Beagles speak

We all know they "speak" (howl, bay, mumble, groan, bark, whine).
Chatting with various people across the world about their Beagles, especially those that are having some difficulty with the behaviour of their Beagles, I'm realising more and more that people don't LISTEN to their Beagles. They hear them, some understand the noises that come out of them more than others but few realise the language these dear hounds that we love so very much speak, without words, without noise. 

Many that have come to us for advice and keep in touch will be well aware of my probably most over-used term "think and speak (YOUR) Beagle"('s language). It's something that has helped us in our business and our NPO and we have witnessed it help just about every Beagle parent we've assisted. 

Pro's - you will simply take this for granted as "common sense" or "basic knowledge", this post is not for you.
​If you feel that you and your Beagle live in different universes - go ahead, have a read.

Being owned by a Beagle

The biggest "pitfall" we find when speaking with Beagle owners that approach us is that there is this limbo between old school beliefs vs having experienced "something different". We were there as well and the Beagles taught is very quickly that they are different. And no, we have also not been able to give a definitive answer as to why they are different (to those looking for the answer to that question) and no (to those saying "oh, just like any dog") they are not. It's not Beagle snobbery at play when a Beagle owner tells you it's different being a Beagle parent, it - just - is.
​The closest thing we have come to be able to try and explain it is: 

"It's like raising a highly intelligent, curious (& very hungry) 5 year old"

The unspoken language

Body language. It has been touted for a while by behaviourists and trainers, there are many many articles, blogs and books on it. We won't get into those nitty gritty's right now for various reasons.
The reason for this blog post is to make you aware of the importance of it. Most people have heard of it but it has become a buzz phrase of sorts. 
We expect our dogs to listen to us, shouts, calls, whistles, towering over them when angry, to know the difference between us being happy and frustrated, the list goes on.
But how much time do we take to understand them, how they think, why they do things. How much do we ASSUME about their behaviour (prime example: "I know he knows he did something wrong because he looks guilty when I scold him")

Why it's important for training

Daily we speak with people banging their head against the wall because their Beagle is "impossible to train", "even the behaviourist/trainer said so". 
I need to mention here that we do not believe, and always make it very clear, that there is a magic switch to flick and suddenly everything is OK. There is ALWAYS work behind any training.
That being said, if there is an incling of a switch that could be flicked it's a combination of:
1. A mindset change by the owner/family
2. EVERYone being on board
3. Consistency
​4. Understanding your dog

Understanding your Beagle

I will get to points 1-3 in other posts. This one is about the importance of understanding your dog. Again, I'm not going to be telling you here how to understand your dog for the moment. We want to hit home how important this is. You may think you understand your dog but still run into issues. So I would like to list for you the biggest (human) issues we run into when consulting, do you recognise any of these being your problem?

Ego
​Yip, I start with the hardest one for people to hear. It actually goes hand in hand with point 1. Mindset change. We find that people battle most with their ego when they need to change their mindset. Various things such as preconceived ideas, how they grew up, cultural beliefs, things seen on television, old belief systems all affect this as changing a mindset usually means facing these things were incorrect (and who wants to admit what they've believed/practiced is incorrect and possibly even caused the unwanted behaviour?)
We have walked a path with many people where the path of changing unwanted behaviour ends up being a bigger journey of self awareness (more about that another time), for this the ego needs to be dropped.

Ignorance
Despite all the information "out there" many people have not educated themselves in the many new and more constructive ways of training and understanding their dogs. Many people still have not done their research on the breed they are getting (though this is definitely changing thankfully). Sometime the research hasn't been done just because they did not bother but very often we find it is because people are simply overwhelmed by the information and sometimes very contradictory or very generalised information, so they shut off and stop looking.

Stubbornness
Kicks in with ego. They dig in their heels because "it's a dog and needs to do what it's told". In my experience as an animal behaviourist the Beagle breed is one of the ones where I see this human mindset backfire most often. They will compromise but very often will not submit completely.

Laziness
I've mentioned it before and I'll mention it again. There is work that needs to be done if you want to change a behaviour. At times that means simply working on your relationship with your Beagle. Other times (depending on the behaviour and the severity) it can take weeks, months, even years to change it. 

Impatience
We tend to stick our own expectations of timelines regarding behavioural changes (often without being willing to put in the work or compromise needed). Just because they are dogs it does not mean they can simply change at the snap of your fingers. Think about it, how long does it take for you to break that bad habit?

Know how to listen

If you can take one thing away from this post we implore you, educate yourself. Understand how your dog thinks and why, not with books and articles (that can come)....

Step back and let go of all your preconceived notions and sit quietly with them and observe and interact. Watch them, see how they think, don't make assumptions. Look at them with fresh eyes and TELL them you want to understand them and their way of speaking when they look at you with that Beagle head tilt quizzically. 

Let us know what you observe, we'd love to hear it.