Post by sheyd on Feb 22, 2008 13:18:21 GMT -5
Well, I am posting an ad on craigslist to get rid of our beautiful beagle baby. He is a year old now, finally fully potty-trained, fully checked out, fixed, the works. He is also greatly loved. However, he has decided he is alpha dog. We did some things wrong, like letting him sleep on the bed, sitting back and letting him get hyper in the living room, playing tug-o-war... We are changing that now, but it is rather too late. He has started growling at us at times - even snapping occassionally. That was bad, and I was already worried, but he bit my 11 year old today - didn't break the skin - but did put a dent/bruise on her.
He is definitely trainable - we have been reading about it - he just needs to know his place. The trouble is, my almost-6 year old in particular is rather afraid of him now. (My 11 year old who was bit ISN'T afraid - which is good). She isn't big enough to man-handle him when he is misbehaving, so he will always "win". Since he is now to the point of snapping, this means he may be unsafe around her. If he had a few months of "good" training, learning people are alpha, he would be ok. This can't be where little kids are around, though.
He isn't dangerous. If an adult is there to handle him, he won't do anything. Even for kids, he won't even snap if you don't try to stop him getting into what he wants. But he still isn't safe unless he is better trained. We love him so very much! We are going to work hard on his training in the meantime - perhaps he CAN get better if we never leave him with the kids unsupervised and if we work on him... But we are advertising to let someone who has no kids have a chance to have a great dog. I don't want him to end up getting worse or permanently ruined. I don't want him to break skin so we have to put him down. It isn't his fault! But my kids need to feel safe.
Shey
He is definitely trainable - we have been reading about it - he just needs to know his place. The trouble is, my almost-6 year old in particular is rather afraid of him now. (My 11 year old who was bit ISN'T afraid - which is good). She isn't big enough to man-handle him when he is misbehaving, so he will always "win". Since he is now to the point of snapping, this means he may be unsafe around her. If he had a few months of "good" training, learning people are alpha, he would be ok. This can't be where little kids are around, though.
He isn't dangerous. If an adult is there to handle him, he won't do anything. Even for kids, he won't even snap if you don't try to stop him getting into what he wants. But he still isn't safe unless he is better trained. We love him so very much! We are going to work hard on his training in the meantime - perhaps he CAN get better if we never leave him with the kids unsupervised and if we work on him... But we are advertising to let someone who has no kids have a chance to have a great dog. I don't want him to end up getting worse or permanently ruined. I don't want him to break skin so we have to put him down. It isn't his fault! But my kids need to feel safe.
Shey
