Lack Of Attention
The first and most common reason for your beagle disobeying and not listening to your commands is lack of attention. If you don’t have your dog’s full attention then how can you expect him to listen to you?
A typical example of this is when your beagle is outside without his leash following a scent of another animal and blocking everything else out of his mind and then gets called to “come” by his owner. If he isn’t trained well enough to respond to his name, he will completely ignore the “come” command.
It’s not because he doesn’t want to listen to the owner or because he has dominance problems. It’s just he is so focused on tracking down the animal that passed through your back yard that he is oblivious to everything around him.
This would just mean you need to tighten up on your obedience training. You need to train your beagle puppy to respond to his name no matter how busy or distracted he might be.
Lack Of Obedience Training
Who would have thought that lack of obedience training would lead to a disobedient beagle dog? I bet you are not too surprised with this one.
Sometimes owners expect their dogs to behave without training them anything. They just assume that the puppy will stop his destructive chewing and be fully house broken when he reaches a specific age.
Unfortunately that’s not the case. You need to train the puppy and work on obedience training with him before you can expect him to follow any house rules.
The beagle pup doesn’t want to misbehave on purpose; he just doesn’t realize he is misbehaving so you need to make the rules of the house clear for him. That way he will know exactly what you expect of him.
Early Signs Of Dominance Problems
Disobedience In BeaglesIf you don’t already know, your beagle, just like any dog, follows his ‘animal pack’ instincts. The basic rule of the pack is that if there is no leader, or the leader is weak and incapable of keeping the dog pack under control, then the pack won’t survive in the wild.
Having a strong dog pack leader, or the alpha dog, is essential for their survival and your dog knows that. If for whatever reason he decides that you are not the best choice for the position, he will try to take the role on to himself. This is when you will start seeing signs of dominant behavior.
The only way to do it is to take on the role of the alpha dog and take back control of the ‘pack’.
Where to Get Started
I always suggest dog owners to start training their beagles as soon as they have some time, especially when they see signs of disobedience. Click below to get started:
How I fixed my beagles disobedience problems
Letting it progress further will only make it harder to deal with in the future