Beagle Rescue NSW

I work with beagle rescue and occasionally we get a beagle that is surrendered for biting. Most times it can be food aggression or fear biting which we can work with but sometimes there does not seem to be a trigger. We have been very lucky to have the help of Marcia Davey help out but as some of you know she is out of action due to a work accident. We have just had a 20 month old beagle named Ollie surrendered for allegedly knocking down & biting (on the face) the 6 year old daughter of the family. According to the wife it was totally unprovoked - the daughter was just walking past him & she has never shown fear or done anything to aggravate the dog. The husband said it was only a scatch but he wasn't there when it happened. There were a couple of other minor incidents as well & apparently he also shows "dominance" over their other beagle, his litter brother. He was actually taken to their vet to be PTS! Fortunately the husband stepped in & Ollie went into boarding kennels which is where we picked him up. Ollie has been in foster care for a few weeks with a beagle breeder who has several beagles & Ollie has shown no sign of aggression. The breeder's granddaughter who is 5 years has handled Ollie & there have been no incidents. While all seems to be going well I am reluctant to place him without knowing what causes these incidents. Being in a pack situation is different to being in a private home where the family is the pack. I am reluctant to place Ollie until we know what his problem is. When we have known what causes the aggression we work with reprogramming the dog and then add a disclosure to the adoption agreement so the new owners are aware of what might trigger a relapse. Fortunately there have only been a couple as this is not generally very beagle-like behaviour. Does anyone have any idea what we can do to test him out. None of our carers are behavioral experts although most are very experienced beagle owners. Ollie is in care at East Kurrajong. Would appreciate any help Thanks Gwenda

Hi Thanks - that would be good but I really don't want anything too "in depth". As I said most of my carers are very kind hearted dog lovers rather than professionals so I just want to give them a check list that they can use and understand. Maybe things like - strangers approaching the dog - testing aggression with food - socialising with other dogs Most beagles have a very easy going temperament but any dog can be a problem if it hasn't been treated well or not given any guidance. If you think you can help then I would be very grateful Cheers Gwenda

Hi I would be interested in knowing when you will be in Sydney again. As you know I did send aroung 6 or so people off to the Underdog Training when it was in Sydney in 2009. Since then 4 of them finished up adopting one of their foster beagles which took them out of the foster pool (they were limited in how many dogs they can keep). So only 2 of the present carers have done the course. Another problem is how wide-spread the carers are - Sydney, Newcastle & Canberra so one can't temp test for the omes that haven't done the course. If we were in Vic I would be more than happy to send them along to do the Underdog Training but we have to depend on them coming up here once a year. If new people do come on board (fingers crossed) I do need to give them some sort of Guidelines to get them through until we can get them trained. So what I was really looking for was a basic check list that a lay person could use to temp test their charge until they can do the course. I do try & keep any real problem "children" for the more experienced carers but sometimes owners are less that honest when they surrender their dogs and if they come out of a pound its hard to know their real personality as in a lot of cases thay are subdued from being in there in the first place. I hope that all makes sense Gwenda

Hi I am not sure if this is the right forum to ask this but hopefully it is. I am the Rescue Co-ordinator for Beagle Rescue NSW and I am hoping someone might be able to point me to a basic temperament test that our foster carers can do to test the beagles that come into care as I am putting together some guidelines forthem. Beagles generally are an easy going breed but you do get the odd one that can be a fear biter or food aggressive and this doesn't always become apparent unless placed in the situation that brings it out Our foster carers are all dog lovers and owners but are not professional or necessarily experienced dog handlers and while they do a wonderful job I would really like to give them some guidelines on what to look for. I know the RSPCA does a test which is not infallible but it is better than not testing so would appreciate it if anyone could help out with some iIt would be nice if we had a professional who could do it for us but our carers are spread around NSW so this may not be practical. I look forward to any help you might be able to offer Cheers Gwenda