Parmelee Beagles

Bad Puppy!!!!

They look so sweet and innocent but then those little bundles of joy sure can get into trouble and quick!  There are some things that we never dreamed our little darlings would do, but nevertheless, they did....


Digging

So you spent all that time last fall planting your spring bulbs and your darling puppy or dog has come along and dug them up for you. Sigh..... Not only is this annoying but it can also be dangerous if your little monster decides to dig next to a fence and then makes an escape! What to do.... If your little one is digging to escape, you may want to bury chicken wire or cement blocks along the edge of the fence to keep them from finding freedom. If your little one likes to dig up plants, something that worked for one friend was to create a spot where they can dig, teach them the word dig when they are doing it, and then teach them a release word to stop digging. It really did work for her, too a lot of patience though!


Eating Poop

It’s disgusting, but some of them will just do this.  And its not just their own poop or other dog poop, kitty crunchies are considered a delicacy with some dogs.  The worst part is that then they want to give you a kiss.  YUCK!!!!!!  There is a medical term for this behavior, coprophagia, much easier to say “eating poop”.  Why do dogs and puppies do this?  Nobody seems to really know for sure, in some instances the dog or puppy may not be getting some nutritional bit they need, in some cases the poop may contain some bit of food that did not digest and still smells like its what went in, in some cases maybe they are not getting enough food, and in some cases they just like it.  Once you know that your puppy/dog is getting enough food and is getting enough of the right supplements, you get down to the ickier part that they just might like it.  What to do to make your little bundle of love kissable again?!  In the case of kitty crunchies, the best solution is to find a new location for your litter box where your puppy/dog just can’t get into it anymore.  You still may have the occasional find in the backyard or out on walks (Astro was the king of finding kitty crunchies out on a walk!), but removing the main temptation should help some at least.  The absolute best solution is to pick up as soon as one of the critters does poop, this is not always possible if your critters have easy access to the backyard and some times you just can’t get to it quickly enough.  There are products you can buy to mix in with food that are supposed to make the poop less tasteful, some work, some work for a while, some don’t work at all.  If you can break the habit, you may get lucky and the behavior stops.  Some dogs will still go after the poop no matter what you do!  In those cases you are back to the tried and true pick-up-the-poop-as-quickly-as-you-can method.  We’d love to hear of any solutions for this that others have found.


Rolling in Stinky Stuff

This is more common in hunting breeds, especially those that hunt by scent.  All of our beagles have done this at various times, it is a natural instinct for hiding their own scent for hunting.  Sometimes you can stop them as you see them starting to lower the shoulder and you can just tell what they are about to do.  Sometimes you luck out and they miss the intended stinky object during the roll.  Other times, who knows what they think they are rolling in, but luckily it really isn’t smelly to hoomins at all.  And then there are the really stinky things that also happen to be really messy... deer poop, bird poop, carcasses, the more disgusting the better they think it is.  We’ve been tortured a number of times by this behavior and unless you can stop them before they do it, the only solution is to first, stop laughing/crying/yelling at the very-proud-of-themselves-look your little pride and joy gets on their face right after a particularly nasty roll and then get them to a bath ASAP!  Be aware that the bath may take a few washings if the item was particularly icky!


Stealing Dirty Laundry

Astro did this more than any of our other beagles, but the other beagles have also been known to swipe an item or two...  This can get embarrassing when they decide to steal your underwear and socks and decorate the backyard with your wardrobe or bring said item out to an arriving house guest.  Astro always thought it was great fun to grab kitchen towels, wash clothes, anything he could and get us to play tag with him.  He would especially like to do this if we were taking too long in getting to his morning walk. All of our other beagles have done this to some extent, but not as much as Astro did.  This is when commands like Drop and Give and Leave It can come in handy.  Our solution to this problem is to use tall laundry baskets or bags that can’t be knocked over and if we leave any thing on the laundry room floor, make sure the door gets closed! The other very important lesson is to not leave any dirty laundry out where the puppers can get it. Clean laundry seems to be much safer than dirty laundry, ours just like to roll on items that have just come out of the dryer.


Raiding!

This has happened to beagle friends of ours as well as to us, sometimes its hard to not laugh at the amazing feats performed. I’m sure it happens with many breeds, beagles just seem to be really good at it! You pulled that lovely steak/chicken/hamburger out of the freezer and left it on the counter to to come to room temperature and are just getting ready to cook it or just pulled it off the grill or stove and had to turn to do something for just a second... You turn back and the item that was supposed to be YOUR dinner has magically disappeared! And who is standing their wagging their tail and looking quite pleased with themselves? Sometimes man’s best friend is really man’s best thief!  eagles are not very tall, however we have heard of and seen some amazing feats when it comes to snagging food. Some snags have been major scores but we’ve also heard of some beagles eating dried pasta, cereal, bird seed, rice and other things you would never guess a dog might ear. Astro at 14 and with two bad back legs was caught hopping against the edge of the counter where he had managed to grab the edge of foil a roast was sitting on and was getting the roast closer and closer to the edge with each hop... Sadly for him he was caught in the act and dinner was saved. Maya apparently could no longer resist one of those take and bake style pizzas we were bringing home from Costco with a bunch of other things and managed to get the box open in the back of the car and had a good time!  Piper has leapt to the top of the dining table to get a piece of jerky, she didn’t use a chair or anything, just a straight leap up. She also got up to the ktichen island, while pregnant, and stole a t-bone steak. Mocha leapt from our bed to a dresser, about 4 feet, grabbed a prescription bottle, chewed it open and managed to eat some of the contents. He was rewarded with Hydrogen Peroxide down his throat until he urped it all up. Even little Shelby has had some good gets! Beagles are also notorious for grabbing a piece of food from an unsuspecting hand that rests just a little too low for a moment too long. Some of our beagle buddies have used dish towels looped around refrigerator handles to pull open the fridge door and help themselves to a small feast. One notorious buddy (Mikey, we miss your stories!) could open the fridge no matter what and his hoomins had to bungie chord their refrigerator door shut at all times. Solutions for the raiders (how far you go depends on the temerity of your raider) - keep food on counters back at least 6 inches, or at least 6 inches further than noses can reach, the further back the better; get a bottom freezer refrigerator; always put groceries or extremely-delectable-to-the-dog-food in a trunk or where your dog can’t get to it in the car; always keep chairs pushed under the table so they can’t be used as launch pads to tables tops and counter tops; install baby latches on pantry doors; don’t leave food in a bag or purse that is sitting on the floor; never leave a table with food on it unguarded, not even for a second!