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Training A Deaf Beagle

September 29, 2006 on 7:45 pm | In Beagle Artcles | No Comments

Loss of hearing or congenital deafness is a greater handicap to the deaf Beagle’s owner than to the affected dog. Usually the Beagle’s other senses compensate for lack of hearing. Problems associated with this condition involve a lack of response to the owner’s spoken commands and the pet’s tendency to wander into the road or otherwise endanger himself. The deaf dog must be taught to come by a sign. Hand signs can also be used to teach Sit and Stay.
Direct physical contact is the only reliable training tool for deaf dogs. The only supplies required are beanbags and pea-sized pebbles. Your deaf pet must learn to keep his visual attention on you at all times. Therefore, teaching sessions are held in a safe but distracting areas. Each time his attention is distracted from you, a beanbag is tossed at his legs as you turn and walk away from him. Keep in mind that beagles have greater peripheral vision than people and are therefore better able to track objects in their peripheral field of view.
During this process, try walking away before tossing the beanbag to test his visual tracking and response. If he turns to follow, crouch down and make movements to attract him. When he approaches, pet him for a few seconds before the process is repeated. End the session when he follows reliably, about 6 times in a row, without the need for tossing a beanbag.
Sessions should be no longer than 15 minutes and about 3 hours apart. The process should be repeated at least twice daily over a 6-week period in increasingly distracting situations. For instance, the first few sessions might be held in the backyard or in the house. Once your Beagle is well oriented to you, field trips can be conducted, using only a few pebbles as substitutes for the beanbags. If he becomes distracted, toss a pebble to remind him to pay attention to you. This process should involve every family member who may need this type of control, even children. Once he keeps his eye on his family and stays close, hand signals may be used to teach Sit, Stay, and Heel.
Deaf beagles that wander into dangerous areas or that tend to chase (cars, joggers) should be taken through the above owner-orientation process. This eliminates the wandering or chasing problem. However, some dogs chase when their owners are absent. These animals must be taught, through the behavioral response communicated by the owner, that such activities are to be avoided. For this reason, the owner orientation of deaf dogs must be reliable. The deaf dog should be exposed to dangerous situations in controlled circumstances. That is, the vehicle or jogger must be under the control of a person who is cooperating with the owner and will react quickly to ensure that the dog is not injured.
The dog is walked toward the dangerous area such as a quiet street. As soon as he exhibits the first sign of recognition of an approaching car (driven by a cooperating companion), the owner must toss a beanbag at the dog’s legs (to gain attention) and then withdraw from the area. This procedure must be repeated until the deaf animal exhibits retreat behavior before the owner’s act on several occasions.
The situation should then be repeated, with the owner at increasingly greater distances behind the dog. When the Beagle fails to respond properly, the beanbag must be tossed again and the process repeated. This entire regimen must be continued for several days until the pet responds reliably when the owner is absent.

Banishing Your Beagle’s Destructive Scratching

September 26, 2006 on 5:00 pm | In Beagle Artcles | No Comments

Destructive scratching is related to escape chewing, digging and jumping out of windows. This is a behavior that your Beagle normally undertakes when he has been confined and wants to escape.
To discover the causes of this destructive behavior, you must determine when and where the scratching takes place. Obvious causes of this behavior is when the female dog next door is in heat, or confinement because your dog is a social problem or is being punished, which are the usual causes relate to confinement alone.
One exception is the Beagle that scratches on the seats or cushions of furniture or through bedding or mattresses. These excavators are usually digging a hole for themselves to curl up in or are scratching in frustration at their owner’s anal and/or genital scents. When pillows and clothing are the target, the dog may be attempting to masturbate with them.
Scratching in order to escape can occur in dominant or over dependent beagles. In either case, correction involves the same methods as for destructive chewing. The owner must teach at least the Come, Sit, and Stay commands without the use of force. These commands should be used whenever the dog nudges for attention. The dog should be praised for desirable responses. If punishment has been used, this must be stopped immediately, as this is usually counterproductive.
To minimize the contrast between the owner’s presence and absence, all unsolicited attention, such as talking to the dog, petting him or playing with him in response to the dog’s attention seeking, should be stopped. Examples of these activities include tug-o’-war, wrestling, chasing the dog, and playing fetch when the owner must force the dog to give up the ball or stick.
In other words, interactions must involve the dog’s responding to the owner, rather than vice versa. Coming and going rituals must be avoided. It is also helpful to leave a radio turned on at a normal volume at all times to stabilize the acoustic environment and keep the Beagle company.
If the cause of destructive scratching is known, that cause should be eliminated, if possible. If a confined male dog is scratching because a neighborhood female dog is in heat, the use of some medication for the female dog in heat has proved to be successful, providing her owners are willing. If not, and if the problem is recurrent with a male that is not to be bred, castration has proven helpful if combined with the other steps outlined here. If your Beagle is unruly or shut away as punishment for some other behavior, the basic behavior problem should be corrected.

