A month ago I broke my ankle and needed surgery to fix it. My dogs and I have been staying with my parents and sister since then because I can’t care for myself or my dogs in my current state. I have a 1 year old male beagle who is neutered. I have a 6 month old goldendoodle female who will be spayed next month. My parents have a very anxious great Dane/German shepherd and an Aussie mix. Both are females and spayed.
My beagle has anxiety, but improved greatly when I put him on meds when he was younger.
Anyway, my beagle has started resource guarding and being aggressive since we have begun staying with my parents. He’ll snap if you try to take things from him or gently move him if he’s in the way. He’s never acted like this before. I’ve tried doing the whole trading for a better item thing, but it hasn’t been doing anything.
My house is very quiet and chill, since I live alone. My parents’ place is very chaotic and my sister throws a lot of fits and screams a lot. She also verbally berates all of the dogs and we can’t get her to stop.
I’ll be here for another two or 3 months until my leg is healed enough for me to go home. I know the environment changes have my beagle upset, but I can’t emotionally handle him acting like he has been.
Do y’all have any suggestions for how to get him to stop acting this way? My family doesn’t seem to have the capability of working together for this and my stepfather and sister just won’t treat my pets in the way I treat them. My stepfather is one of those people who still believes in the whole alpha dog bs and can be abusive. I don’t think he’s abused my beagle, but I have been bedridden, so I can’t keep him and my sister in check with their behavior.
I treat my dogs gently and with love and respect. I very rarely raise my voice and I do lots of positive reinforcement. We also had a very strict schedule at my house and we don’t even have a schedule now because of all the changes.
My beagle came from a rough background, and he needs treated in the way I treat him in order to not trigger his anxiety. Loud noises and nearby hostility is incredibly upsetting for him. He NEVER acted like this at our house. He was nothing but the sweetest baby boy.
What should I do? Will this behavior stop when we return home?
Sounds like you already know the issue is your step-dad and sister. He should return to his normal self once he’s back in a less stressful environment, but it might take some time to adjust.
My mom just took him to visit my house when she went to take care of my ducks and cats. Apparently my boi did really good and didn’t give her any trouble. Hopefully him getting out and visiting home will help ease his anxiety a bit. My mom said he had an absolute blast sniffing around the yard lol.
