Bagel the Beagle

We adopted Bagel when he was 15 months old from a Beagle Rescue Centre where he lived with 19 other beagles. He had been given to the Rescue Centre because he had been a handful as a pup and the owner couldn't cope. He came to us and became very ill within 6 weeks of having him. He suffered with Autoimmune Anaemia which meant that his body was not producing enough red blood cells. He has now been recovering for a year but this has left him with confusion about his position in the household. This has been made worse by the fact that we gave him so much attention whilst he was ill, in giving him pills and affection. We also gave him too many treats. Whilst doing this we obviously hadn't thought of the possible consequences in his future behaviour.

He was also allowed upstairs and on the furniture, giving him the idea that he was alpha male in our household. We became aware of his temperament change when one day he started growling. This occurred when told to do things that he didn't feel inclined to do. e.g. get off furniture/go to bed. If we persisted we would fly at us growling and barking viscously.

When out walking he pulled on the lead (a long extending lead) and at times, when off the lead, he would not come when called.

He was afraid of other dogs growling and running in the opposite direction. However he would accept his beagle friends, beagles that he mixed with on a regular basis.

So we consulted Sally. She has been excellent, changing the situation so that we now know how to deal with Bagel. Sally has taught us how to be the Alpha male and how to deal with Bagel so that he is now a calm, submissive dog, not all the time but it is an ongoing situation. If things happen, like the doorbell rings, we can now take charge of the situation, guide Bagel away from the door, making Bagel feel good but also be able to answer the door without confrontation.

I think one of the best ways to show you how good Sally is by looking at the photographs, they show that in 1 hour, Bagel, who was scared of other dogs, became calm with Sally's dog and even lay down near him. The photos show the progressions made throughout the hour. By the second session Bagel was comfortable enough to be able to walk closely to Sally's dog.

We feel that whatever task we asked Sally to solve she did. Bagel is now so much better. We still have to work hard with him but we now have the confidence and the skills at our finger tips to hopefully be able to deal with it. I am sure in the future if we needed further work with a dog we would happily go back to Sally but we also know that a lot of the time it is not the dog that needs to learn but us!