Searching For An Honest Beagle Breeder

September 23, 2006 on 2:45 pm | In Beagle Artcles | No Comments

Once you have located several breeders who produce the breed you desire (in this case a Beagle), we recommend that you visit all of them before deciding on a puppy. Compare their facilities, and beware of the hard sell. Do not be pressured into buying a Beagle puppy because the breeder says there are three other prospective buyers on their way over. Also, do not buy a puppy simply because the breeder isn’t planning to produce another litter any time soon.
Pay attention to first impressions. Which of the breeders is open, informative, and friendly? Which are closed-mouthed and cautious? A good breeder will be honest and will want to place the puppy in the best home possible. Breeders should also want to know about you. Are you responsible enough to own a dog? Do you have a house with a fenced yard, or do you live in a studio apartment? Do you own other pets? A good breeder will want to ensure the welfare of his or her dog, for the animal’s sake and for the future success of the breed.
Observe the general appearance of the facility. Is it clean and well maintained? Do the beagles appear to be healthy? Is the breeder’s home neat and orderly or messy and chaotic? You wouldn’t buy groceries in a filthy store infested with vermin, so why tolerate these conditions when shopping for a dog?
Check the area where the puppies are housed. It should be clean, warm, and comfortable. Water, bedding, and perhaps a few chew toys should be available. If this area is littered with excrement, the puppies may have become used to these conditions and may not understand that the sleeping area is not also a place to eliminate. Housebreaking these puppies could be difficult.
The friendliest beagles are usually those that have been handled by humans from the time they were only a few days old. Successful breeders understand this and will have regular handling sessions with the puppies every day. Many bring the Beagle puppies into their home each day to acclimate them to this environment. Avoid those breeders who keep their puppies isolated from people.
No breeder should allow a puppy to leave the litter before it is seven weeks of age. Proper socialization within the litter is ensured during this important period. puppies that leave too soon often become dog-aggressive and antisocial. Breeders who are willing to let their puppies go too early are not doing their job properly. Avoid them.
Proper record-keeping is an essential part of the breeding process. Breeders should have the pedigrees of all of their available dogs and should provide you with the accurate date of birth as well as all vaccination records. The breeder must also give you a blue AKC registration application for your puppy. You will fill this out and mail it to the American Kennel Club; the AKC will then send you your puppy’s registration certificate. A sales contract should be provided as well. Read this document carefully; some contracts specify co-ownership between you and the breeder, and some require you to alter the Beagle within a certain period.

Determining Your Beagle Puppy’s Personality Type

September 20, 2006 on 2:45 am | In Beagle Artcles | No Comments

Here are four tests you should perform with each Beagle puppy in order to determine whether it is normal, dominant, or submissive:
1. Hold each Beagle puppy up so that its feet are a few inches off the floor. Observe its reaction: A normal puppy will struggle for a few seconds and then settle down. This reaction indicates spirit but also a willingness to accept authority. A dominant puppy will continue struggling and may howl and bite. A submissive puppy will just dangle passively and accept the situation or in severe cases, panic and submissively urinate.
2. Hold each puppy on its back in your lap. Comfort it by stroking its belly and talking to it softly. Observe its reaction: A normal puppy will struggle briefly, then settle. This is the response that most buyers should look for. A dominant puppy will struggle constantly, howl, and perhaps try to bite. A submissive puppy will succumb and perhaps urinate or, in an extreme case, panic.
3. Set the puppy on its feet on the floor. Then toss a ball or a crumpled piece of paper away from the puppy and observe its reaction: A normal puppy will chase the object, play with it, and perhaps bring it back to you if you call out to it. It will allow you to take the object away without much fuss. A dominant Beagle puppy will chase the object, take it to a corner, and ignore you when you call out to it. It may growl at you if you attempt to reclaim the object. A submissive puppy may not react at all to the object or may actually be afraid of it.
4. Crouch down a few feet from the puppy and encourage it to come to you by clapping or whistling. Observe its reaction: A normal puppy will happily come over to you in a confident, playful manner. A dominant puppy will either charge you and jump up on you recklessly or completely ignore you. A submissive puppy may hide in a corner or come over cautiously and expose its belly, perhaps even urinating upon being touched.
Let us consider extremely submissive behavior to be far left of center, normal to be at the center, and extremely dominant to be far right of center. Most buyers who are looking for a loving, trainable family pet should consider a Beagle puppy that performs as close to the center as possible. If you desire a working or obedience dog, or if you are a robust, physically imposing person, you may wish to consider a puppy that is slightly to the right of center. If you are a quiet, slight person, look for a Beagle puppy that is slightly left of center.

