My Red Heeler Can't Be Around My Beagles Without Trying to Kill Them

By Ed Frawley  |  Last modified: January 9, 2023

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I have several hunting beagles and two red heelers working with our cows. One of the red heelers, a female, cannot be around my beagles without trying to kill them.

We keep them separated all the time. The heeler is very loving and obeys my commands, but not when it comes to the beagles. She hates them.

I am considering rehoming her, but she is so good working with our cattle. Do you have any ideas on a solution to our problem?

How long has this been going on? Too often, unless you can micromanage every moment between dogs like this, it is very difficult and sometimes impossible to fix.

We have one old beagle in our house (she is very old). The heeler leaves her alone and she never tried to kill our old dog.

It is the pack that she hates. I don't know if I could get her to be friends with one beagle at a time. I have not really tried that, mainly because just trying it could be dangerous.

Our beagles are noisy. They are a pack and when they bark, she reacts. The heeler is about 4 years old and this has been going on since she became an adult dog.

We take the beagles hunting rabbits. I have often wondered if she is jealous because I spend quite a bit of time with the pack. We go to field trials and the heeler stays home.

I also wanted to ask about your training DVDs. If a person orders the DVD, do they get the streaming as well? If they order the streaming only, how many times can they watch it, and for how long? I am thinking of ordering Ed's streaming video on dog aggression.

The answer to your question about the DVDs, if you order, you get instant access to the streaming version. You can watch the stream as many times as you want forever. You will have unlimited access.

The dynamics of a dog pack that have history of eliciting an aggressive response is not going to be something we would try to work through.

Like you said, trying to incorporate the heeler, even one at a time, would be too dangerous. My guess is that it would be a huge task and one that will still require you to keep them separated when you can't focus 100% of your attention on them.

Cindy, I love the way you respond. You are practical minded with lots of common sense. So thank you. I will see about ordering the streaming training video.

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About Author

Ed Frawley

Ed Frawley is the founder and owner of Leerburg.com and has been producing professional dog training videos since 1982. Over the years, he has collaborated with some of the most respected dog trainers in the country. His body of work includes 194 full-length training DVDs and 95 comprehensive online courses. In addition to these, he has produced and published over 4,000 short training videos available free of charge on Leerburg.com and across the company's social media platforms.

Ed and his wife, Cindy—also a professional dog trainer—bred working-line German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois for more than 35 years. Although they retired from breeding in 2009, they had produced over 300 litters by that time.

Ed also served as a K9 handler for the local sheriff's department for 10 years, working in partnership with the West Central Drug Task Force. During his time in law enforcement, he handled multiple narcotics and patrol dogs and conducted more than 1,000 K9 searches. If you want to learn more about Ed, read about his history here.

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