Qlick Answers to Beagle Behavior
Q. Do Beagles make good family pets? Are they good with children?
A. Beagles make great family pets provided they have a suitable temperament. Some Beagle bloodlines have a fairly sharp temperament, which makes them a bit snappy -- not the happy companion most families are hoping to adopt. In an adult household where the dog is unlikely to experience lip and ear tugs or a one-sided game of tickle-the-dog's-toes, such a temperament may be fine, but with children in the house any thing less than a happy-go-lucky pup is unacceptable.
Q. Are Beagles easy to train?
A. Well, that depends on how good (in other words dedicated) a trainer you are. Beagles are not the smartest the dogs in the world but they are far from stupid. Probably the best description of them is single-minded. It's not even a question of stubbornness so much as that they seem to concentrate on one thing with complete disregard for other stimuli. That one thing is whatever is coming through their nose. When a Beagle has a scent to think about, little else gets in the way. That makes them very easy to train for tracking but most pet owners won't have a big interest in that. When it comes to everyday training housebreaking, sit, stay etc. the Beagle is a steady worker who needs equally steady and consistent repetition to really absorb the lesson. Once the lesson is learned and can be performed reliably, Beagles may still check to make sure you mean what you say on the next occasion as much as you meant it when you were teaching it. The same is true of many breeds but Beagles seem to take a special joy in helping you develop your consistency and testing your dedication to, what seems to them, an off-handed command to come.
Q. Are Beagles social?
A. A well-tempered Beagle is the epitome of social. In fact, they pout when left out of social activities. But their social side also makes them a busybody. Don't expect to leave a box half opened on the couch and have a Beagle ignore it. They're compelled to open it the rest of the way and even extract the contents so everyone can share in their "find."
Q. Do Beagles bark much?
A. Yes. The AKC history of the breed calls the Beagle bark "the melodious voice of the hound." You will probably learn to call it, and your Beagle, lots of things besides "melodious." Beagles have a true hound-howl and they love to hear themselves sounding off. Beagles will bark at leaves falling from trees, at a bone that is out of their reach, at you walking past a window when they're stuck outside. The main message is that they love company and need to be entertained. Many Beagle owners have had a surgical nick put in their dog's vocal cords. Though the "fix" sounds cruel, it's actually very humane. The surgery is done under anesthesia and the recovery is very short. The result is a nearly soundless bark, which won't provoke your neighbors into tossing poisoned food over the fence in order to enjoy a quiet Sunday afternoon. The dog will happily bark away and no one will hear him, or therefore care! The biggest objection to this surgery comes from people who think they've muted their watchdog. It's pretty obvious that a dog who needs this level of intervention was barking all day long. Indiscriminate barking does not a watchdog make! If you want a quiet Beagle start very early at teaching the dog when it's appropriate to bark and when it is not. Then make sure the dog has plenty of interesting things to do when it's alone. Better yet, don't leave him alone for hours at a time. Like all dogs and more so than many, Beagles are pack animals and crave social interaction.
Q. Do Beagles chew much?
A. I'm tempted to just refer you to the page titled "Mike's Version" (of the Beagle standard) for a pictorial answer to this question. But since by getting this far on the page you've proven yourself literate as well as visual, I'll answer the question. Yes. They chew. On anything they might just be able to get into their mouths, or at least partly into their mouths. They start chewing in early puppy-hood and never seem to stop. The best you can hope for here is to direct their chewing to appropriate objects. For a cheap and long-lasting chew toy, go to your local bike store and relieve them of the many punctured bike tubes they've collected be sure the tubes weren't "slimed." The tubes can be tied to fences for hours of solo tug-of-war, or left in the yard and on the floor of the house. They'll be picked up, dragged around, stepped on, whipped around, and then destroyed bite by bite.
Q. Snoopy was often pictured on top of his doghouse. What was that all about?
A. Charles Schultz was sharing his insight to Beagle behavior. Beagles are great climbers. The seat on the couch is nowhere near as comfortable as the back of the couch, or your shoulders, or the dining room table. Check your Beagle closely and you may find prehensile paws. OK, probably not, but I'll bet they're still evolving. Beagles make incredible search and rescue dogs in urban disasters because of their natural climbing skills, fabulous tracking nose, and tendency to bark (an important skill in letting their distant handler know where they are and what they've found).
Q. Do Beagles require much grooming?
A. More than you might think. Beagles shed twice a year just like most dogs. Their coats are short and easy to maintain with a simple rubber curry or short-toothed comb. The bigger grooming requirement for Beagles is keeping them fresh-smelling. Beagles have a slightly oily coat, which tends to give off a "doggy" smell. Regular brushing keeps the smell down but a regular bathing schedule is also an easy habit to fall into with this smaller wash-n-wear breed. Besides, Beagles like water and seem to enjoy their baths when regularly and gently subjected to them (that rules out a cold-water hosing in the backyard!).
Q. How big do Beagles get?
A. Beagles come in two sizes. Under 13 inches and under 15 inches. Any Beagle over 15 inches would be disqualified from the show ring. That probably wouldn't matter to most pet owners but if you've bought a good quality animal, it should represent the Beagle breed, not the Foxhound breed! Beagles are surprisingly compact and solid. They should have relatively substantial bone and hard muscle making them hefty little armfuls of dog. Be careful about feeding that "heftiness" into them however, Beagles have a tendency to get fat. If you can't easily feel your dog's ribs and see a "waist line" behind the rib cage, you've been way too generous with the kibble (and probably the table scraps too).
