How do I know if my Beagle is sad

Why do beagles always look Sad and Depressed?

Owners often get confused by the sad look on their beagles. My neighbor, who recently adopted a beagle, told me that she thinks her beagle is sad. Well, in reality, her beagle is the happiest pooch I have ever seen. So why do beagles always look sad?

Beagles look sad because of their sagging face and drooping ears and lips. Their flopping eyelids and soulful eyes contribute to their sad appearance too. This is more common in healthy beagles. Thats why even after being a happy and joyous dog, beagles can look sad by their appearance.

Its in their DNA

Their long droopy ears and sagging face actually has a purpose to serve. Beagles were bred to be hunting companions. With their super-powerful nose, beagles would track down the scent trail left by an animal, chase it and tired it down, until their owner takes the shot.

While tracking the scent on the ground, their droopy ears would help stir the scent up towards their nose. Their loss and sagging face also contributed to trapping the scent and giving them better tracking skills.

Their droopy ears serve one more purpose. They minimize interfering sounds, allowing them to concentrate better on following the scent.

Its Human Perception

Its not that beagles look sad, its our perception that makes them look sad. We tend to project human emotions on every being. We analyze faces based on human reactions and emotions that we have grown up seeing. We have a perception that if someone has a sagging face, he is sad. And thats why dog breeds like beagles and basset hounds who have sagging faces look sad to us even if they are not.

Things got a little more philosophical there, but I hope you get the idea.

Check if your beagle is really sad

Humans are not the only one who gets depressed. Dogs get sad and depressed too.Unfortunate events, loneliness, physical illness are some reasons that can make your beagle depressed. Lets look into a few signs to check if your pooch is really sad and depressed.

NOTE: This website does not constitute any pet medical advice, kindly consult a licensed veterinarian for pet medical advice.

Sudden Change in Behavior

If your happy and playful beagles behavior suddenly changes, then this could be a sign of concern. However, some health concerns like upset stomach and gas can also be the reason for the sudden change in his mood.

Study your poochs behavior for a couple of days. Look for other signs of depressions before concluding.

Change in Appetite

A depressed beagle can either refuse to eat his food or start overeating.

Change in sleeping habits

Depressed and sad beagle may start sleeping more. A drastic change in the sleeping schedule can be a sign of depression in beagles.

Inactivity

Depression can make a beagle inactive. Activity once enjoyed, would no longer excite him. He may lose interest in playing or even going out for walks.

Hiding

Beagle suffering from depression might prefer to be alone and odd-man-out himself. He may start hiding from family members. Beagles are pack animals, and they dont do well alone. So if suddenly a beagle stops interacting with the family is never a good sign.

True Story: One of our subscribe mailed me this few months back and I think you need to hear this My beagle Poochy who just turned 6 years, suffered from depression. Last year we lost Moon, our 10-year-old Labrador. And this was really hard for all of us. Poochy didnt react much for the first couple of days. But on the third day, we noticed that she didnt eat her food. She would spend most of her time sleeping or just lying around awake. She would not play or go outside and just stare at the Moons bed all day long.

Things that can make Beagles Sad and Depressed

Depression usually doesnt happen without reason in dogs. Lets look into some causes of depression.

Illness

A physical illness that is causing your beagle pain can be a cause of making him sad. If you notice any sign of depression in your pooch, the first thing to do is to rule out any chances of physical illness. Take your beagle to the vet immediately and have him checked. If you see any sign of illness but you are not sure, then you can chat live with professional vets too on JustAnswer.

Grief

Beagles get attach to the family members easily. They are capable of understanding the absence of their loved ones. A beagle may get sad and depressed if his loved one moves out of the house.

Beagles have high social skills. They get along with almost every animal. A beagle will grief if one of his dog friends passes away. Losing someone close is often the cause of depression in beagles.

Fear or Trauma

If the beagle recently had some traumatizing situation, than this can make him sad and depressed too.

He may also have some fear or phobia of something. Different dogs react differently to their fear. Some dogs may bark, while others may not show any signs at all.

You

You, yes, you heard it right. You can be the reason why your beagle is depressed and sad. Beagles are very attached to their owners. They can sense how their owner is feeling and pick it up. If you are sad, low in energy, or sick, your beagle can feel it and somewhat start feeling something similar.

What to do to make your Beagle Happy

If you think that something is bothering your pooch, then you need to do something to make his life fun again. After you have consulted your vet and sure that your beagle doesnt have any health concerns, you need to bring his life back on track.

• You will definitely need to start spending more time with your beagle.
• Start by exercising him. Start going on walks.Find new ways to exercise your beagle.
• You need to stay motivated even if your dog is not in the mood.
• If you have time and resources, then introduce a new dog in your family to cheer your beagle. If not, then take him on playdates with other dogs. Consider visiting dog cares regularly.
• Get some new and more tasty treats to motivate your pooch. If he shows any sign of excitement, then maybe teach a few tricks.
• Try not to comfort or cuddle your dog while he is still sad. This may just reinforce the behavior. Instead, they portray motivation and happiness.
• If these things do not help, then consult your vet. Medications can be the last resort.

