Vicious beagle

Question
We have a beagle that we found last Aug.  He is about 1 year old
or a little older.  We decided to keep him because he is so sweet
and cute.  But, he can turn in to Dr. Jeckyl and attacks.  He about
took my husbands finger off New Years Eve.  Since then we have
been working with him and we thought that we had him pretty
trained and under control.  Twice in the past month he has
attacked our other dog and he is vicious and doesn't quit.  
Tonight he attacked me and we just got back from the ER.  He
just kept attacking, my leg, my arm, my hand and my chest.  He
finally quit and was hiding under the chair as I was yelling at
him.  He growled from under the chair and when my husband
called to him to go outside, he went.  It's like he finally calms
down and knows he is bad, but this is dangerous.  We really love
him and he is fine most of the time, but we never know what is
going to trigger him.   We have cried tonight at the thought of
having to put him to sleep.  Everyone is surprised, expecially
because he is a beagle.  DO you have any advice, or have you
ever heard of one being this way before.  

Please advise, Thanks

Answer
Lynn, the first thing I would do is have a veterinarian do some tests to determine whether he may have a chemical or hormonal imbalance that may be causing his outbursts of aggression. What you're describing sounds very much like "Rage Syndrome." This is a neurological problem which causes the typical "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" problems. The following web site explains a little bit about rage syndrome if you'd like to read it:

http://www.pawprints.f9.co.uk/padstext/archives10.htm

Please, have a vet check him out to determine if he DOES have some kind of chemical imbalance or neurological problem. Then, you can go from there based on what the vet tells you.

Good luck, and please let me know if there's anything else I can help you with!

Kristen