Lucy the stubborn beagle

We have a 1.5 year old beagle named Lucy. She is the sweetest dog in the whole world. She's cuddly, goofy, and has tons of energy. There are some problems though and I need some advise on how to fix them. Im not sure if she is displaying dominant behaviors or is just showing her beagle.



First off Luce has TONS of energy, and I know we don't exercise her as much as she needs but we are both gone at work all day and exhausted by the time we get home. We play with her as much as we can but walks are just a pain. It seems like no matter what I do to teach her not to she pulls to the point of choking herself going from one smell to the next. Tugging her back and correcting her doesn't even seem to phase her.

We used to take her to my moms house because my mom has no neighbors and Lucy could run off the chain with my moms bigger dog who is very well trained and they would both stay in the pasture. It was great for her to burn off some energy but lately she has started doing there what she does here. She bolts, not like makes a break for it when the door opens although that has happened a few times. its more like letting her off her chain and telling her in which usually works, but instead she makes a break for it. It happens probably 1/5 times. I know a lot of it is energy, but if she has that much energy how many miles does she need walked to burn it. On top of it she doesn't just run off, she bolts and follows every scent she can find for miles. We've had to chase almost 2 miles before catching up to her. Its very scarey. When you get close enough to her she'll go farther, but if you can reach her she rolls over and acts super submissive.

She also has a cuddling issue, she always wants to be in your facelicking you and pushing against you. I know this is dominant behavior,and we try to correct it but its like she doesn't get it or doesn't care.

We are thinking of adopting a Matipoo/pug mix in a few weeks but I heard dogs pick up on eachothers traits and I want to know we can train Lucy before we take on another one.

I would really appreciate tips on exercise too, we live in a very rural area in michigan, so winter excercisetoo please.

Since she is pulling hard enough to choke herself I would walk her on something other than a collar. A no pull harness would be my first choice since the usually require no acclimation like a head halter would. When she pulls you can stop walking forward and start backing up so she must turn towards you and walk towards you. Once she reaches your side you can start walking forward again. This will usually take several times of stopping and starting for her to get it. She'll get excited as soon as you step forward and will run to the end. Eventually she'll realize that she has the power to keep the walk going by keeping the leash loose. You can also add some sort of warning word like "slow" right before she hits the end and you back up. Then later this word can be used as a warning if she is going too fast and she can fix her speed without you having to back up.

During the walk you may also practice self control exercises. If you know she likes to sniff certain tress or telephone poles make sure you can get her to approach them slowly. Walk towards the pole. When she starts to go for it, ask for a sit. Wait until she sits. Once she sits give a release word and let her go for the pole. There should be no pulling, if she does stop moving and wait for another sit. You don't need to do this for every pole (there should be no pulling anytime but you don't have to ask for a sit each time) but a few times per walk would be good to give her some self control and use some life rewards for sitting. Once she gets good at this you can ask for other behaviors she knows how to do.


A lot of dogs like to run away, it's fun out there. Hounds especially like to follow a scent wherever it takes them. In your case though, it sounds like she runs to avoid having to come inside, which is reasonable. She has learned that coming means no more fun time, and she knows running means she can stay out longer. It's an easy decision. So for now, keep her on a long leash so she can run around but can't run away. Practice calling her to you for a treat, and letting her go right back to playing. This makes coming to you rewarding, and teaches her it doesn't mean play time is over. If she doesn't come when you call then you can use the leash to bring her to you. You should be calling her and releasing her WAY more than calling her and taking her in. Remember that being brought in is a punishment, for her it sounds more punishing than getting yelled at or getting collar corrections, so you want coming when called to be followed by positive things far more than by negative things (like being brought in).

Rolling over once she's caught means either she generally gets punished once she gets caught or she can tell you are angry and is fearful of you even if you don't ever punish her once she's caught. For her, knowing you'll be angry when you catch her is just incentive to run faster. Since being loose is SO much fun, and coming in is very not-fun, she thinks the fun is worth it even if she might face your punishment after. If she runs off you want to make sure she thinks getting caught by you is a good thing so don't punish, in fact try to act happy and upbeat. It's hard when you're angry, but she's only going to try and run faster if she knows she has an angry human to look forward to if she's caught.

In any case, until you have her coming every time you cal on a long leash (without her having to be reeled in or reach the end of the leash before coming), I would not let her off of it.


Demanding attention is very common. It is not dominance, she just enjoys cuddling and is trying to get it the way she thinks will work best. Your best course of action in this scenario is to do the opposite of what she wants. When she starts in with the begging behaviors give some sort of warning word "enough" or something like that to let her know this is not the time, and when she continues you should get up and walk away. Do not touch her or make eye contact. Just walk away. She needs to understand that even though pushing and licking is the most logical way to get attention in her mind, it brings about the complete opposite result. Eventually she'll learn that once you say "enough" it's is a waste of time to continue asking for attention. The word does not have to be said angrily, firmly, or loudly. Just say it clearly in a normal voice.

You can also make a word for when you WILL give attention. I personally don't find anything wrong with a dog coming up and looking at you for attention but the dog needs to know sometimes he'll get it and sometimes he won't, and there is nothing he can do about that. So if she comes up and asks for attention in an appropriate way, (what appropriate is is up to you. It could be staring, sitting, etc. But not barking, pawing, licking, etc.) you can give a word or phrase that means she's about to get some attention. When you are done tell her she's a good girl and follow it up with "enough" (this is the reason you should not say this angrily, it is not a punishment, it is simply communication) and then stop giving attention. Again if she pushes after you say enough, get up and walk away.

