beagle to beagle behavior help

Question
Hi. I have a 1 1/2 year old male beagle living in the house. I got a 6 month female beagle for him for companionship but he wants to play and maul her 24 hours a day. Do you have any suggestions on how to get them to settle down and live together without having a constant chasing/wrestling match? Thank you.

Answer
Hi Casey,

You have two normal active dogs, it's not unusual that they should play as much as they do.

Increasing the amount of exercise your dogs get is the first step in keeping their energy level under control. This means you need to walk or run, or have them chase a ball, etc for at least 30-50 minutes twice a day if possible. Letting the dogs out in a fenced yard doesn't count.

The next step is to actually train your dogs to settle down on command. You can read about that process here:

http://dogtime.com/dog-training-settle-down-dunbar.html

http://www.grcco.org/teaching_your_dog_to_settle.htm

Enrolling in a dog dog obedience class is another really good way for your dogs to learn basic commands.

Best of luck,
Patti