Adopting a beagle / Dotson puppy and concerned about interaction with my chickens

most of what Milan spouts is basic common sense - proper exercise, good diet and expectation of basic well-mannered behavior from your dogs. The "theory" behind his methods, however, are complete BS. Not everything (or even most things) that your dog will do are going to be about dominance. There is no need to "exert authority" or "claim space" or to view your training with that type of "us vs the dog" mentality.
Be calm, expect good behavior, TEACH the dog what you want by rewarding for good and, once the behavior is learned, consequences for not obeying. However, you can't punish a dog for not doing something until you are certain that he knows what you expect. That takes positive training and reward.
And a bright happy voice when talking to your dog is ALWAYS a good thing.

dainerra said:

most of what Milan spouts is basic common sense - proper exercise, good diet and expectation of basic well-mannered behavior from your dogs.    The "theory" behind his methods, however, are complete BS.     Not everything (or even most things) that your dog will do are going to be about dominance.   There is no need to "exert authority" or "claim space" or to view your training with that type of "us vs the dog" mentality.   
Be calm, expect good behavior, TEACH the dog what you want by rewarding for good and, once the behavior is learned, consequences for not obeying.  However, you can't punish a dog for not doing something until you are certain that he knows what you expect.   That takes positive training and reward.  

And a bright happy voice when talking to your dog is ALWAYS a good thing.   

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I actually do agree with you and mostly train that way but all I know is when I changed, he all of a sudden listened. Now I don't know if that was from the space thing or just because my attitude changed and he sensed that but it seemed to work.

That said, he's a very sensitive dog so I don't think he should need much, if any, corrections.

And I'm not really sure if claiming space was the right term, I wasn't really necessarily thinking of that, I just kind of made him back up and wait. But I guess it doesn't really need fixing cause he stands perfectly calm and waits to be hooked up. Though he has started this new thing where he tries to sneak past us or like put his paws out before he's fully hooked up so I should maybe fix that. I don't know, whether I call it claiming space or just teaching a better wait, I don't really like him crowding the door or stepping out before he's hooked up anyway (and sometimes he tries to fully go out) because if there was something out there he could bolt.

I'm not out there trying to claim every single thing, just made him not crowd the door.

But I do agree with you and I think I'll maybe do mostly positive/balanced training but with the addition of the calmness. Maybe the space bit isn't necessary, I don't know. But the energy/attitude change I think maybe made the biggest difference?

Once again came the first time.