I have a 10 month old beagle spaniel mix puppy. She has been aggressive since I first adopted her.

well when they nip at u smack their snout……litely but to get your point across… i have had a spaniel mix and he was very aggressive…….that really works….if they growl at you smack them again……. not smack but like i said GET YOUR POINT ACROSS……. we just got a puppy not too long ago she isnt really a puppy….but when you both are jus laying there you need to hold her mouth SHUT and look into her eyes…..and say NO!!!! its a challenge……and once they realize u are MASTER…..they will OBEY you….. we are doing this for our puppy now!!!!

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Crate training…..Have something in the crate, and have the door open….. then make sure she knows there is something in there…… and say CRATE…..she should walk right in……. and do that everytime for about two weeks…then start randomly putting treats in there……. and reward her for going in…… jus email me its hard to explain ok lol

Train her for real,not with a shock collar. Smack her nose and tell her NO BITE.Be firm,(Voice wise, Don’t smack the snot out of her,just so she knows you mean business.)

shock collars work great and they sell them for about 200-300.00. you mentioned extensive training for your dog and that seems like a great idea too! =)

You can try a couple of things. First, you can try a DAP Collar, which is a collar that releases pheromones to help calm your dog. If that doesn’t work, then you can try a training collar such as Innotek Basic or Advanced Training Collar. Here’s some info on it:

You can set it to as mild as possible (it doesn’t really shock them like people think, it feels like when you stick your tongue on a 9-volt battery), but it also gives you a sound for when they are good. You can also set the amount of time the stimulation occurs.

Good luck!

I do. I have used them with great success for over 20 years now. They have come such a long way that almost anyone, with a little common sense can use one and train their own dog. The key with an E collar is timing, it has to be good. I am not sure where you live, but, the trainer is probably good and the price will be well worth it if it works out. Do remember that you will need an E collar too, after training is over. You can always get one and start the training yourself, without the trainer. Tritronics and Dogtra make excellent ones. I use them myself. Finally, and as a warning, there will be a lot of people here who will come on and tell you about how cruel an E collar is and all kinds of other things to make you feel guilty. Do not listen to them as most of them have no idea what real training is. If you really want to educate your self on them, please refer to an article I posted on their complete use etc in one of my questions about a month a go. Congradulations on having the brains to want to take things in your hands and train the dog before it becomes a worse problem.

See if the $800 cost includes the collar for you to keep at the end of the training. The trainer should show you how to continue the training at home (with the collar) at the conclusion of the course. You will want the dog to respond to you as well as she responds to your trainer.

The Greekman knows what he’s talking about with regards to E-collars. Take his advise seriously.

If you are working with a trainer then i say that’s a step in the right direction. He’ll show the method that works most likey he will use the shock collar on the lowest setting at first to see if she reacts. Note the dog shows many signs before they show the aggression, they become interested in the object of aggression that is when a shock or correction should be given. a dog that tries to bite or is aggressive to it’s owner is the boss in the house. the trainer will train you to become the alpha dog IE the boss, then your dog will become a loving pet because she’ll learn she doesn’t need to try and dominate you. Oh and next time she tries to bite you hold her down on her side until she stops struggling, next time someone comes over make she stay back, you are the alpha in the house and she must wait behind you stay calm and you achieve this by leaving a leash on her at all times, so she can follow you around the house and make her sit and stay when ever you go to leave or someone comes over any signs of being interested in a person at the door give her a correction via a choke chain. It will take alot of repetition. So as far as shock collars go it seems most people who use them don’t use them with the advise of a trainer and it only makes matters much much worse, but you have a trainer it will allow to to correct the dog without it needing to be restained by a leash, but unless you have off leash control of your dog you may just go back to choke chain and leash
oh and i bet the puppy is aggressive because she was removed from her litter way before 8 weeks or was breed in the backyard and ignored, that causes alot of odd behavior because socialization and the correct time with the litter are so important not that it could have been helped, and good for you for adpoting from a shelter, and beagles can be hard to train

Not knowing this poor dogs past could be a lot of your problems. Was the dog mistreated when it was even younger??
Did a man hit her??? Throw her into a crate of some kind??? Maybe she was kept in a small crate and not allowed out??? Maybe that is why she hates her crate??
I don’t like crates myself. They make the dog feel penned in!
I have a kennel in my living room for my Lab puppy.
As far as the collar I am not sure I would like it!! I just put myself in the place of the dog and how would it feel on my neck if I did something bad and how it would hurt. Would I know why it hurt and what I did to make it hurt???
You need the Dog Whisper!!!!! I bet he would not use the collar??
As far as the trainer try and see if you can find another one and see at least what they would have to say for a second opinion???
This puppy is still a puppy and I think it can be trained to brake its bad habits!!

Good Luck with your puppy. Don’t give up on her!!!
p.s. Just remember no telling what this dog has been through. Have lots of patience and be stern with her.
If they trainer could train the dog without the collar that would be great. I would let him take her for those weeks but I am not sure about the collar. Ask him how bad it hurts the dog??? If it doesn’t hurt or do any damage to the dog then I would go for it. Money and all!!

We use a training collar for our sheppard-chow mix and he does well with it. It started as a barking aid, but we now use it instead of a tie-out when we are outside. We have a K-9 Contain’n'Train system that my sister bought on e-bay. It also had the underground fence, but they left it at their old house. Anyway, the benefit to this collar is that it has a good tone, a bad tone, and then 4 shock levels. Porter has only needed to be shocked once before he learned the bead tone means to stop. I would try to find a collar with that option, so you do not always have to shock him. He should learn the tone means stop or he will get the unpleasant stimulation. Hope this helps!

I personally believe that a remote collar is the lazy way out. I adopted a 4 week old doberman rottwiler mix, who was agressive from day one. Cute fluffy little thing (A year ago anyway, now shes 130 pounds) but if you touched her paws, neck, or tried taking away a toy or chewy treat, she turned into a junkyard dog. I did alot of work with her, and now at 1 year 3 months, she is a new dog!!! I did some unconventional things, when she showed any agression I would turn her over and put my mouth on her stomach, apply pressure, and growl, just like a mother dog would, because if she was being raised by another dog, and not a human, it would not be tolerated, nor was it tolerated in my house. I would pretend to clip her nails when they didnt need to be clipped , and wait for her to raise her lips, growl, or show some other unwanted behavior and then correct her. I knew I had to be stern when she was 8 pounds, because I knew if she tried being agressive at the size she is now, it would cause some personal damage. I think a shock collar gives a temporary fix: for that moment, wheras for long term, you need to show the dog extreme leadership.

I just cannot believe some of the answers to this question on this list. Some of them are just unbelievable. I am appalled any one should suggest a shock collar. Obviously, your professional dog trainer consultant is from the Cesar Milan school of dog training (he likes shock collars). Just because the dog trainer you consulted has been in the business for 15 yrs doesn’t make him right. I suggest you find someone who has trained more recently and is up to date with humane ideas about how to deal with problem behaviour. Shock collars are a NO NO for a puppy or, in my opinion, any dog.
Find yourself a responsible dog trainer that uses positive reinforcement methods or better still, go back to the shelter that you got your pup from and ask their advice or for their recommendation for a responsible dog trainer. Your puppy may have been maltreated before you got her – this may be the reason for her behaviour. She needs your understanding, love and patience and looking at other ways in which to change her behaviour – NOT using violence. Your dog is not a criminal and shouldn’t be treated as such.