Beagle goes wild when I try to approach him after he is comfortable or lying down. What can I do to train or snap him out of this behavior?

I’m familiar with the expression ‘let sleeping dogs lie’ but I just want to know why my dog gets so crazy when I approach him.

He’s a 2 year old Beagle and I’ve personally never even seen this particular behavior in any dog, to this extent.

My old Beagle and my sister’s current were/are perfectly fine with being moved, pet, touched while they are half-asleep or even asleep, but if my current Beagle is lying down and approached within 6 feet or closer he has the potential of going from 0-100 really quick.

We think it could be a leaner behavior from before we got him at 8 weeks as he was runt if the litter and I hope we want abused but he goes ballistic when ballistic sometimes. As a puppy he was ok with being pet while sleeping but it grew more and more aggressive over time with as a puppy he would growl/bark and snap.

Sometimes it’s just a small, short growl as warning. Then it repeats if you stay at a distance. If you move your hand closer he will growl with more intensity and may bark.

Other times he can be laying down but awake, and go from quiet to ballistic if he interprets he is being approached and this will set him of to go wild and he will start howling, barking as loud as possible as if I’m a stranger he’s never seen before. He will snap and try to bite me sometimes. He’s just fine and then if he flips into this mode where he will bite and luckily it’s never been physically hurtful just warning snaps. Sometimes after he growls he just whines continuously until I move away.

Sometimes he will lay on top of me or someone else and get comfortable but if we move after a while like at all, like if we need to get up, he will growl and snap.

Is this because he is in pain and we are hurting him or he maybe be hurt in some way and he thinks we will cause him pain by touching him? Is he just anxious, or is being extremely territorial? Scared, nervous?

Sometimes he’ll be in the closet which he likes to sleep and if i walk in he will bark as loud and as much as he can for me to get away. I mean I’ve heard the expression, but this just seems out of proportion to me.

Please help me train myself to better deal with this.

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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/efsz4d/beagle_goes_wild_when_i_try_to_approach_him_after/