beagles

[smeagle]

Originally Posted by Dekka

I dont' want a beagle as they are not great off leash dogs. Sure some are ok, esp those who get the chance to hunt. But those who don't sure seem to miss it. Smeagle your vid was awesome, but I have found even ones trained for obed need to be 'working' to stay around. If you are just chillin and only keeping half an eye on the dog a beagle is not for you.

Yeah of course, when she's off leash and we're just going for a walk and she's not working she won't behave like that all the time, she's a beagle and I like her to do what she enjoys which is running around scenting. But if I give her a command she'll comply with it and her recall is very reliable. I used to have issues with her recalling when she was heavily stuck on a scent, but we addressed that specifically and now she's great.

Obviously being scent hounds training them to do off leash work may involve more work than training off leash work with a more naturally human focused and bidable breed, but then again I have tonnes of labs, goldens, BCs etc in my obedience classes that have no off leash reliability at all so it's not something that always comes naturally.

[Dekka]

Originally Posted by smeagle

Obviously being scent hounds training them to do off leash work may involve more work than training off leash work with a more naturally human focused and bidable breed, but then again I have tonnes of labs, goldens, BCs etc in my obedience classes that have no off leash reliability at all so it's not something that always comes naturally.

Oh I agree. I have off leash JRTs which is a bit of a rarity. I also have off leash whippets... Just saying that IME the beagles that do best off leash are those that that get to hunt. Most I have had in my obed classes are amongst the worst off leash. Super cute, very smart, people oriented, great with other dogs, but not generally into focusing on the human.

For someone like me who likes to let dogs chill around the farm loose, beagles aren't for me. I don't enjoy dogs where I have to keep an eye on them as I clean stalls etc.

[UpTheIrons]

My grandmother was never without at least 4 beagles at a time. They were all rescues, so most of them came from BYBs, one from a puppymill, and a few were tossed away like a piece of trash once they were no longer good for hunting. So you can take my experience with beagles with a grain of salt. Her beagles loved to bark, at EVERYTHING. They loved to chase groundhogs/possums/etc as a pack and would usually kill them if we didnt pull them off fast enough. They were little escape artists and always found a weak spot in the fence. They were very people friendly, and the only thing they loved more than people was FOOD. God you would have thought those dogs were starving the way they would eat.

Also, someone mentioned about obsessive humping. As a child, my great grandmothers beagle was absolutely unstoppable once he started humping me. I was actually never placed on the ground in that house because the second I was on the floor he would hump me.