Make sure you decide whether or not you'll be giving her attention as soon as she asks otherwise she'll push until she gets an answer one way or the other, don't wait until you are getting angry before telling her "enough". Also NEVER break down and give attention after you tell her "enough" unless of course she listens and goes away and then you invite her back a few minutes later with whatever word/phrase you chose to mean she IS getting attention. IN fact inviting her back with this word may be the best way to enforce both cues.


As for exercise, I would definitely get the long leash, at least 50 feet. She can run and fetch without you worrying about her running away. Remember to practice her come command and then release her a lot.
Also, you can play hide and seek games or do nosework. Have someone hide with a toy and encourage her to find them, when they do have them play with her with the toy. Or if it's just you, hide only the toy and have her find that, then you can play with her with it. Or hide food treats.

Nosework is kind of the same except you hide only the scent on a cotton ball of Q-tip. You can use whatever scent you want, but don't use something she'll smell in her day-to-day life. I bought partridge scent at LL Bean for my dog. Teach the dog that when she sniffs the odor she gets a treat, then put the odor in a box, and have a second box with no odor. Reward for sniffing the odor box but not the empty box. Move the boxes around, add more boxes, etc. until she understands she gets rewarded for sniffing the odor. Then you can start hiding the odor in easy places and slowly make them harder and harder as she gets better.
You can always do REAL nosework too, go to the classes and everything. They have their own scents that they use. You can find lots of online info about it.

I also like the idea of using a flirt pole. It's a toy on a rope attached to the end of a pole, like a giant cat toy. The toy gets dragged and the dog chases it. It's good for any dog that likes to chase.

Also remember that mental exercise is very powerful, so daily training sessions are good. Nosework will also work the brain.

That's a lot of helpful information, im really glad to see you don't think she is being dominant at all. That's really good news. She's such a good dog, and if her issues are as simple as you make them sound maybe another puppy is more doable than I thought.

Maxy's post was great.

However, if you are unable to spend enough time walking Lucy and burning off her energy, why would you want to take on another dog???

Our schedules will be changing in a couple weeks to give us both a lot more time at home. And the puppy wont be ready from the shelter for a month, We were hopng to get an idea of the kind of things we need to do with Lucy to see if we could balance a new puppy on top of helping her with some training.

Thankfully it would seem most of her problems stem from the lack of exercise which we can easily remedy, and a new puppy would also help her with that.

Just to add, solving the problems may be simple, but that does not mean it's easy. I think pulling will likely be the hardest thing for you to fix, pulling makes a lot of sense to dogs (want to get somewhere faster, what do you do?...You walk faster. If there is a leash attached to you that translates to pulling). More than that, humans have little patience for having to stop and start over and over. It will more than likely work if you stick to only going forward when there is a loose leash, the trouble is MAKING yourself do this.


Begging for attention shouldn't be too hard if you stick to walking away every time. It's much easier for people to stick to than the walking is. Also, I forget to mention that you may run into an "extinctions burst". These occur whenever you are trying to eliminate (as opposed to redirect) a behavior that previously worked. The dog gets frustrated that his old method is failing so he tries harder. He may either get more persistent at first, or he might try something new like barking, whining, or pawing at you. This is a sign that he's realizing what he was doing doesn't work. Just stick to what you're doing and he'll stop trying to get your attention.

Running away is a serious problem since it's dangerous but is easily prevented with a leash. Even if the come training were to fail there is no reason that you MUST have your dog off leash. I found come to be easy to teach and found my dog listens to it well in most cases (the exceptions being when he sees other dogs or small critters). However every dog is different as far as what commands they listen to best. For come, practice really, really helps. Try to carry treats all the time in a pocket so that you can randomly call her to you during the day for a treat, praise, and release back to whatever she was doing.

I would get to work on the training right away and see if you've made decent progress in a month. I didn't realize you were getting a puppy, I assumed you were getting an adult for some reason. I think puppies are nightmares lol, mine was anyways. I won't say getting a puppy is a horrible idea, your dog's problems are very common and aren't terrible. Lots of dogs beg for attention, pull on the leash, and run away when off leash. I'd say more do than don't. But you don't want to become overwhelmed. So just remember, your puppy WILL bite you, destroy things, go to the bathroom in house, not listen to you, and not have any idea that jumping, pulling, growling, digging, etc. are not okay. So these are just a few of the behaviors you'll have to take the time to prevent/stop/redirect.

And do make sure you have the energy for a puppy. My mother promised me she'd exercise our puppy every day. She lied and he's making her miserable. And we only have one dog. She sounds a lot like you in that she gets home from work ready for a nap, our poor puppy is tired of laying around all day and wants to play. It's a big problem. Maltese, Poodles, and Pugs have varying energy levels so it's hard to say what you'll get in that respect, plus I assume the mix is a guess. I'm sure you know what you're getting into, I just wanted to reiterate so that you can actually enjoy your dogs. So if you do decide to get the pup, ask us lots of questions before and after, starting out right is the best way to prevent behavior problems.

Good luck! Keep us updated

Good luck! You'll definitely want to start fixing Lucy's behavior problems ASAP before the puppy comes, and they're easily fixable problems if YOU have the self control to reinforce training all the time and not give into her demands for attention or pulling on the leash.

The good news is, the puppy and her might help each other get some exercise by wrestling/chasing each other/playing together!