I have a beagle who interferes with our dinners every night. He literally jumps on the table and takes our food. I’ve tried to crate train him and all he does is howl non-stop. We’ve tried putting him outside when we eat, but he howls so much we’re afraid the neighbors might get mad. He has seperation anxiety and takes alprazolam but it doesn’t work to well. He chews on every thing also. I read that muzzles are good for chewing and barking. Has anyone ever used them before?
No, muzzles are not good for training.
What this dog needs is actual obedience training. This dog is out of control. Get a rehabilitative trainer to help with this dog.
This is what happens when dogs are left to their own devices instead of being properly trained when young. Training is not just for the dog. It is to teach the OWNERS how to train the dog. Training does NOT stop when the classes do. Training is a lifelong process. Once this dog gets properly trained, the Alprazolam will probably be unnecessary. The dog is stressed BECAUSE he is untrained and undirected.
Muzzles are not training tools. You are just blocking the ability to chew. The dog can still howl and bark. Plus they are uncomfortable.
Try feeding the dog at the same time as you eat (with his mouth full, he can’t howl or bark). And feed in a different room.
To keep him from wolfing down his food, put a ball in the center, so he has to eat around it, which will make him take more time to eat.
Ignore him when he comes to beg, and don’t make any eye contact.
Also get him some chew toys to occupy his mouth. A really good, and long lasting toy is a kong, with peanut butter inside, that you freeze.
Beagles will howl. That’s the breed. If you can teach him “speak” or “howl” on command, I’m sure he knows the word “no”, so you can teach him “no speak” or “no howl”.
I hope this helps.
Good luck
I also have a beagle.What we do when we eat in front of my one, is every time she attempts to get our food is to just block it. Make it so she can’t get it. It may sound a little harsh, but we don’t push her, just stop her getting to our food. However, we normally just put her outside it’s easier for us, and we let her straight back inside after we’ve done so it’s not too bad.
With crate training you need to ignore the howling. Really. And when you are about to let him out make sure he’s quiet. I think that it would be worth trying the crate again before resorting to a muzzle.
I have a Jack Russell terrier and the muzzle didn’t help.
exercise him, a tired dog is a good dog. walk for an hour everyday at least, if he still has plenty of energy, let him carry a doggy bagpack with say his water bottle inside. if you’ve exercised him sufficiently, by providing him with safe chews (note rawhide is not safe! the risk of them swallowing chunks of it is very high!), he should be sufficiently distracted during your meals.
one thing you can do is to buy a few Kongs. measure out his daily portion of kibbles and stuff the kongs in this manner. a very smelly and tasty treat goes in first ( you can use liver or anything that he likes), then you pour in the kibble and seal the kong with low fat peanut butter or yogurt then put it into your freezer. do the same until his daily portion of kibbles is used up.
offer him the kong and now he has to work for his meal, this will help to work out excess energy, exercise him mentally and should curb his need to chew.
if he is suffiently worked out mentally and physically, excess barking/howling won’t be a problem anymore.
as for the jumping on the table part, walk him right before your meal. get your family to sit down at the table with the food when you’re back. with him still on the leash, bring him to next to the table and made him sit. if he is calm, reward him with a lot of high pitched praise, if he starts to jump, stop him in mid jump and ask him to sit again.
once he can sit reliably and calmly next to your table even if there’s food on it, dont leash him and practise frequently.
remember, exercise is your best bet, providing outlets for his energy would be much better than him finding ways to express all the energy himself by chewing and barking.
A muzzle is not what’s called for in this situation. I dislike muzzles in general, and think that they should not be used at all without proper advice of a professional.
What this situation calls for is for you to step up and lead. Your dog is not respecting your position as leader, and you’re letting him get away with it. First, you need to work on basic obedience – And get them solid. Next, you need to *enforce* obedience – There are any number of books and websites that can show you how. And finally (perhaps most useful for you at this time), you need to NOT let him manipulate you into letting him out of the crate – That’s what he’s doing when he howls, and he’s training YOU.
Crate training should go like this:
Feed your dog in his crate – Always. With the gate closed.
Introduce new toys in his crate.
Make a game of flipping toys into his crate, and have him fetch them out to you.
Also flip high-value treats into his crate at random, during the time he’s out of it.
If it’s a wire crate, cover the crate in towels or a blanket to make it more den-like.
The crate should be a place of quiet refuge and comfort to your dog, not a punishment. If he makes a fuss, gently correct him, and let him learn to settle himself. Some fussing is inevitiable, but he needs to learn that it won’t get him what he’s looking for. I teach my children that “the dog in the crate is invisible/inaudible.”
So, to summarize:
You need to do some study on training measures.
You need to lead.
You need to train the dog.
You need to not tollerate misbehavior.
A muzzle is not necessary.