Beagles In Dog Rescue Shelters

September 17, 2006 on 12:45 am | In Beagle Artcles | No Comments

Anyone who has worked longer than two seconds at an animal shelter knows that one of the chief reasons owners drop off their unwanted beagles is that they are not house-trained. Shelter personnel tend to be very world-wise and savvy, and they know that when an owner comes in and says, “We have to move,” that usually means “He poops or barks or chews or digs or whatever verb is appropriate. Shelter personnel often hear phrases like, “He’s not as clean as I thought he would be, but I’m sure he would be for someone else,” or “He might have a few accidents in his new home but he’s really a sweetheart.”
All these statements mean that the Beagle is not housebroken and the owners who adopt should be so informed. There should be a form that is used within each shelter to decode such problems and animals that cannot be placed and that harbor such problems might simply have to be moved up on the list of animals to be euthanized.
Before you disagree, let me say that I have paid my dues in shelter work. I have seen the pain that is involved on both the human and canine end (no matter how benign the euthanization method) when a dog must be eliminated. I do not like the procedure nor the phenomenon.
It is crucial to get the Beagle puppy house-trained quickly and effectively, and of providing proper training throughout the dog’s life. There is a large surplus of animals waiting for homes. Why place a dog that is known to be a chronic house-pooper? It just doesn’t make sense, unless the dog has other appealing qualities and a potential owner who is fully aware of the problem and willing to work with it, patiently and consistently. Any other owner will sour on the dog quite quickly and either return it to the shelter or just abuse it.
Shelter personnel should also have on hand a variety of books, pamphlets and brochures that outline house-training procedures. Often clients will leave the shelter completely in the dark as to what to do once they get the puppy home, and will subsequently bungle the house-training process. A simple pamphlet or, better yet, a short consultation and a pamphlet at the shelter would have prevented many a returned Beagle puppy.

Dog Supplements May Not Be Necessary After All

September 13, 2006 on 4:45 am | In Beagle Artcles | No Comments

If you use a good quality meat-meal based food you usually do not have to supplement your Beagle’s ration. In fact, it is very easy to throw the formulation of some of the specialty foods out of kilter if you play with supplements. Unfortunately, adding a little bit of this and a little bit of that is a cultural mentality handed down from the time when pet foods weren’t complete and needed supplementation. beagle breeders often advocate supplements and many send their clients home with long lists of additives - vitamins, minerals, dairy products, oils and other lotions and potions. Many breeders will turn an absolutely deaf ear to entreaties from veterinarians or canine nutritionists who suggest a good basic ration and a minimum of supplementation.
Supplement supporters aren’t usually thinking along behavioral lines and, since they themselves rarely have difficulty house-training their dogs, don’t realize that not everyone is so knowledgeable and over-supplementation can easily produce loose stools and make good control difficult for your Beagle. Coat conditioners, for instance, can easily be withheld from the diet until your Beagle puppy is house-trained. Your puppy doesn’t need them if he or she is eating a good quality food, and (in most breeds) the puppy coat has to grow out naturally anyway. Oils and people foods, especially those high in fat (like steak trimmings) easily “oil up” the intestines and in many cases cause stools to “slide out” quite unexpectedly.
If your breeder or pet store operator gives you a list of supplements and binds you under pain of mortal sin to use them, start asking some questions. Ask whether these supplements are necessary if you use a high-quality specialty food. Ask how these supplements will affect your house-training progress. Ask if it is absolutely necessary to add the supplements right away or if this can wait until house-training is accomplished. For instance, although the jury is definitely out on the relationship between mega doses of vitamin C and hip dysplasia (a congenital ailment that plagues many larger breeds), many breeders are routinely recommending giving the vitamin. Whether or not the vitamin helps ward off hip dysplasia, we do know that it can have a diarrheic effect on many dogs, complicating the house-training process.
Dairy products are also dangerous additives and produce runny stools in some beagles. People food should be avoided as a matter of good behavioral policy, lest the dog turn to begging at the table, but it should be especially taboo during house-training. Dog treats that are full of preservatives or dyes (often to keep a “meat center” bright red) can also throw many beagles‘ innards for a loop and complicate cleanliness. Good general advice is to stay away from supplements during the house-training process and use only minimal or no additives later on, but do use a quality daily ration.

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