Beagle Biting

Question
I have an eight month old male beagle who has been de-sexed as he showed some aggression when he was small. We bought him from a pet shop as a puppy and we are first time dog owners. We feed him the best pet food and take him to dog training once a week and he is very responsive to training. He has passed his bronze award just recently. Trouble is he appears to have lost it. The biting doesn't break the skin, but leaves bruises and scratches. He grabs your whole arm or whatever in his jaw and holds or he snaps and snaps and snaps with lots of agression. This has built up from just doing this once in a while especially when we try to get him off the settee, he goes berserk snapping and biting, to this week he has gone off it every time we have tried to stop him doing something he wants but we don't want him to do. The vet said in the early days he probably needs tranqualisers or putting down if we can't manage his behaviour. Should we put up with this agression which is getting worse, he can be so soft and loving but just changes when he can't get his own way?

Answer
Hello Diane!
I'm going to be frank about what the Vet said. My father is a Veterinarian and he never said anything like that to a customer, he tried everything he could do to tame the animal. Vets usually say that for two reasons. One, to not actually have to deal with the animal. Two, to find another expensive way to get you money. You beagle is quite young if he is teething then he is going to bite anything and everything with his jaw, and he is going to be aggressive because of the pain. Give him some ice cubes when he starts to get aggressive. Buy him some squeaky toys and rawhide bones, so he will be intent with that. It is not unusual for a beagle to teeth at that age, epically with his back teeth. The pain when a dogs experiences teething they can't tell you that they are in pain so they lash out with aggression. If he has passed bronze in training classes he understand what he is doing. So its not that he is doing it out of pure hatred or aggression. If he doesn't break the skin, then it could be that he is just playing roughly. There is always a fine line between playing and hurting. What may be a hurtful thing to you might be the highlight of his day with playing with you. If he was breaking the skin to where you had to get stitches multiple times I could maybe see being put down and that is a stretch, because at that young of a age they still don't know what they are doing. So check with you vet or even your train to feel around and see if he is teething. Good luck and if you need anything else don't hesitate to ask! I hope for the best!