Should we rehome this beagle?

[AnEasyTarget]

Help! We have been offered a 3 month old beagle puppy as the owners are struggling to cope with him.
He's just a baby, but still not toilet trained and is into everything. We have met him several times and our current dog (a pointer) LOVES him! They played for hours and got on really well.
DH then suggested we rehome a beagle or look at getting another dog.
We did have a beautiful old collie who we lost a few years ago-our pointer adored her and was lost when she died.
We'd have to arrange dog-walking as current dog comes to work with DH, not sure they'd be happy with 2 dogs!
We both work, but part time and flexible. The pup would be at home for 5 hours 4 days a week with a dog walker coming in at lunchtime and taking him out. Our pointer would also be there for company.
Its a real head versus heart decision but we feel we could offer a good home. My heart said yes immediately, my head said ah but.

We realise it would be a lot of work for us, we've never had a beagle before but we have experience with terriers, springers, collies and the pointy one! One dog was a rescue I rehabbed into a therapet, so we are fairly experienced.

Thoughts? Are we over-dogging ourself a bit? Be honest please!!

Oh good luck! Beagles get a lot of bad press but I think it's because people don't treat them like hounds. They try and treat them the same way as they would a Labrador, for example, but they're not the same dogs.

The way forward in my experience is bribery! Mine will do anything for a bit of sausage or cheese - we just cut down his main meals to make up for the treats! But saying that, a good walk tires him out and he'll sleep most of the day away with enough exercise and stimulation in the mornings.

What did you decide OP? Happy to offer beagle training tips / moral support if you took him on!

My partners mum has 3 beagles, obviously a slightly different situation as she has created a 'pack' environment by having more than 1

They can't be let off the lead as they have no recall at all as they are far more interested in following their noses to whatever they find. Can't be fed together as they are super protective over their food, they have to be fed in 3 separate rooms. Nobody can eat any food around them as they will steal it from you without hesitation. Can't even have any snacks or empty wrappers in your pocket as they will ambush you for it and will pounce on you until they've got it. They bully our puppy whenever we go round as they make it clear who is in what order within their pack. They can't be left home alone unless locked in their alley as they will chew/destroy everything. All cupboards/fridge/oven etc have child locks on as the dogs can get into everything

They haven't been on holiday in over 10 years (oldest one of the pack is 11) as they can't trust them going to a boarder and they can't have a home boarder come to them as nobody is willing to due to the various issues and stress involved. It just isn't enjoyable dog ownership for them as it's so stressful

Although part of it is to do with training, and they are lovely dogs, they are so stubborn that i just couldn't deal with it and it has made me certain that I will never own one. This is clearly worst case scenario, but I don't know whether it would feel like a pack environment being with one other dog or if it needs more than one ifyswim

See, we have a beagle and I don't recognise any of the behaviour PP has described, except he does follow his nose a lot on walks!

He's not destructive because we don't allow him to be. He goes to daycare while we work so he's never left alone and allowed to be bored. He's fed all his meals through puzzles and scent games so every single morsel has to be worked for - we only ever feed him out of a normal bowl if we're in a mad rush for some reason.

He has no guarding issues, will happily let me take food away from him at any time, and wouldn't dare jump and ambush anyone for food. He begs sometimes but we feed him frozen meals in kongs while we eat so he's distracted and not interested in our meals.

At the end of the day beagles are scent dogs that are bred to work independently and you need to treat them as such. You can't train them the same way you would a Labrador or a spaniel and expect to get the same results!

adaline I agree, I know a beagle that can be left alone without destroying everything, and doesn't run off (much). He gets a fair amount of exercise.

A beagle and a pointer will have the same sort of hound traits so the op will have experience.

I truly hope you got this puppy op, it sounds like you would be a great home.