My freaky, lunging, barking beagle

printchick — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 13:36:45 -0800

How to keep my dog from freaking out and barking and lunging at other dogs when we go on walks? We adopted our beagle mix, Harvey, from the city shelter about a year ago. He's about 4-5 years old now. He's a great dog, great around strangers, have to watch him a bit around little kids, very easygoing. He is our only pet. We take him on walks in the morning and in the evening, and when we do, we have to always keep an eye out for other dogs because he simply FREAKS OUT when he sees them. Barks, lunges towards them, whines, etc. Most of the time, the other dogs don't respond.

We've tried to ignore it, tried to correct him by saying "no," simply try avoiding other dogs by crossing the street or lingering behind cars so he doesn't see them walking.

We've had a friend's dog visit and they're usually pretty good together, as long as they're outside. We've tried taking him to the dog park but he can get pretty agressive with those dogs there, too.

It's becoming a huge embarrassment, and I end up trying to reason with him: "Harv, those 100 pound dogs can easily bite you in half, and THEY aren't barking at you." Yeah, so now I'm trying to reason with the guy. Do I just have a little Napoleon on my hands? Is he just "protecting" us? How can I get him to chill?

Goldfish Bully

duck — Wed, 20 Apr 2005 09:37:04 -0800

How do I keep one goldfish from terrorizing another? I have two goldfish in a 5 gallon aquarium. They were the same size when I got them, but now one is bigger than the other. The big one bullies the little one. The big one will follow the little one around and push him and peck at him for hours a time. The little one is missing scales (and sometimes there are scales floating in the water) and at times appears to be injured. The big one will trap him up against a rock and just peck at him until I tap on the glass and scare them both. This gives the little one a few minutes reprieve, but he's at it again soon enough.

I've tried throwing some food to distract the big one, but he doesn't even notice the food and also I don't want to condition them (are they smart enough to be conditioned?) that bullying the little one will get him fed.

I know that "stay out of it" would normally be the answer,and I would be happy to do that if the little one weren't being injured.

The water is clean and filtered. They're fed regularly and well treated.

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My freaky, lunging, barking beagle

Goldfish Bully