Obviously I am not the Beardie Whisperer, but having three dragons, I may be able to give you some insight.
Our oldest beardie is a female, when we first got her, she was a real stress test when you picked her up. We had rescued her from a college student that could no longer care for her. As it turns out, every time his girlfriend picked her up, she reached straight down at her, not supporting her legs or belly, and then squeezed her to keep from dropping her when she struggled. Now, first let me say, beardies recognize people, to this day the beardie does not like that woman. What this means is that our little girl had trust issues from being treated, inadvertently, as prey. A lot of holding by several people (me, my wife, and my daughter) in the proper manner turned her into a right snuggly scale monster.
Our second beardie, we bought at the MARS show in Baltimore. I won't tell you the vendor's name because I would have to say unkind things about them. Regardless, he was 5 weeks old when we got him. He bonded very quickly and was just as sweet as beardie number 1. When he got close to being a year old, he turned into a right stinker. He would jump and run away every chance he got. If it was safe, we let him. He got some independence and got to learn that he wasn't doing something to annoy the slaves. When we take him out, he never goes further than a few people steps away. If we go somewhere new (meaning not home) he stays right on the shoulder where he belongs. As he got older, he grew out of the "oh god, my friends might see you" stage.
Beardie number three is a completely different story. He is another rescue. A lady's daughter had her and when the daughter could no longer care for the dragon as the mother thought proper, she decided to rehome him. I contacted her and made arrangements to come pick him up (two hours away). Through very well meaning ignorance, his conditions were atrocious by any veteran beardie slave standards. He rode the whole way home taking turns on my wife's and my shoulders. He was totally confounded by that as he was not used to being handled. To this day, he loves being held. However, if we take him outside and startle him, he will posture.
The answer to that, is to laugh at him, pick him up and put him in his secure spot (the front of the chest).
I said all that, to boil it down to this. Beardies are like any other animal/small children (animals are better behaved usually) in as much as they will react based on past experience and they will test the boundaries of safety, security, and at times, your sanity.
Just because you don't think it is safe or secure doesn't mean they agree with you.
he will not let me hold him at all. he is very active in his tank and when I take him out he jumps and runs all over and he even trys to jump out of my hands when im standing up ( im 6 feet ) so I don't know why he is being so mean lately. i dont want a mean bearded dragon you cant hold....wtf?
