To not want a beagle?

[tired1245]

We've always wanted a dog, house just feels empty without one as both had one when living at parents house.
He's got his heart set on a beagle, when i would love a cockapoo.
I've just heard always bad things about beagles, how they're hard to train and recall is awful.
I don't really want the hair either!
He won't be able to take a month off to train the dog when we get it, maximum 2 weeks.
With a cockapoo I just think they'll be a lot better to train, don't malt nowhere near as much as a beagle would and we've got a 3 month old, so the last thing I need is a dog running off on a walk when I've got a baby with me. What do we do?

We have a Cockapoo, and yes whilst they don’t moult they do need brushing almost everyday or else they get matts. They are also very clingy dogs, always needing to be with you, and can be prone to resource guarding.

That said, I love my best behaved child very much.

I have only ever heard bad things about beagles. Unless your husband is very familiar with the breed then why bother with a breed that gets far more bad reports that most......

bad recall
very hard to train
escape artists
diggers
barkers
not great with kids

You know what ever dog you get 2 weeks won't be enough to train it though .

Maybe just think it over for a year or two, puppies are really hard work irrespective of breed. Please be careful if you do buy a puppy there are a lot of breeders out there who are terrible despite the fancy website and photos of people happy with their new puppies. Many people get puppies and don't consider the mothers life. Often just bred over and over again. Look at the many years website and see all the ex breeding dogs especially beagles. So sad.

Many tears

I have a lovely beagle snoring in my lap as I type....
Foolishly We got two... it was intense....one ate a couch...even smeared with hot chili sauce - I think he was happy I seasoned it for him 😐 thankfully we had bought a dump of a house and set about renovating so they got to have the run of the house while pups and we weren't too precious iykwim. Never off lead in backyard or walks... god help us if a kangaroo or possum ventured into our backyard...
We then had 3 kids in 3 years... dogs took a back seat in the attention hierarchy but they were ok mostly. Definitely pack animals, never had aggressions towards kids, think they thought they were human, live inside, terrible for food...howled when kids cried... just intense...so intense
One passed last year and we were devastated. Now on 12 years last dog remaining is a dream companion.
Older beagles are amazing. Young beagles with young family - fucking insane! Don't do it too yourself.
When it is time, We are looking at adopting a older ex medical testing beagle 💔 or we will get a lab while we enter the tween/teen family zone.
Beagles are lovely but absolutely mental. Just.say.no! At your life stage they are too much.

In your position I wouldn't get a dog. I wouldn't cope! I would urge you though to meet some cockerpoo's before you proceed as the 3 that I walk are the most needy, neurotic and barky dogs. They are a nice size and 'pretty' but very complex personalities.

Youd be mad to get a dog with a 3 month old. Babies stay where they're put. Toddlers don't and they can't be trusted around dogs.

Too soon to get a dog.

I have had a beagle and don't get me wrong a beautiful breed !
But they are hard work, I ended up finding a farmer who had a boy beagle and re homing her broke my heart but it was best for her.
They need a lot of walking and attention

No way.

Charming dogs, I adore them, but they're a nightmare to train. I actually saw a grown man cry at the dog park over the impossibility of the task, I guess he'd had a really difficult several days with his dog and he just started crying. Poor guy.

I know they aren’t particularly popular on MN (to be fair, for very good reasons) but I adore my cockapoo. Fillypup is nearly 3, he was an absolute dream from day 1, super easy to train, incredibly baby and family friendly (my only concern has been too much baby licking [grin😊]) and doesn’t shed at all. Dh didn’t really want a dog, but if we did get one he wanted something terrier like. Now he wouldn’t have it any other way (& has agreed to a larger breed spaniel down the line....!). Stick to your guns, if you’re going to be the one looking after the dog!

I don’t see why you can’t get a puppy with a baby. We got a cocker spaniel puppy then quickly found out we were expecting! It was fine. DH wanted a beagle, they are gorgeous but do have a reputation for running off. I love our spaniel, she was super easy to train but they are very high energy and I’d imagine a cockapoo would be the same. She needs 2-3 hours exercise a day and we spend a lot on dog walkers plus doing hours ourselves. On a positive note I’m much fitter! I’d probably go for a daschund or something smaller like that in future. I don’t know if you can rehome with young children? We looked into it and it looked like all the places wanted the kids in the family to be at least 8.

A puppy plus a baby is a disaster.

We had our dog before having a baby and it's fine but difficult once they start crawling. And we had already trained the dog to eg leave toys alone, go into his crate etc.

100x over the cockapoo.

