Anyone got or had a Beagle?
 

My Fiancee and I have been talking about getting a dog for a while and we have really taken to Beagles. There are a few Ive seen being walked in our local neighborhood and they always seem very friendly and well behaved. Also seem to be an ideal size as we dont want a large dog. Yesterday we were at a car boot and a chap had a 12wk old pup so I had a quick chat and he said they are fairly hard work to train as a puppy initially but very rewarding (he's had others) and as they are a breed of hound they can howl/bay quite a lot.

I did a bit more research online last night and as with anything there are a myriad of opinions - some saying they can never be taken off the leash whereas Ive seen a lady with one at my local MTB forest trail with it off the leash and following her around all day long. The baying is the one thing thats making me worry. We live in a semi in a quiet cul-de-sac with a few of the neighbors (not nextdoor) having babies and young children so the last thing I want is a dog that howls all day long. Is it more a case they just howl when they are bored?

I know there are a lot of dog owners on SN so does anyone have a Beagle and can offer some genuine input into ownership?

Cheers
Simon

Get one of the non smoking ones ;)

I had a beagle springer spaniel cross and it was a bloody nightmare.
Beagles are hard to train and he would howl all night and any time we left him. Eventually he became fairly aggressive and we had to give him away as we couldn't trust him around the kids.
If you are experienced at training dogs and are prepared to put the effort in then you may well do fine and they are lovely dogs but personally i wouldn't get another beagle.

no first hand experience but friends of ours got a pup had it around 6months before they had to give it away as it howled all day every day, but in my opinion was there own fault a 30sec google search would have told them its not the breed of dog to leave most of the day on its own, wondered why the had angry neighbours and a destroyed house lol

i would say 20% of Beagle owners can walk them off the lead the rest cant, the ones off the lead are probably due to a mix of unusual dogs and talented/experienced owners.

one owner i meet who was the most successful at this was a professional at teaching children with mental health issues like Downs syndrome etc and used the same techniques

what ever breed you get i would remember it will want at least 1 hour a day of outside exercise and i would strongly suggest dog training classes from 10 weeks old through to its first birthday.

there are other small breeds that love all people and animals that are easier to train

Beaten to the post, blast, drat and whatever...

I assume the smoking ones will be quieter but with a more persistent hacking cough rather than baying/howling...

I have 2 :D

Our first one Jack.

He is now 4 and only pulls on the lead when he can smell / see pussy lol. Serious though. We tried him off the lead and he is gone. The only time he Howls is when he can see me out side. Very quiet dog. Was super hyper when he was a pup but wacked him on raw meat and he's calmed down. We had a trainer with him which actually showed that he was the 'leader' of our pack.. He isn't now.

Then we have Lucy, she is 6months old and to our shock they get on like a house on fire. She doesn't make a single sound (really funny) but she loves attention. From day one she has 'bossed' Jack about.

When we got her she was VERY under weight and would try and nick Jacks food. He would let her take it out of his mouth!!! When he tried it she went for him! - We then show her this is wrong to do.

Both you can take food from, bite until they yelp, pull their hair and really play with them out out a single sign of anger. - We do this so that when we have children we feel a little safer with a baby grabbing at them.

If you lived locally I would have said come have a play...

Some say they are very hard to train and they are. Fortunatly for us we trained them from day one with food and they still 'test' us. They are hard work but then what dog isn't.
Personally I would say 2 beagles is just as hard as 1 as they play with each other more as aposed to with us.

Here is Lucy dominating Jack
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...type=1&theater

I'll upload more pics later but I need to get to work!


Personally I don't see the point of having a dog off the lead as if they are on an extendable they can still freely smell. Really winds me up when a dog off the lead attacks my dog and the owner says 'He doesn't normally do that' as they run up from about a mile away....

Oh, and they love food. You leave anything out below knee level it's fair game. Jack has stopped chewing now but Lucy doesnt get a chance ;)

They're a hound.... therefore they'll howl, not for any other reason than that's what hounds do. Small aggressive breed, best not bothering with.

