Does anyone have or know anyone who has a Beagle?

[Nbg]

I have real problems with ours and I just wondered if it was just him or wether it was the type of breed?

My sister has two. They are very, erm, 'energetic'. K, they are hyper. Apparently a lot of beagles are.

Yes they are! My, your sister is very brave owning 2!

There's alot of things he does which I find quite strange.

I had a gorgeous beagle bitch years ago. Dogs are notorious wanderers though.

What type of problems?
My friend has 2 females...

He certainly is a wanderer, that's one problem.

He hates being left. We have to put him in a cage when we got out as he destroys things. The last time we left him he ate our leather sofa!

He buries any chew sticks he is given.

Will not eat anything apart from his own food and when he is fed he picks his bowl up, moves it to a diffent location, smells it, takes a small mouthful, spits that out somewhere else, smells it again, eats it and then goes back to his food and eats the rest. Why?

He scratches at the carpet before sleeping, like he's trying to make a bed even though there's nothing there to make a bed with!

Any ideas?

Our friends have a kennel in the gaRden for when they are at work as they have far too much energy to be left indoors!
They ALWAYS sleep in their cages, I think they would have a shredded house if they didn't!!!!!
I know they need an awful lot of exercise and are natural hunters, so they are hard to train.
My friends took theirs to classes when they where pups, and they are v, well behaved now.
If you need any specific questions answered I can ask her if you like....

My questions are Why to all those problems I listed. If I knew why he did these things it might not be as bad IYWKIM.

We were going to get him a kennel but the last time we left him out side he ripped up all the plastic lining under the pebbles and bark chipping we have! On a night he's fine. We leave him downstairs and theres no problems.

I know my friend had to pebble her garden, and swallowed stones are a common occurence, but she says they do learn after a while.
The reason they had 2 beagles was because they were told that they hate to be left on their own.
She lives in Belgium and is on holiday this week , but I will email her and ask her about the other problems if you like.
Sounds a handful!!!

How old is he?
Is he neutered?

My bitch did the bedmaking thing. She was a great character and wonderful with kids, but very energetic and needed lots of exercise.

Really, thats quite interesting. He does hate to be left and if he gets an inkling that he's coming out with us he goes barmy!

Will appreciate any advice. Thank you.

saying that my sil has a male beagle, (my friends are both female) and she leaves hers indoors but in a confined space, and has much less trouble!!

Will ask her for you tomorrow

Thanks

Nbg....

The wanderer - he has testicles? He will want to use them!

He hates being left - read "he gets bored". Try hiding food for him in the house - stuff Kongs full of hard to get at treats and sniffy stuff. He's a "working" dog - make him work!

He buries chew sticks - he's a dog. I don't give mine chew sticks anymore, since he buried his last chew stick in the rotten grass clippings pile approximately half an hour after having a bath.

The food thing has me foxed! Sounds like a territorial thing from the sound of it. Someone will know for sure though!

Scratching at the carpet to make a bed. My dog does this too. I think its all about scent and marking territory again

Sounds like you have a dog for sure! (I don't think its a beagle thing!!)

I have a beagle - an ex-working beagle.
All beagle will wander, they are scent hounds and they just can't help themselves. Dogs are particularly likely to do this and scent hounds are the worst.

I guess your is a KC reg. therefore he is likely to be more assertive than mine who was a pack dog.

Scratching the carpet in primeval instinct at work, this is the animal trying to make a bed for himself. Put him in a bed of straw and you would understand this. Mine does this all the time, and marks the carpet.

Beagles are very sociable animals and do hate being left. We put ours in a crate when we are out and it seems to offer her comfort now. She is happier to go into it, she will howl if we leave her out! She will always love a fuss and sometimes her attention seeking becomes wearing.

Our is also a faddy eater sometimes, she prefers anything that has dropped from the table or dd's hands to anything we give her.

They need loads of exercise, I have never come across a dog that trots around so much. Previous dogs have been happy to lie about in the evenings, not so with this one.

