If you’re a beagle owner, then you’re lucky to have an easy-going, playful and sociable pup running about your home. Beagles are known for their adorable pleading faces and friendly temperament.
However, they were originally meant to be hunting hounds and were bred to hunt in packs. For this reason, their instincts may kick in now and then in the form of an aggressive growl, which could leave a new owner be a little startled.
Now you don’t have worry too much. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with your beagle if they growl at you, they’re purely acting out of instinct. Keep on reading to find out exactly why your beagle growls and how to best stop it appropriately. You’ll also get to know what not to do to your growling beagle as well as a few other handy tips that may be useful for any proud beagle owner.
Why Do Beagles Growl?
As a dog owner of any breed, it’s important to keep in mind that your dog could be growling for a variety of different reasons. One of the most common reasons for growling is because a dog is being territorial about a person, animal, or possession. If you happen to approach a beagle while they’re near a toy or a particular spot in the house, it could be that your beagle is growing as a means to say “this is mine, back off”.
Obviously there does need to be a certain level of discipline training when raising a young beagle, so that you can enforce the fact that you are the one in charge, and they cannot assert dominance over you. I’ve found that beagles are particularly territorial, and incredibly stubborn when it comes to dominance. When my beagle has to cohabitate with other dogs, she’s almost always automatically the one in charge. This can be fine, as long as all dogs are trained to respect you as the head of the pack.
Other times, growling can come from a place of seeking attention. Beagles quickly tend to learn that growling is a type of behavior that elicits an immediate reaction out of their owner, which further encourages them to continue growling to get what they want.
Situations where this takes place tend to be when they’re experiencing separation anxiety, fear, or reluctance to leave the house to go to the vet or on a walk. Beagles tend to have great memories, which makes them easy to train, but also makes it easy for them to associate certain actions, visuals, or noises with negativity. For example if you once picked up their carrier box to take them to the vet, they may get nervous and growl if you happen to need to move their carrier box around the house.
Beagles, like all kinds of dogs, also use growls to let their owners know if something’s wrong, which can be quite beneficial for home security, and is why many people rely on beagles as guard dogs. Because of this, I wouldn’t be quick to discourage all forms of growling, and would say just to focus on reducing inappropriate growls in your training.
How to Stop a Beagle From Growling?
Now that you are able to better identify some of the underlying reasons why your beagle may have started growling, it’s important to focus on how exactly to stop this habit.
This element of training will require some patience, but it will absolutely be worth it in the long run. You’ll need to approach curbing excessive growling depending on the unique reason that your dog growl’s in the first place.
If your beagle seems to be growling only at you when you approach them, and it isn’t apparent that they are guarding anything, then you should work to show your dog that you mean them no harm. This can be started with something called counter conditioning, whereby you make your dog associate your approach to receiving something good like a treat your toy, rather than giving them any reason to fear you.
To do this, you’ll want to start with a safe distance between you and your beagle, and slowly approach. Once you are able to recognize at what point of distance causes your beagle to bark more, slowly step back, and have your dog’s favorite toy with you. I’d recommend getting down on the floor so that you’re at eye level with your dog, and offer them the toy. This may take a few tries, but after some time your dog will start to really enjoy your presence.
This counter-conditioning also works if your beagle appears to be growling over a certain possession. Like the last example, you’ll need to identify which items your beagle is trying to guard. Typically these can be toys, blankets, food bowls, and sometimes even other members of your family or other pets.
Once you’ve identified these items or people, prepare some soft treats and have them with you when you’re ready to start training. These will help to coax your beagle away from whatever it is that they are guarding. You’ll also want to show the beagle that you can interact with whatever it is they’re guarding without causing any harm, which will make them much more trusting of you over time.
If you think that dominance is the main reason that your beagle is growling, you’ll need to let them know that you are the alpha of this household. As a way to start, you will have to be strict with your dog and establish some ground rules, such as limiting them from furniture use and access to certain rooms. A lot of pet owners find this cruel, but dogs thrive under rigid structures, and this format of training is a quick way to gain their respect and let them know who’s in charge. That’s why I’m a huge advocate for crate training for beagles.
If your dog continues to misbehave, reprimand them with a firm “No.”, but always try to remain calm and level headed. You’ll undo your training if you match their aggression with your own aggression.
You can check out some of these other tips from The Dogs Book in a short video below.
What NOT to do When Your Beagle is Growling
As I mentioned earlier, you’ll need to address your beagles aggression issues with a clear and calm head, never getting aggressive toward the dog yourself. This means you’ll want to watch your tone, volume, and physical actions around the dog.
While some people tend to think that it’s okay to discipline a dog physically, there’s a ton of research showing that hitting dogs is both inhumane, and causes long term, sometimes irreversible behavioral problems for the dog. It’s simply unacceptable.
If your beagle is growling in order to get some form of attention from you, you have to first figure out what the underlying cause is. Your beagle could genuinely be hurt, so ignoring these growls could be ignoring a serious problem. However if your beagle isn’t hurt, then you’ll want to establish some boundaries and punish this poor behavior in a way that helps teach them to behave in order to get what they want.
It’s fine to ignore your dog if they’re trying to behave badly to get something they want, and it can be very effective, but there are limits to the amount of time you should have your back turned to a beagle. Ignoring your pet for more than a couple hours over some aggression isn’t helpful, because dog’s short term memories are not that lasting, and they won’t make the proper training associations if too much time has lapsed.
If your beagle is growling aggressively about an object or person its defending, it doesn’t help the situation to take that object away from them, because growling is still a sign of biting to come, and should be viewed as a warning. You’ll need to handle this type of aggression more slowly over time, all while maintaining dominance over your dog and your household as a whole.
You can also occasionally use items like water spray bottles and citronella collars to curb loud barking, but you should consider using them sparingly as they aren’t as effective as setting boundaries and using counter conditioning.
Beagle Aggression Obedience Tips for Owners
Naturally, there are a few other signs of beagle aggression that you should be aware of apart from just growling.
Some of these signs include a range of different noises like snarling and barking, and can even lead to behaviors like biting or bullying for attention. A common tip for beagle owners first is to establish your attitude as the alpha of the house, even when you’re not directly interacting with your beagle. As hunting pack dogs, they are very attuned to behaviors and moods, and a shift between you and your family can speak volumes to them as well indirectly.
This is seen most commonly in the way that beagles are known to be able to smell fear. For this reason, you’ll want to remain calm and collected especially when training your beagle, so they view you as a fearless, providing leader of the pack. This will keep the beagle’s behavior in check, and will help make them more trusting of you as an owner.
Another way to ensure that your beagle doesn’t develop an aggressive sense of possessiveness over its food or toys is to schedule meal and play time in a way that provides them structure.
This can best be achieved by providing them food and play time at the same times of day, every day and in the same circumstances as frequently as possible. Routines have been proven to help curb certain anxieties in dogs, and the structure will make them much less likely to try and defy you as the head of the pack.
Final Thoughts
To sum everything up, beagles can occasionally become aggressive and growl because they are an intelligent and intuitive breed. As a beagle owner, you will need to have a lot of patience to slowly ease your dog away from negative behavior, starting with establishing dominance over them.
In any case of unwanted aggression, it’s most important to identify the underlying cause, and appropriately address the issue with a clear and calm mind.