Bonding With Your New Beagle and Proper Pack Placement

Bonding with your new Beagle is a very important process. There are many things you can do to ensure that your puppy or adult forms a strong bond with every member of your family, as quickly as possible. Canines do not think like humans and they need a dependable pack leader that can provide them with trust, security and leadership. Establishing proper pack placement is critical in the bonding process, and establishes a great foundation for training.

Puppies are just like human babies in the fact that everything goes in their mouths. Not only do they do this for teething and to explore but it is also to bond. Fingers go in the mouth and their sharp little teeth don’t exactly give you the warm fuzzies and make you want to come back for more. It is an important part of their bonding process though, and so allowing them to mouth your hands, in my opinion, is a very important step.

Biting -

Mouthing your hands is his way of getting to know you and it begins the process of setting boundaries. Your fingers go into their mouths and their first bite is usually not very hard. Then they bite harder and harder because they are teething and that is how they explore and to see what is acceptable. Do not “endure” anything that is uncomfortable to you.

If they bite too hard -

Try crying out like a puppy that is hurt in a high sharp cry. This may sound unusual, but your puppy will normally stop biting and look at you. Most puppies will not want to hurt you and they will learn to not bite so hard on your hands after just a few times. these parameters may only apply to you however, not other member of the household.

Sometimes this doesn’t register with them as something they should not do, or set a boundary. If this is the case you will need to teach them in a way they will understand. If they bite hard once again, wrap their upper lip around their top teeth and give a slight pinch (like they are biting their own lip) and say your keyword(s) such as “Gentle!” or “No Bite!”. It only takes a few times and they will get the idea. Then when they start biting harder you can say the key word and they should ease up. When they do give them lots of praise. “Good Boy!”

The bonding hormone -

Holding your Beagle and hugging it, as well as petting, is a very important part of bonding and beneficial for both you and the dog. Placing your dog in your lap (or as close to you so it can have body contact) and petting him firmly from the base of the head to the tail, or hugging, for periods longer than twenty seconds will release small amounts of oxytocin. Oxytocin is the “Cuddle Chemical” and builds loyalty and attachment. It is a key factor in forming a strong bond. Every member of the family should always take time to pet and cuddle. I am sure everyone will be opposed to that but work...work...work...it has to be done (Ha!). Studies have shown that if you gaze into their eyes while petting it increases the levels even farther and these guidelines applies to a canine of any age.

Pack animals, such as your Beagle, expect and need a proper place in the pack. If they do not understand their proper place in their pack, it interferes with forming proper bonds with their fellow pack mates (your family) and it also establishes the first rule of training.

Leadership exercises -

Adult dogs usually understand their place in a human pack quickly, but with puppies of a younger age alpha rolls are recommended. This is an older, but proven, exercise where you turn your puppy on its back and stare into its eyes until they submits by looking away, settling down and accepting his “place”. I do firm, but gentle, alpha rolls with all of our puppies and the will be used to being on their back. As their new pack leader you may get some resistance at first, but if not that is great!

The first time you do it you should expect them to resist. Turn them on their backs and then put your hand on their chest. Hover over them and stare directly in their eyes. If they fight you don’t let them up until they have settled down for a few seconds, which proves they are submitting to you as their pack leader. At that point you can let them up and give them lots of praise. “Good Boy!”. This is not a one time exercise. Be sure that you do Alpha Rolls a couple times a week. As dogs grow, they could get the misconception that their larger size could help them establish a higher pack ranking. This doesn’t usually apply to Beagles, but just to be safe, Do The Exercises.

Some believe that using the Alpha Roll technique does not actually simulate what a dominant dog does and I somewhat agree. In the exercise, I intend to show the puppy what position he should be in due to my stare and posture. I am not attempting to simulate what the actual dominant dog does. Dogs are much more aggressive! It doesn’t matter what the reasoning behind the exercise is, all I can say is that Alpha Rolls work.

In a pack, the lower individuals move out of the way for members of a higher rank when they approach. Puppies that are underfoot are either too young to understand, or they are not giving you any respect.

At first young puppies may not understand that they should move out of the way for pack members of a higher rank (humans). Normally, this is because they are not paying attention to “pack rules” and their minds are on other more important “puppy things”. They will walk into your path while walking, get right under your feet, and almost trip you. Once you begin showing the puppy that this behavior is unacceptable, their natural pack understanding will kick in and they will pay more attention to where you are going and if they are in your way or not.