They love training & working.

Put the hours in and it's a loyal breed.

I have 2 English Bull Terriers, stubborn, hard work, fantastic dogs.

Please come and see mine and show me the aggression! Any terrior is a 'small aggressive breed'

Yes they are a hound foe hunting but that's only if you buy a hunting one and train it for it... I have a rabbit n had 2 guinepigs before and during having the beagles and they have NEVER gone for them. They eat their poo n food but not them..

Here's one in attack mode, vicious animals.... like gingers Beagles have no soul

http://www.wasuvi.com/images/FlyingBeagleDog.jpg

Change your idea and go for a border collie, had ours three years now and can honestly say I personally feel they are among the best loyal family type dogs you could get.

everyone has there own favourite bred and no matter what breed off dog you will always get bad stories. do a bit research into border collies , again I personaly feel they are an excellent all round breed.

I was told once that they fart a lot and going by the performance of one owned by a friend, it was a pretty accurate description! Very smelly.

Les :eek:

I have a 18month old beagle called Colin.

My Mrs often talked about getting a job and did alot of research. I wanted a Bulldog and she wanted a beagle. When we looked into Bulldogs they suffer a lot of health problems so decided against that.

When I started reading about beagles I was instantly taken by them. When I think of dogs I instantly think of beagles (if that makes sense)

Well we got Colin once his breader released him, when he was old enough. We got him from a big breader in Doncaster. He was by no means the cheapest, but he is of god pedagree. His mother was a Crufts finalist and his father was a Crufts winner. Both sets of grand parents were show dogs too.

We had decided on the Name Colin when we wanted a dog, then we contacted the breader, went to see him that is when they told us they had called him Colin due to the white collar around his neck. It was fate!!

His breader was great, when we went to see him they talked us through the pros cons and the rest. They would not let us make our mind up then and their they asked us to go away have a think about it and get back to them in a day or two. Needless to say our mind was made up.

We set up a very large crate in the kitchen, covered it in throws and put his bed in it. This crate is usually used for very large dogs so he has ample space for his bed, food bowls and room to wander about a little.

The first few weeks was a bit difficult, he would cry through the night and want to be up early in the morning. Much the same as a baby really.

As time went on he just got better and better.

Now he is just perfect, we have attended a few puppy classes which have been great and helps alot.

He is cheeky and naughty, he will jump up and steal things take them outside and shred them. The most recent was my TOTB tickets, he managed to pull just the tickets out of a pile of papers, take them onto the drive and totally shred them.

Beagles will do ANYTHING for food, esp Colin. We always put him in his bed when we eat. We soon learnt too. He will sit by the table as your eating, keeping a close eye on you then just at the right moment he will launch an attack, jummping mouth open onto your plate getting what he can then running off! First time he did it he got my bacon sarnie which was my hangover cure!!

If he is in one of them moods he will just steal things from the house and taken them into the garden then look for you to chase him, he does it just for the chase.

With regards to walking, we have a very long retractable lead which we walk him on most of the time. Every now and then we will let him off but we keep a very close eye on him. There has been one or two times when he has done one, luckily not far and we managed to get him back on the lead.

One of our neighbours told us they had a Beagle a few years ago and they walked it off the lead, and it was perfect every time. Then one day it got a scent, would not come back and unfortunatly ran over a train track and got hit by a train.

Colin is adorable, he is cheeky, naughty, funny. He loves a cuddle and he often falls asleep on me or the Mrs. My dad has a fair sized weirmara (however you spell it) when Colin plays with her, he thinks he is the same size as her and jumps on her, its funny to watch.

another thing worth mentioning is garden, They need a garden which they cannot escape from, Colin is not bad however I have been told by a few owners they will try to escape and can get out of the smallest of holes.

I would recommend a Beagle to anyone, I would not imagine life without Colin about.

