If you have a Beagle dog breed, you would have at least for once seen him put his hunting instinct to use. Perhaps when you were going on a walk with him one time, you have had to reroute ( Yeah, Beagles could be that annoying once their inquisitive instinct kicks in) because he had picked up a strange scent from the neighborhood and led you to a shocking discovery.
From that very moment, you have been thinking of making him a watchdog but you are not sure if he will do a fantastic job. So you are curious to know whether “Beagles are protective dogs?”. This and some other closely related questions are the focus of this article, so read on.
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Will Beagles protect their owners
Yes, Beagles protect their owners. Beagle breeds may be loyal, affectionate, and friendly to everyone (even strangers) and other types of dog breeds or animals, but that should not be taken for granted.
Beagles are highly intelligent, and can easily sense danger or threat. This can make them a little bit overprotective, most especially when such threat is directed towards their owner or a member of the family, or anyone they spend time with.
When their owner is endangered, their defensive instinct will be triggered and they will do anything possible to prevent their owners from entering into the danger zone.
Most times, they only bark to notify their owners of incoming danger and stand in the way of the assailant to prevent him from getting to his owner. Although in some extreme cases, for example, a situation whereby the assailant is brandishing a weapon, Beagles will feel threatened and charge aggressively by biting the hand holding the weapon.
Are Beagles protective of babies
Yes, Beagles protect babies. Beagles are one of the best dog breeds you can always count on to be around your kids or baby without having to worry about anything.
Apart from making a perfect companion for your baby or kids, they can also be protective of them when they sense that they are in the danger zone.
This is because naturally they are affectionate and cannot just standby and watch while your baby is being attacked. Their protective instinct will always tell them to do something.
Why Beagles are protective dogs
Beagles’ protective instinct is borne out of their natural disposition to be loyal and affectionate. They care for their owner or member of the family just as much as they care for their puppies.
Beagles are a breed that loves pack, and within a pack, there’s always a hierarchy. Perhaps he may start to see any immediate family of his owner as a member of the pack and his owner as of the leader of the pack. So anytime any member of the pack is endangered, his instinct may tell him that it is his responsibility to protect them.
How Beagles sense the danger zone
In general, dogs’ ability to sense a danger zone is a result of their keen sense of smell and hearing. Dogs’ ear is so effective that they can hear up to 60 Hz frequency. Humans can only hear up to 20 Hz.
Although, Beagles don’t have the best ears, what they lack in hearing, they make up for it with a keen sense of smell. What makes this more interesting is that Beagles big ears can reach up to their nose when extended and can also be used to catch scents.
According to findings, it is reported that a Beagle has up to 220 million scent receptors, which makes theirs 44 times higher and better than those found in humans (humans have 5 million receptors).
These qualities make them hypersensitive to pheromones, (a chemical substance secreted by an animal species to influence other animal name species) which are usually not seen by humans. Therefore, they can sense and predict dangers before it happens.
By merely studying the facial expression and the body language of humans, a Beagle can sense the true intentions of a stranger. That is why sometimes your Beagle dog may act strangely around a particular person. He is telling you about the potential threat posed by such a person.
Beagles are not only good at detecting threats posed by humans alone. Beagles can also be deployed by security operatives to help sniff bombs and hard drugs.
What to do if my Beagles are too protective
Well, it depends on the context you are seeing the phrase ” too protective” from. For example, some owners may consider a Beagle dog too protective because beagles bark a lot at strangers. While to some, it may be because he displays aggressive behaviors towards strangers.
If you have a Beagle dog and he barks a lot around strangers, then it will not be fair to say he is being too protective because that is simply him doing what he knows to do best – picking up a scent. When a Beagle dog picks up a new scent, he is likely to react by barking and that’s all about it. However, because Beagles are the most vocalized dog breed, and they are likely to keep barking until your friend lives, you may find this annoying and think they are being too protective.
If that is the situation you find yourself in, then he is not being overly protective. He may be displaying such behavior because you have kept him in isolation for a long time and deprived him of proper socialization.
In this kind of situation, what you need to do is get your beagles socialized.
On the contrary, if your Beagle dog displays aggressive behavior around strangers, for example, he growls or snarls at strangers instead of barking or he stands or holds his ears erect, then this is a Beagle dog exhibiting strange behavior. Therefore, we can say he is being too protective because Beagles breeds are known to be with little or no display of aggression.
If this best describes your situation, like in the case of the second scenario, you should consider any of the options provided below to help control your Beagle dog from being too protective.
- Beagle breed is a breed that like packs, so getting him to get along well with other dog breeds or animal and people will go a long way at helping you curb their protective menace.
- Train him to understand basic commands such as; “Speak”, ” Quiet”, “Go”, ” come”. Doing this will help you to be able to interrupt them anytime you want to.
- You should avoid rewarding any overly protective gestures. Beagles love being rewarded. If you have rewarded any of their aggressive behavior in the past, they are likely to repeat such behavior.
You might be interested to know do beagles kill cats too. We have an in-depth guide for that.
Is Beagle a good family dog
Yes, a Beagle dog is good for the family. Like I said earlier in this article, the Beagle breed is one of the best breeds you can have around your kids and babies. This is because they are very affectionate and sociable, hence they can get along well with any of the family members.
Can Beagles be a guard dog
No, Beagles are not be used as guard dogs. This is because Beagles are very friendly and love to be actively engaged in activities, therefore they can be easily distracted.
Although they can be count on to offer some protection to the family, they cannot make a good guard dog.
Conclusion
Beagles have a protective instinct but cannot be count on for protection like some other breeds like the German Shepherd, consequently, they are seldomly too protective.
Also, before you leave a Beagle dog with your baby or any family member, make sure you have properly socialized him because they are generally aggressive with not socialized.
Curious to know do all beagles have webbed feet or how to stop a beagle from chewing everything?
The unique literary talents of Dr. A. Barton are well known throughout the veterinary profession. He is a regular contributor to the New York City Veterinarian and his professional articles have also appeared in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Journal of Small Animal Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, Cornell Veterinarian and Philadelphia Medicine. He is the only veterinarian ever to have had an article published in the human medical publication, What’s New.
