Our current foster dog, Annette, is a beagle. Many people are drawn to beagles due to their size. They are also friendly, loyal, and like getting attention from humans, making them seem like the perfect family dog. They’re also one of the most popular breeds found in shelters and rescue groups across the country.
Beagles can sometimes be a tricky breed to raise. They’re typically not happy-go-lucky dogs like Labrador Retrievers. You have to be a beagle (or hound) person in order to understand them and experience to have one as a pet.
The Nose
Beagles follow their noses. They were bread for following scents while hunting. I always say that when outside a beagle’s nose turns on and the brain turns off. A beagle will focus only on scent and ignore everything else. Calling to a beagle that’s sniffing while outside in hopes of him or her coming back is often fruitless. Fenced in yards when having a beagle as a pet is a must.
The Howl
Another distict beagle (and hound) trait is the baying howl. Beagles were bred to hunt. When out in the field they bark and howl in order to alert people that prey has been found.
Many beagles enjoy looking out the window of a home and will howl if they see something moving around. For some this howl is cute at first but ultimately annoying when done constantly.
The Wuss Factor
Some dog breeds have a high tolerance for pain. Beagles are not one of them. They often let out yelps in anticipation of something “bad” happening such as a vaccination at the vet’s office or getting their nails clipped. Even though they are not getting hurt, they act as though some sort of torture is going on.
Training
Beagles (and other hounds) can be difficult to train. They often would rather seek out scents than listen to a human. They are stubborn so teaching even basic commands can be a daunting task to a beagle owner. A fenced in yard is practially a requirement. Without it a beagle would be off following a scent and would not respond to calls from an owner trying to persuade the dog to return.
If a beagle owner can find something that really motivates the dog “sit” may be able to be taught with some patience. Overall training a beagle is like having a child in the terrible twos stage of life.
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If you’re looking to add a beagle into your home lots of research on the breed should be required. They can be a fun and loving dog, but it’s important to know the challenges that come along with the breed. If more people understood the dog perhaps there wouldn’t be as many of them in shelters and rescues in need of a new home.
Andrew and I have fostered quite a few beagles of various ages. All of them have had the beagle nose, which is on the ground most of the time when outside. We’ve had different degrees of “beagle-ness” in our foster dogs. Our current foster dog, Annette, is the most well behaved beagle that we’ve had.
Annette will actually listen and come (for the most part) when called if she’s outside. She’ll even chase after toys that are thrown for her and bring them back to you (most of the time). She responds well to “no” when she’s getting into something. And she’s very respectful. The person or family that adopts her will have a great beagle find!
I hope Annette finds a lovely home, in the meantime it’s good to know she is with you, happy & safe. My boyfriend & I found a male beagle a little over a week ago in the middle of the highway! Lost, scared & exhausted (not to mention covered in ticks!). Man, they follow their nose EVERYWHERE! No one came forth to claim him through any of our ads we put out for him, so he now resides with us. He is boh healthy & happy. 🙂 My boyfriend & I live in seperate homes, so “Miles” (we felt the name was quite fitting) goes back & forth between my home & his. I have never HAD a dog, and jumping into a relationship with a beagle is both rewarding and trying. He is such an amazing love pup. But it’s exhausting tryng to teach him (at 2yrs old) NOT to chase my cat! They are indeed stubburn, so I suggest to anyone looking to get a Beagle, this breed might not be in your best interest if you have a cat…it takes a LOT to train them, but I’m sure with the proper discipline it’s possible. I have yet to find a toy Miles likes to play with, I’m going to buy him a Kong first thing tomorrow.
Don’t let a Beagle’s stubburness suade you away from this magnificent breed, we knew Miles for just over a week and we are now his best friends, and vice versa. 🙂
If anyone reading this has any info for me to help me raise my new puppers, that would be great. 🙂 Thanks in advance.
-Jen
Advice well.. I’ve got a 1 year old beagle bitch,and the way to keep on withthem is to train them a little everyday, even if its for 5 mins, if you are confused about what to teach them and how to do it,as I was, just buy a simple training dog book 🙂
Thanks for the comment, Jen! Annette did find a home. She was actually adopted by another volunteer that works with the rescue.
Good luck with Miles. Lots of time and consistency is big when training and raising any dog. With beagles it seems to be even more important.
Does you cat stand up for him or herself? If Miles gets a few swats to the nose he should eventually learn the cat’s limits. He’s probably curious and wants to play, although watch his behavior to make sure he’s not trying to hurt the cat.
Beagles are pretty smart. So they can learn things. It’s a matter of getting through their stubborn side. The one thing you’ll likely not ever change is the following of the nose. That’s a beagle trait that sticks around.
Figure out if Miles is treat or praise (or perhaps both) motivated. When training things like “sit”, “stay”, etc. use treats or praise to let him know that he’s done the right thing. And make sure you and your boyfriend are using the same commands and hand signals so that he doesn’t get confused.
