DP would love to get a beagle - please can you give some advice?

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We have been thinking about getting a dog for a couple of years now. We both would love one - however we both work full time, and don't think that doggy day care would be fair.

However, my PILs are dog lovers, and in speaking to DP have said that they would look after a dog during the day for us. DP could either drop the dog off on the way to work and pick it up, or they would come over. This would be temporary as DP is aiming to work from home in the near future for about two years, after which the dog would presumably be old enough (and settled) for doggy day care.

DP had a beagle when he was younger and would love one. I am sure that I have read on here that beagles can be a nightmare - has someone any information?

Plus - please can you give feedback on our idea. I have no preference as to puppy or adult dog (I would actually prefer an older dog) but woulkd this be fair do you think to have DP's mum and dad look after the dog during the day? Or woiuld this be unsettling for the dog? They are great walkers so the dog would be out a lot, I am not worried about that, rather thjinking that lots of caregivers may be unsettling to a dog. I have never owned a dog as an adult so have lots to think about before we go ahead.

Thanks.

Your little dog is not as I have remembered cavs - the only one I have known was an old ladies pet when I was younger, she was mostly white with tan bits, and had something the matter with her eyes poor thing, they were all bulbous and weepy.

Your little dog is so so cute.

She is Pickle, yes! Her coat is beeyootiful, but I don't have any problems grooming her- I just give her ears a brush once a week or so with my tangle teezer brush

Haha I nearly brained DP when I found him grooming the cats with my brand new tangle teaser!

Pickle is such a great name for a pet (except whrn you re shotuing it loudly first thing on a morning, christ I feel like a tool, especially when shouting for all the cats, who are all called stupid names - Chips, Scampi, Pickle and Lily )

Cavaliers can be intrepid too

Pickle's middle name is Lily. And Pepper's is Roni

at PickleLily. Me and dd loved that name when we first thought of it!

Honest advice, don't get a beagle. One of the regular posters on the doghouse is a vet and had beagles for years and she still doesn't recommend having them as pets.

Cavs have weird bulgy eyes, sorry.

Beagles don't seem like ideal pets for dog owning novices, that seems certain.

I am going to talk to DP I think and see if we can just adopt an old dog, who is used to cats. That would be my preference anyway, but DP is pretty set on getting a puppy or young dog.

Cavs do NOT have weird bulgy eyes. Some might. Mine doesn't.

Most have. Yours is actually very sweet. Although Real dogs can clear a table with one wag

I know a couple of people who have Bassett Hounds and they seem just like Beagles in all the nightmare ways too!

I would recommend a Springer Spaniel if you want something not too small and girly - they always seem to have lovely happy playful dispositions whenever I meet them. The dogs that IME (not from owning but from meeting/seeing out walking) that are the most gentle, stable, obedient and calm but still happy and playful are Golden Retrievers. Not labs, I'm not really a fan of Labs at all. I don't get why they are so popular.

I would recommend my own lovely Hungarian Vizsla, as they are certainly gentle and sweet and playful, but they have a neurotic/hyperactive streak as well. Mine nearly put me in the Priory before his first year was out.

Or a Basenji? They are a hound - slightly beagly size and look and they don't bark. Or smell. Or shed. Or something. Can't remember which.

Or a saluki - god, they are beautiful. Will chase things though.

I recommend an all sorts mutt. You can have hours of fun pondering what sort of mix might have gone into them Ours apparently had a mostly spaniel mum, but you'd never guess as he looks very lab-like (his siblings were black and white and curly though). Recently we decided that he must have some greyhound in him because he loves to sleep so :)

Fellatio, why not labs? They are hugely popular and it's the dog I always thought we'd get. But I want to know more first........

Don't show Dp this if he's set on a Beagle. It's irresistable

*Irrisistible

BOF my Cavie is adorable adorable adorable, Love him to pieces. He is so well behaved, never a moments trouble, will race round with Beagle at park, or be satisfied with trot round the block. He is a total lap dog, and follows me everywhere.

I will always have Cavies now, no other breed for me and my family. Obviously looking to future, two dogs, cat, rabbit and a hamster is more than enough for now!

My Dog ate Christmas this morning. I am coming round to Cavs and their teeny tiny stomachs.

Alouisee.. awwww!!

Perhaps I could persuade the OP of the merits of dachshunds? Standard dachs is a reasonable-sized dog but on short legs - they are a true hound that can run like fuck - well, the legs go fast but don't get as far as most other types . They don't smell much, but do bark (proper hound bark not a yap)

Disadvantage: Their stature renders it possible for them to get under the xmas tree and leave their own very special present for mummy to find later.

I love Dachsunds - we knew a family who used to have lots when I was very young and they made such a change to our bouncy spaniels and Labs. I would love to have Dachsunds one day. Small dog - big presence.

Somehow I had blocked out the poo eating - but yes, my beagles did that, too.

I love dachshunds too. They're proper hounds, but portable. And slightly more limited in their food-thieving abilities.

My dog sitter sometimes looks after a beagle. She loses about 2lb a week in nervous stress every time.

That's probably my dog sitter!