Hi I have a 8 month old beagle male named Petey...he has been having some growling issues lately with my other puppy, who is also 8 months old(have grown up together) she is a siberian/shepard,and spayed as well,Petey is not yet...anyways whenever I bring out my pet guinea pigs Petey goes crazy licking them,etc,he loves them,no aggression whatsoever,but when my other puppy Keira trys to come and see them Petey starts growling at her as if to say,Hey,these are my babies,don't come near.When I try to comfort Keira,to let her know she's not doing anything wrong ,Petey comes right up to us and growls and barks at her as if to say,this is my mommy,and don't come near her...I have been disciplining him when he does this,putting him in his crate for time out.Does anyone know why he is doing this behavior?,and it seems to be only in the evening when I let them in for the night.Please Help,Thank you.Concerned,Heidi
Beagle jealousy or overprotective?
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I would say that he guarding the guinea pigs and being dominant toward the other dog. You may not want the guinea pig out and around him until you can make sure that it is safe. Reward good behavior and sharing. When you go to comfort Keira, Petey mostly likely gets more possessive. I try to let the dogs work things out amongst themselves but if they get too crazy I step in between and tell them to knock it off.
This article might help, it is about cat introduction to dog but its the same idea http://www.aspcabehavior.org/articles/108/Introducing-Your-Dog-to-a-New-Cat.aspx
This article might help, it is about cat introduction to dog but its the same idea http://www.aspcabehavior.org/articles/108/Introducing-Your-Dog-to-a-New-Cat.aspx
My daughter has 2 pet rats in a cage. My female Beagle, Mattie, guards the cage and growls if anyone comes near them. She thinks they are hers. We limited her amount of time around them and it seems to have worked well and she has stopped that behavior. It took a few weeks.
I am not a Beagle owner yet (thinking about it) but have raised sled dogs for years. The behavior around the guinea pigs sounds like food guarding behavior to me. Even though the little beagle doesn't kill the pigs he may still instinctively relate to them as food. They are rodents after all and the beagle is a rodent HUNTER. I would not put the dogs in that situation where they are with the rodents. When I fed my sled dogs I always kept them separate to avoid trouble. That is what I think is going on and sounds similar to the pet rat situation. I don't think it is jealousy.
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