For this exercise, remember that your body language should display confidence. Keep your shoulders back and walk towards the puppy but do not speak. When he moves out of your path, use your praise word in a non-excited tone. If the puppy gets under-foot you must move it out of the way with your foot. Just slide him over to get through and keep on going. Do not speak. Speaking, or giving any attention to the puppy is attention and considered a positive reward. This exercise is one of the most important yet under-rated. many times I encounter adults that simply “get under foot” and that is always paired with the fact that they do not (yet) respect my role as pack leader. With practice though and firm yet gentle guidance they quickly get the idea.

Establishing respect is essential if you plan on having a well trained adult. No respect means they do not have to listen to you.

Another exercise you can do that will help your Beagle establish his proper place in the pack, and ensure proper bonding, is muzzle cupping. You know that motion you make with your hand when you are trying to create a shadow puppet, or indicate someone on the phone won’t stop talking?

Your hand, in that position, will represent your mouth (unless you really want to stick his muzzle in your mouth…..then be my guest) and you are going to gently “bite” his muzzle with your hand and hold his muzzle in that position for 5 seconds. This is a firm yet gentle grasp. When you do this your puppy should slow down his movement at least give a slight “I’m waiting” look in his eyes. When they do, release them and give the praise “Good Boy!”. Your puppy may not relent at first. Some puppies fight you! If they fight, then they do they do not think (or understand) that you are their pack superior. If they keep trying to shake your hand off you need to hold them in your lap, and insist they stay still while you do this. Once they do stop fighting, hold the muzzle for just a few seconds praise him. “Good Boy!”. Keep practicing the Alpha Rolls and the other exercises until you can make it to the whole 5 seconds.

A third exercise is paw holding. This is a very simple exercise that is very important if you want to be able to have your dog’s nails clipped without much fuss or fighting. Place the puppy next to you, or hold it in your lap. Then pick up a front paw and hold it firmly in your hand for ten seconds. Do not let go! If your puppy sits still and allows you to do this without fighting then after releasing his paw give him praise “Good Boy!”. If he fights you, hold on! Do this with all four paws. Normally the front ones are the most difficult.

I have been asked on a few occasions to explain how ignoring a bad behavior can help in training. For inexperienced dog owners, knowing when to ignore a bad behavior can be tricky. Also, knowing what bad behaviors can be ignored can also be confusing. Barking in the crate is a good example of when you would ignore bad behavior. Eventually, after they continue to bark and the behavior is not rewarded, they will stop. This also will normally work if the dog is jumping on you, bugging you for attention, acting hyper or constantly fetching toys to play. Turning your body away from them and giving them no attention (physically or verbally) shows you are not willing to engage. Normally dogs learn that those behaviors do not provide the attention they want and they stop. This training method should be very very carefully used however. Using it sometimes does not provide the results you are wanting, and can make a behavior worse. Just ask me if you have any questions about this method of training.

I have often heard “I have tried to do the exercises, but he just won’t let me”.

When owners say this to me, it means that they do not understand that humans and canines think very differently. Canines understand leadership first and foremost. By doing the exercises, you will show your dog that you are their leader. They need it, they want it and it and you MUST provide it if you want a well behaved and well trained dog. Doing these exercises may be difficult for you, but you MUST insist and be very firm (if needed), while doing these exercises. Your Beagle will not hold this against you and you will not hurt his feelings. Dogs NEED and crave firm leadership. Sometimes owners do not realize that even the most laid back and gentle puppy can turn into a dog that rules your house because they think they are the pack leader! If you want a dog that can’t have it’s nails trimmed, can’t have a bath, doesn’t bother to get out of your way and is pretty much untrainable (or aggressive)….. just don’t bother with these exercises.

Tone of voice -

I do have to touch on tone of voice here. Dominant dogs have a lower growl and bark while puppies voices are higher pitched. Women are at a disadvantage in this area because they normally have a higher voice that is naturally more gentle than a mans.

When I was field training it was a great disadvantage. I had to come up with a special more “male” voice to send out the signal that they BEtter LiSteN to me!! It took a while to develop but now when I am with a group of people (that are not field trainers) I have to announce that I am “Getting out my training voice” before I bellow an order because it is so loud and deep that I startle people near me. I tell you what......there is a HUGE difference in how a dog reacts to the deeper tone of voice, so just keep that in mind as your dog grows. Lower steady voices get better results while training when you want to emphasize a fact and higher voices are better for praise.