Here is a few pics of Col

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/IMAG0164.jpg

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/IMAG0047.jpg

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/IMAG0033.jpg

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/IMAG0369.jpg

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/IMAG0257.jpg

Feel free to PM me an questions on my experiences

He is a good looker alright.

Les :)

I think a lot of it is attention and trainign with any Dog but they all have some basic "Programming" that comes from the breed/type and also down to the individual dog as they all have personalities, some are easier going than others.

Very mixed responses regarding the Beagle, doesnt sound like the Dog for you if you are out a lot, Ditto a Border Collie as they are too intelligent and active to cope with not having something to do and will make something up which can involve eating doorframes as we found out wher we rehomed one, couldnt cope with being left, at all despite epic walks twice a day.

We just got a little scrappy mongrel, half some kind of Terrier and half Poodle and he is ace, looks like Gnasher out of the Beano, its difficult with Dogs as sometimes the descriptions of a breed make it sound like What Car and to an extent its true but sometimes it just doesnt work like that, its a living breathing thing, not a diesel hatchback.

Now the missus works six hours a day, Rambo just kips, seems to like it, I work from home and he just sleeps but is up for a play or a walk any time, doesnt get destructive, just occasionally nicks socks.

I think just having a dog is 90 percent of the joy, any dog, fantastic creatures.

Snoopy was a beagle.. Nuffield said. Dazza Colin looks wicked. Later I'll upload jack n Lucy.. She's a right little slut

Colin the beagle - looks a fantastic dog :thumb:
Neighbour of mine has two

Simon,

Never had one personally but know a few from the local area.

As well as physical exercise, some breeds seem to need more mental stimulation than others. Rotties certainly do, collies are another and from speaking to the owners of the beagles I know I'd add beagles to that list.

Like any dog, the more you are prepared to put in, the more you will get out. It's an ongoing process, not one that is necessarily limited to training them as pups and then forgetting about it.

What is your experience of dogs to date? I'm not suggesting that you shouldn't have one as a first dog (our first dog was a rehomed 2 year old rottweiler bitch - although we'd both been brought up with dogs in the family)

I saw a couple of replies last night but didnt get a chance to reply. Just checked now and seen all these. Thank you especially Dazza for the detailed post.

Something in the back of my mind says not the dog for us. The general opinion seems to back up what Ive read and heard and probably not the most suited breed to our lifestyle and house we live in (neighbors either side). The main thing that concerns me is the letting off the lead as Id like a dog I can throw a ball for etc.

The mrs works from home 2 days a week and Im only 15 mins away so can easily pop back home for lunch. Ive had several dogs as child but not owned one myself. The mrs is more into horses and plans to buy her own next year but fancies some company down the stables. We live walking distance from Forestry Commission so plenty of places to walk a dog.

Rob & Dazza - lovely looking dogs you both have there. I love the fact they dont get that big.

Simon

Any dog you get will need lots of training if you want it off the lead and around horses so be prepared to put the time in and you will get the rewards.

Parsons jack russels are great around horses and not big but full of character, i would also suggest you get two dogs as they keep each other company and are not so dependant on you especially if your at work all day, just don't get them at the same time so as to let them bond with you first,and also you can train the first one really well and the second will be much easier as it will do most of what the first one does with little effort.

sounds like a job for a working cocker spaniel

small, likes fetching things can walk for miles but not big friendly with everything bright so takes to training well will cope with all sorts of weather, can be exercised off lead.

But all dogs require training and you want your puppy from 7 weeks old, i would suggest you take the 1st few weeks off work to do the house training

Thanks for your kind comments, I've passed them on to colin and he also says thanks!

Mine couldn't quit the fags, and eventually died of lung cancer. :(

Get a stupid minature poodle or poodle cross (cockerpoo) and treat them like one of the kids :D

http://i55.tinypic.com/vwrcy8.jpg

Shaun