She is happiest when all of us are out walking with each other.

Mine also digs holes in the lawn which I can't stop no matter what I do. Theres no point in giving them chew sticks, they don't seem to understand them. However, you might find he likes wood.

Thanks for your replies. It's nice to know it's not just him!

The hiding the food idea does sound good but he's destroyed so much in the time we've had him and cost us so much replacing items he's damamged that I don't think we would risk trying.

MrsDoolittle, yes he is KC reg. We bought him from a breeder in Lancashire. They all lived on a farm and apparently he was the biggest puppy. The owner said she was going to keep him and she always left him at the back when people came to look at the pups.
Maybe the food thing comes from them early years. It's so strange that he still does it, it's like he's checking it for poison or something!

I'm imagining you may have the largest, most assertive dog in the litter. They are often the hardest pets to have but he's made a great show dog!!

My dog tends to wander around the house with her biscuits in her mouth. She drops them and comes back to them later. At first we thought we were buying her biscuits that were too big for her to eat, but she did the same with small biscuits. Doesn't seem to understand the bowl thing. My parents terrier does the same thing.
The only thing you can do, is keep picking the food up and replacing his bowl in the hope that by watching you he will get the message, but I have found that unless I keep it up she will go back to her own habits.

I think you have to live round it.
Be pleased though, that you have an excellent pet with children and you should feel pretty safe with him around other people.

Oh yeah, apart from all these strange and exspensive habits he has he is an absolutly amazing dog. He's great with dd. She tortures him on a daily basis and he never bats an eyelid.

Mine takes a hammering from dd too but atleast she has the sense to get out fo the way when dd gets carried away.

I doudt your chap chews stuff when you are around?
I really think you should consider crating him when you are out.

No, he doesn't chew things when we are in.

When we got him he was 4 months old and obviously did the puppy chewing thing but eventually it just ridiculous, to the point of ripping up the carpet. We had this replaced and he then ripped up the new one.

Having learnt our lesson the hard way we then bought a cage and used it everytime we left the house without him.
However we moved a year ago and the house we're in doesn't really have the space for the cage so we decided to leave him again. For the first couple of months he was a star. No damage at all but then one day we came home and he'd ripped the sofa to shreads, scratched so badly at the wall he had gone right down to the steel support and ripped his bed up!

So since then we've not risked it and he goes back in his cage.
It's a shame really but we can't afford to keep replacing things he damgages.

I know but honestly these dogs don't like being left. He is better crated.
Our house is too small for the crate too.

I suppose you've googled it already?

Nbg, don't feel bad about crating him. I believe Beagles prefer the security of a crate when alone.

You'll be doing him a favour as much as yourselves.

In the future I intend to get one, though I do think we'll have to go to formal training classes!

My parents have a beagle. They have had dogs all their lives and even though they love their beagle to death they reckon she is the most difficult dog they have ever owned. They never leave her alone as she has already ruined two carpets. If she is crated she howls and howls and they dare not leave her as they have a terraced house and worry about the neighbours. They can't let her off the lead unless she is with my dog, as that is the only way she will come back, if she is with another dog who will return when called. When they let her off on her own she disappeared for ages and they got really worried. It doesn't matter to much as they are both retired so some one is usually with her. She is a lovely looking dog though and brilliant with kids.
I must admit I would find her hard work though. My dog is a scenthound, she is called a trailhound and I can leave her alone for a few hours and she is brilliant off the lead. She looks just like a long legged beagle and when she goes out with my Mums beagle they look like mother and puppy, really cute.

We've just got a beagle, only 4 months old. I've read this thread and I'm scared now.....

Hopefully it should be okay because DH works from home. We live in the countryside and we have another dog. Our other dog seems to keep him in check. The other night because Apollo was crying and howling Ash told him off and he went to sleep. He does like to wander but follow our other dog so never goes very far. We don't live near any roads (1km to the nearest village) so thats not a problem. He come when he's called or rather we call Ash and then him and Ash comes so he comes.. He only 3 months old though.