Children in the family -

If there are children in your family’ it is a good idea that an actual schedule is drawn up giving each child even time with the Beagle to play and enjoy their companionship. Feeding, cleaning up, walking, petting, training and other activities are also very important and should be shared. This is a great way to teach responsibility, the importance of a schedule and completion of chores’ but also will allow the puppy to form an even bond with each family member causing no favoritism.

I have seen it several times where one child becomes the main caretaker for the puppy and then you hear “Mom! Bailey likes Sam more!” or “Dad! Sparky only listens to Betsy!” Well it will happen unless each child (and adult) stays active in the caring and training process to form a proper relationship with the new dog. Worse yet, the mom or dad becomes the puppies favorite. It makes sense in some situations....the parent may be home most of the day to clean the yard, walk the dog and the parent picks up where the kids leave off. Pretty soon the kids are not as interested in the puppy because mom or dad has it all covered and they haven’t formed a proper bond with the new dog. See...it works both ways!

Food and your leadership role -

Another part of forming a bond with your Beagle, and being the leader, has to do with food. Giving them a bowl of food and walking away isn’t actually forming a bond. In a pack, the leader decides when the pack hunts. After they make a kill, the leader always eats first and then allows the rest of the pack to eat. Dogs pay attention to these things, it is engrained in their DNA and it is an important part of determining where they are in their pack.

If you have a puppy, I would recommend that each family member hand feed the puppy a small portion of their meals. Do this a couple of times each week, for the first few weeks. This shows that you are the leader and that YOU are providing their meal. This will transition to training and the use of treats and is a very successful tool, especially when used by younger children, to gain respect.

You can also eat your meal where they can see you. Once you are finished, THEN provide their bowl of food (with a little treat on top). This may be difficult with a begging dog, but it is necessary to form proper pack roles.

Younger children will need assistance with hand feeding, and I would not let them do it unless the puppy is already being respectful. If there is any crowding or grabbing it could become a serious problem for the child in the future. Parents should always be present and assist at first and the puppy must learn to WAIT until YOU decide to provide the food. The more disrespectful they are, the longer they will have to wait and your puppy will pick this up very quickly! If you have brought in an adult or older puppy to your family, feeding by hand is still a great idea. It will still form a bond more quickly but not as important as with younger puppies in my opinion, as long as the adult or older puppy is already respectful.

If you have decided on clicker training, or standard obedience training, feeding time is also an excellent opportunity to do some of that also! Why feed just for the meal when you can take his kibble and turn it into a training treat to teach. Two birds with one stone in my book! Get out the training information, and obedience commands, and put them to work for you. No puppy is too young for training and no adult is too old.

Begging -

I do not mind my dogs giving me a sad “Begging” face while I am eating my meal, but all of my dogs know to keep a good distance away and wait for me to offer something. I always finish most of my meal before giving them some. I know you are going to say “Oh no! Dogs aren’t supposed to eat human food!”....well they don’t know that and as long as it is something they can have', they get a bite. Heck...on holidays they get their own specially prepared meals FULL of (safe) human food! Sadly, sometimes there are 9 dogs looking longingly at my plate. I have to take extra to make sure that they all get a piece! I don’t mind a bit though. If you think providing human food or begging is bad behavior, then never allow it. Put them in their crate while you are eating and then give them a biscuit (or their meal) after. I just can’t tell them to go lay down and then not give them anything. I feel guilty!

Dogs are not human children -

Spoiling your Beagle is OK! I am not saying that you should not give them special attention, treat them with (dairy- free) ice-cream or even put doggy clothing on them. I can appreciate a kind and loving person that really wants to care properly for their new Beagle Just just remember that your dog is not your child. He or she will not react (or understand) in the same way as a child would because it does not speak “human”...it speaks and thinks like a canine.

Dogs pay attention to body language and the tone of your voice. Once they begin the learning process they can identify specific words you have taught them and carry out those commands.

I am all for gentle and pleasant training methods, as long as they work, but when you see that the Beagle is not responding, it is time to put on your dominant canine brain and get the job done…. right then and there! Do not wait and let the problem go on. If you keep ignoring it, or doing the same training over and over with no different outcome, it can turn into a bad situation. The dog will think he is the head of the household, or a higher ranked pack member. If you ever have a situation like this, please contact me and I can guide you through the steps to correct it. The best way to deal with bad behavior is to not allow it to become an issue in the first place.

If you follow these instructions I can assure you that your bond will be very strong, your puppy will know his place in your pack and he will be a more mannerly and enjoyable puppy, full grown adult and loving life long companion.