Good luck!!
haha. my beagle Satchmo sounds exactly like you description! we’ve had him for two years, but it seems like we’ve had him forever! we rescued him from the local animal shelter, where he was going to be put to sleep if we did not help him. i’m glad we did! even though he seems dumb, (he eats glass, his own poop, ect.; goes on the furniture even though he knows hes not supposed to; ect.) we still love him and he became our best friend instantly. in a week, he was already very loyal to us. whenever someone walks by our house, he growls until they are out of sight. even though he smells half the time we still love our dog.
Thanks for the comment, Kate! Although beagles often seem like they live in their own world they are very loyal and affectionnate. It’s great that you were able to save Satchmo. He’s a lucky guy.
I’ve had my alpha female beagle (Cleopatra-‘Queen of De-Nial’) since she was 7 weeks old, she is now 2 1/2. Man they are the biggest brats when they are puppies, but I tell you what- no matter how trying the task was to keep her from tearing up the toilet paper, dumping over the trash, taking off with my clothing articles, digging holes in the yard, …you get the jist… she is the most loyal critter ever. She watches everything I do. If I go from one room to another and if I take more than a minute or two, she is right there watching what I am doing.
A tip for everyone who is thinking about getting a beagle or already owns one: buy a collar that has the beeping sound/shock feature. Okay, okay a lot of you are gasping in disbelief that someone would shock their dog; but here’s the deal, Beagles are so smart that their misbehavior isn’t because they don’t know what you want from them.
They know they have four legs and you only have two.
So just for training or walking purposes, buy a collar with a remote, once you command them and they don’t listen you can use the beep feature first and if they don’t listen shock them (there are different levels of shock, so they are not going to be French-fried if you choose a low level) once they have heard the beep they know they better listen. I got this idea after I bought my wireless pet containment system by Petsafe. It is the BEST THING EVER. You don’t have to pay someone for installing a fence, it is portable, you can use an adapter and have it in your car, you can even adjust how far away from your home you would like to allow your dog to go.
But above all be consistent when commanding your puppy/dog. If you are firm in conveying what you want from them, they will be happy and willing to listen. If you change your commands they will look at you like you are crazy with the Beagle crooked-head and not know what you want.
But I will definitely brag a moment, I got lucky. My puppy never had an accident in the house. The first day I brought her home, showed her the door and said “out” and she picked up immediately what I meant.
As far as “come” whew, that was a toughy. She would only come to me if I called her when she felt like it until she turned about 10 months old. She was running across the street to the park and I said “come”, usually she would have ran faster but this wonderful day she turned around and cowered until I came and got her from where she stood and spanked her butt all the way home. Where once we were in the yard proceeded to play fetch.
She now rolls over, shakes, high-fives, dances, sits, and comes whenever I tell her to. I can’t think of anything else.
I also had mine spayed at 3 1/2 months so now she is an adolescent for life. What a fun time for me!!!
Have fun with your dogs and just be firm and have patience and give them lots of love.
God Bless!! (and Lots of Luck).
I have been remote training a beagle and they listen 98% So beagles can be trained well if people are open minded and want to try the E-collar. I swear by them , This beagle will sit on my command and walk right beside me on our training walks, his nose is up and head looking forward. There is hope for training beagles , alot of people don’t like remote collars! Anyway thougth this info would help someone who is finally at there witts end with you pet!
We rescued a beagle mix pup that is 4 months old from vet clinic where he had been abandoned. He is so sweet, but hardheaded just like everyone is describing! His training is coming along very well with just the standard road blocks. But, something alarming happened tonight that has me pretty scared. He and our 12 year old cat have been “tolerating” each other. The cat just swats at him and goes upstairs and the puppy is determined to play. But, tonight he was playing with her and she growled and swatted and the play turned very aggressive and frightening. It was like a switch was flipped. The cat ran upstairs and the puppy was leaping and growling after her. Luckily, I had installed a baby gate at the stairs and he was unable to give chase. Any thoughts? I really want to keep this dog, but my loyalty to the cat is deeper. Help! I want the pup to be a good member of our family.
What a wonderfully loyal breed!
I love how people always say oh a beagle wont do this and that cuz he is stubborn blah blah. its NOT because they are stubborn. well it is. but it is mostly because they are just plain DUMB!
Your a complete moron… Your much more dumber than any beagle that could be found.
pablo, i completly disagree. I own a beagle, and she refuses to roll over, because she is stubborn. not dumb. beagles are incredibly smart. just give them time. my dog can sit, speak, lay down, high five, shake a paw, dance, give kisses, say please, but will refuse to roll over. i don’t tihnk that sounds like a dumb dog, and plus she was a year old when we got her, she had no manners, nothing. but now she listens perfectly. maybe you are just the dumb one.