Do not get a beagle.

bad recall
very hard to train
escape artists
diggers
barkers
not great with kids

All of this is down to bad training. If you don't train a dog (and work with their instincts) you're going to end up with a dog that's frustrated and badly behaved. This could happen with a Labrador, a cockapoo, a spaniel or a beagle. Breed rarely comes into it.

I wish people with no experience of a particular breed would stop posting things like this as though they're pure fact. Dogs of any breed require a good two years minimum of solid training - if you put the work in, you'll be rewarded ten fold. If you don't bother getting the basics right, of course you'll struggle. I mean, as far as your list goes:

• recall. If your dog has bad recall you have several options - use secure fields to let your dog run free and to train recall. Use a longline to keep your dog safe and allow them to run, or just keep them on a lead. Dogs don't NEED to run off lead daily to be happy and well exercised.

• hard to train. My beagle is easy as anything to train because he's highly food motivated. He will do anything for the right treat. All dogs can be trained, you just need to work with the breed instinct. Beagles thrive on scents and scent work, so use it to your advantage.

• escape artists. Just make sure your garden and house is secure. It's really not hard to keep a dog safe. Baby gates, child locks, high fences etc. It should be standard for any dog owner regardless of breed.

• diggers. Lots of dogs dig and it's certainly not unique to beagles. Get a sandpit and hide treats in it for your dog to find. Don't leave your dog unattended in the garden if he or she is prone to digging and creating chaos.

• barkers. Yes, beagles do bark but you can train them out of it if you put the work in. Lots of other breeds can be just as vocal. It's only a reason not to get one if you aren't going to put the training in to teach them to be quiet.

• not great with kids. This is mostly down to the way the dog is raised and what their early experiences are like. Mine is fantastic with kids and glues himself to my niece when she comes to visit. He was raised in a family home and has been around children since he was a puppy.

I think you have been lulled into a false sense of security as your baby is young and probably naps a lot and doesn't move....

But give it a few months and you'll have a toddler and have your hands full!

I wouldn’t get a dog with a baby that young. But when you’re ready to, I’d draw up a breed shortlist and spend a lot of time researching breeds before going ahead.

I had a beagle and he was great, but not ideal as a pet as he was prone to roaming. Neighbours had two beagles and they howled a lot. They look lovely but I don’t think they make good pets for most people.

If you can find an ordinary crossbreed, that would be good but they seem rarer and rarer. You might also want to look at the German Spitz Mittel - wonderful loving, alert and happy family dogs.

Why do you want a cockerpoo? Yes they are cute dogs but they can be very energetic and hard work. Oh and lots of them do moult - a lot!

If you definitely want a dog with a young child I would read up on breeds and see what would suit you.

There are breeds that definitely do not moult, poodles being one of them.

All of this is down to bad training. If you don't train a dog (and work with their instincts) you're going to end up with a dog that's frustrated and badly behaved. This could happen with a Labrador, a cockapoo, a spaniel or a beagle. Breed rarely comes into it.

I have a Golden Retriever, I tell her not to do something like 3 times and it's done.

Beagles are really different. My SIL has one and she's so, so so lovely but just really does not give a fuck what she's told to do.

"All of this is down to bad training. If you don't train a dog (and work with their instincts) you're going to end up with a dog that's frustrated and badly behaved. This could happen with a Labrador, a cockapoo, a spaniel or a beagle. Breed rarely comes into it."

Wow where did you hear that? It is a lot more effort to train eg a beagle than a collie, why do you think you don't see beagles doing agility at Crufts?

I have a 9 month old human and a 7 year old dog.
Alone they are fine, together they make me want to tear my hair out. The baby wants to get in the dogs bed, the dog steals the babies toys, they CONSTANTLY lick each other, the dog barks and wakes the baby, the dog gets run over by the pram, I can’t bend down (easily) to put a lead on the dog or pick up poo with a 9 month strapped to me in a carrier.
Seriously, unless you are very experience doggy people, don’t do it!

@ReturnofSaturn very wise words...

Wow where did you hear that? It is a lot more effort to train eg a beagle than a collie, why do you think you don't see beagles doing agility at Crufts?
Collies and beagles are totally different breeds. Beagles are bred to work independently and to go off into the undergrowth and hunt. Collies are bred to work alongside humans and to obey orders. Of course they have different strengths and weaknesses. The fact that collies do agility at crufts has nothing to do with beagles not being there.

I've met badly behaved dogs of every single breed - mostly because they don't get the time, training and attention they deserve.

Beagles are one of the hardest dogs to own.

I had one and it would bite a lot, forgot how to not shit inside etc. No amount of walking would help. I re-homed her and I think the next owners had her put down, unfortunately.