Final Thoughts

If your beagle is playful and happy by heart but just looks sad, then I dont think there is anything to worry about. They just have a puppy face for their entire life. Oh wait, this is something to worry about: Do not meltdown by their puppy face and give away all the food and treats.

Beagle Barking, Baying & Howling Causes and Solutions

Do you struggle with your Beagles barking, baying and howling and feel the intense frustration of being unable to stop it? Find out if you are making of these mistakes and what to do instead.

Beagles have a big voice for their size. Granted. The name Beagle is thought to have derived from the French begueule or open throat and probably there was a good reason for this theory. Beagles do know how to bay, bark and howl.

They have three distinctive styles of vocalization:

1. Barking when they are alerted or want something;
2. Baying when hunting to let their master and pack know that they have found something and;
3. Howling when they are sad or bored

This is closely connected to the first three mistakes that we will be analyzing in this first part:

MISTAKE 1 Expecting your Beagle never to bark

It is true that every dog, from working dogs and herding dogs to hunting dogs (like your Beagle) were originally bred to bark and produce some kind of noise. Therefore, expecting your Beagle to be mute is quite unrealistic. It can also be dangerous because dogs bark as a way of communicating with you and you wouldnt want them to remain quiet in the presence of a threat.

What should you do instead? Learn how to minimize the barking when necessary.

Learn How To Stop Your Beagles Barking For Good

MISTAKE 2 Not understanding the reasons for their barking

Beagles usually have a good reason for barking, even if you may not see it that way (and lets not even mention the neighbors). Barking is, after all, one of their ways of communicating with other animals and with you.

Lets have a look at the most frequent ones:

1. Boredom or loneliness one of the most frequent reasons for Beagles to bark or howl. A deadly mistake is leaving your Beagle unsupervised outside in the garden. You will only drive your neighbors crazy and they might end up calling the police or letting your Beagle out.
2. Hunger Are you running late with your Beagles dinner today? They might just be letting you know and remember how important food is for a Beagle.
3. A warning Are they trying to alert you of some strange circumstance?
4. Anxiety Have you trained your Beagle to be content when you are not home and to know that you will come back? Does your Beagle have everything they need during your absence? Beagles, in general, dont lie to be left alone at home and may suffer fromseparation anxietyso if this is the reason for your Beagles barking, proper training definitely helps.
5. A need to go out Is your dog trying to let you know that you have done a fantastic job at housebreaking them so they need to go out?
6. Attention Is your Beagle seeking your attention? The trick here is to find the right response that doesnt reinforce the exact behavior you want to avoid.
7. Fear Is your Beagle alarmed by an unfamiliar situation and barks out of confusion?
8. Communication with other dogs Is your beagle saying hi to another dog? Is it aggressive barking that needs to be addressed with proper training?
9. Playfulness Is your Beagle barking to show their excitement?

Once you understand the reason why your Beagle is barking, you can decide if there is a good reason or not on case-to-case basis. If there is in fact a good reason, there is no need to get upset or punish your dog, while under other circumstances you need to train your Beagle that barking is not allowed for the sole sake of barking.

MISTAKE 3 Not acting as the alpha leader

Beagles are pack dogs that need a strong alpha leader to feel safe. If you are not acting and communicating with your Beagle consistently as the alpha leader in your household, your Beagle gets confused and assumes that they should be that leader and they should be protecting the pack.

If you havent got your free report on how to become the alpha dog and solve your Beagles behavioral problems, go here.

One of the best ways of showing your leadership is to remain consistent with your commands and do command training, which by itself can frequently be enough for your Beagle to stop barking.

MISTAKE 4 Creating the wrong connection in your Beagles brain

If your Beagle barks a form of manipulation (to get treats, for example) and you give in just to stop the barking, you are reinforcing the connection barking = getting what I want.

Instead of rewarding the wrong behavior, start rewarding only good behavior. Teach your Beagle a stop command and reward them when they stop barking with a treat.

For the ultimate training guide to solve your dogs barking for good Click Here

MISTAKE 5 Not providing enough exercise

Since boredom is very often a reason for their barking, make sure your Beagle is getting plenty of exercise, which helps also with their training.

MISTAKE 6 Yelling no and expecting your Beagle to stop barking

Yelling doesnt help because your dog either gets confused and barks out of the frustration of not understanding whats going on (remember that dogs dont understand human language) or misinterprets your yelling as you barking along and starts to bark even more.

MISTAKE 7 Providing loving attention when your Beagle barks

If you do, you will only increase the anxiety or fear that caused the barking in the first place because you are sending the message that they were right in barking at whatever they started to bark.

It is much more effective to resort to training by teaching your Beagle simple commands that include speak and be quiet, giving you more control and shifting your dogs attention from whatever caused the barking in the first place to you.

If you want more advice on stopping your dogs barking for good, Click Here