Beagle advice

[Okki]

Hello

Our landlord has said we can get a dog. (Longterm tenants and if LL sells, we'd buy so no plans to move). We are looking to rehome a Beagle and have been looking at the Beagle Welfare site. This would be a first dog for us as a family - 2 DC's aged 11 and 8, though I grew up with many dogs of various breeds - we had 6 at one point! Not had a Beagle before though. I've done quite a lot of reading about them - I'm at home so it wouldn't t be left for long periods and we are rural so lots of walks. I'm aware that dog may not be an off lead walker. We're in the East Midlands if anyone knows of local rehoming charities.

What should I look out for/ questions to ask when finding our dog?

Thanks. I'm very excited

Beagles are brilliant dogs, but they are HARD work!! No recall, can't leave them alone for a second. I loved mibe, and had them for 16 and 14 years, but DH out his foot down, so now we have an impeccably behaved collie.

I miss my crazy beagles though.

I've been wondering about their fur - what's it like to get out of clothes and how much do they shed. We had a collie - she was a lovely nutter, but oh so hairy.

Our garden is secure, though not enormous so DDog would have run around/alone time.

I don't know anything about them, but I see a few out and about locally (urban area) and they all seem distinctly overweight, so I do wonder about their exercise needs vs food intake.

I know a few, not my own but family members. Lovely family dogs from what I can see. However, very very very food orientated, like will eat anything. Also exceptionally noisey. They both bark constantly for attention and well food. Absolutely zero recall, they get a scent and that's it, gone. They do lure you into thinking that will not be the case, then make you pay for it with a mass search for them.

Love them both to bits though. As do all the kids.

Don't think hair a particular issue, not that I've noticed anyway.

In terms of hair, it goes everywhere from our beagle! The vac is always full of his hair and wr are always covered in it. Dogs Trust have a few beagles who have come from labs. That is where we got ours.

I've heard they are little dust bins on legs.

We have a beagle, he doesn’t shed at all!
It took us a while to get him used to being left alone for any period of time, but now he’s absolutely fine. We have a 4 and 2 year old and he is fantastic with them. His recall is crap despite plenty of training classes but luckily we have a large enclosed dog park nearby for him to run around in. He’s great, a really lovely dog.
Oh and he’s not overweight, and neither is my dad’s beagle.
We’re also in the East Midlands but don’t know of any rehoming charities here.

Also ours isn’t particularly bothered by food. Doesn’t beg, rarely even eats the food the DC drop on the floor (unless it’s chicken or cheese!).

Final point I promise... he rarely barks. Doesn’t bark at the postman etc. Occasionally howls when we’re playing with him.

Eat anything!
Not very good at recall.
Bark is a holler that is brain rattling.
This is my experience of beagles, I do like them though, they're full of character!

I am a volunteer for Beagle welfare and currently have 2 foster dogs from them :)

Beagles are very very hard - have you joined any Beagle sites on Faceboook, they are great for advice!

Have you also checked their policy? I'm pretty sure children have to be 9 to adopt a Beagle into the family.

They are food obsessed, naughty hellhounds, but so rewarding - it might be useful to ring the rehoming centre for a chat as they can give you lots of info and advice.

One of my Beagles sheds tufts of fur, one doesn't shed at all, but all do shed some! We have to hoover twice a day to keep ontop of it as we have 5 including our two foster dogs!

They are pack animals so you need to be willing to get out an socialise them, but there are plenty of group Beagle walks.

They can be particularly loving and cuddle monsters and are so rewarding!

Bear in mind that it is very rare our Beagle welfare dogs don't have some sort of issue or other and that you will have to pass a phone interview and a Home check to be granted a dog from us xx

We have a nearly 1yo beagle, he is lovely but a LOT of work. He doesn’t shed too much as I brush him every other day (he loves it!) and he gets probably 2 40 min walks a day if not longer :-) he is quite lazy and oddly for a beagle can be quite fussy with food !

He is bigger than we were told he would be (not really an issue for us but worth thinking about if size is a problem) but he is pure muscle so quite strong if he finds something to pull on his lead for. Training hasn’t been too hard but his recall is shocking 🙈 especially if he wants to chase another dog so we rarely let him off leash in open areas! Luckily we have a good dog park close by.

Beagles are incredibly loving dogs and mine does love babies (he likes to rock my nephew in his bouncer) but I would never leave him alone with a child because he does pretend to nip sometimes. I should explain, he doesn’t actually come anywhere near you with his teeth but pretends he is going to (so you pull your hand back). And when he does this I tell him ‘No’ and he licks profusely as an apology!

He will lick anything that stays still long enough!

Good luck with your beagle and PM me if you need any more specific advice/answers :-)