A shovel that performs excavation in accordance with an arm excavation operation including an arm closing operation includes an excavation operation detection part, a position detection part, a maximum allowable pressure calculation part, and an arm cylinder pressure control part. The excavation operation detection part detects that the arm excavation operation has been performed. The position detection part detects the position of the shovel. The maximum allowable pressure calculation part calculates the pressure of the expansion-side oil chamber of an arm cylinder corresponding to an excavation reaction force at a time when the shovel is dragged by the excavation reaction force as a maximum allowable pressure, based on the position of the shovel. The arm cylinder pressure control part controls the pressure of the expansion-side oil chamber not to exceed the maximum allowable pressure when the arm excavation operation is performed.