I got our beagle, Daisey Mae at 9 wks. She is now 4 months old and we are working on her training. I also agree that beagles are not dumb. They are very smart and I think purposely do things to push my buttons to get attention. In the house she will do anything I ask. She can sit, lay, rollover, shake, touch (high five), kiss and come. We are working on stay. When we are outside, I do not exist. After reading the comments, I would like to try training collar but had my doubts because of a beagle being 4 paws and a nose. I know she will never be off leash and I have accepted that, I just want her safe. She was suppose to be my husband’s Christmas present but she has become mine. We joke and say she was his Christmas gift but she leaves my presents under the tree. When we first got Daisey, she kept pooping under our Christmas tree. I would appreciate any other comments on keeping my Daisey safe. We also go camping alot.
To Rhonda
Do you truely think that smacking a dog as a reward is applicable. Didn’t you say your dog did as you said, stopped and cowered at the road until you got to her. A smack for that, now you will be lucky if she wants to do anything for you and if she does it will be out of fear. What a lovely relationship to have with your dog.
To Rhonda
Do you truely think that smacking a dog as a reward is applicable. Didn’t you say your dog did as you said, stopped and cowered at the road until you got to her. A smack for that, now you will be lucky if she wants to do anything for you and if she does it will be out of fear. What a lovely relationship to have with your dog.
I have a 6 year old Beagle girl, Breezy. My mom used to teach puppy class at the local dog club and we found that beagles love food, so we use Cherrios for training. Can usde honey nut cherrios also. small no oil, and do training inbetween commercials. keeps the training short.. My Beagle is pretty well trained but if she sees a bunny, squirl or such her nose wins over me. LOL
I have two Beagle pups Roscoe and Rosie. Got them at 8 weeks. They have rarely been apart. They are now 9 months. What an experience this has been!
remote collars!! are you people crazy. you have no understanding of the beagle mind. you should not be allowed to have any animal. my beagle has been trained using positive reinforcement and i get results 100% of the time, even on recall. Just for the record he’s fully intact and he’s a dominant male. learn to respect your beagle and they will respect you. for a beagle every day is a training day no matter what their age is.
To Jen and Kelly
you can’t train a beagle to love a cat. they are hunters, your cat will be killed at some point.
To Rhonda and Andrea
i am filled with utter disgust for that way you treat your beagles.
To Kim Mattson-Shank
stop feeding your beagle cherrios, your killing your dog.
what is wrong with you people. are you american? in england we treat our beagles with respect.
The wuss factor is quite simply ridiculous.I have three beagles who do not flinch at the vets whatever may be coming or whatever happens,learn the breed please before putting this type of comment on.They take anything that comes and carry on.
My beagle is a huge wuss when he knows what the activity is. At the vet if he’s not expecting a shot he doesn’t flinch. But if I’m trimming his nails he’ll let out a yelp for no reason at all, I sometimes don’t have the clippers to his nails yet even lol! I can’t personally speak for the breed but he for sure knows how to pull on my heart strings!
We have a 5 year old beagle, Lucy. We adopted her when she was 2 1/2 from a vet tech school. She was not very trainable, but will “sit” and is now doing better at “stay”. She won’t “come” except when she is inside. Maybe that is due to the distracting smells outside. She is not afraid of the vet and is very gentle and loveable. We are luck she is a quiet dog also (not typical for a beagle). I would adopt another beagle, because they are such loyal and loving dogs even with their drawbacks.
I got my first beagle 2 and a half years ago and I never in a million years figured he would be so difficult as a puppy…but I wouldn’t trade him for the world! He has more personality than any breed of dog I’ve ever owned and I’ve had dogs my whole life. I really hope to in the near future adopt another beagle because I absolutely adore them. His name is Scout and he is a little spit fire…every trait I’ve read on beagles he has to the fullest which is challenging but can be fun at the same time! As playfull as he is with my nearing elderly collie mix I think he would love a playmate his size!
We have 3 rescued Beagles. I trained the first one for a year. He is my service dog, a therapy dog, goes through security, flies on airplanes. He taught the other two to become therapy dogs at the VA for 5 years. If you take the time to train a Beagle you will see they are very smart.
We have a two and a half year old beagle Toby (short for Toblerone), who can be so smart and dumb simultaneously- and the attitude- WOW. His favorite snack is watermelon which we used to train him for sit, paw (shake), lay down but he seemed to hit a wall there. He has now started barking and howling at dogs, cats and any animal on the television which is entertaining but is now starting to get annoying. Overall- big picture, he’s an awesome dog. Really innocent in some ways but can really give you the f**k you look if he doesn’t see the point in doing what you ask him to.
Beagles are babies. Just be very kind to them and they will rise to their fullest potential. Never never be harsh with them as it is imperative to not break their spirit. Make sure their time with you is their best time and they will make you proud. It may take a couple years but they will make you proud. Don’t give up on them and they won’t let you down.