Beagles ?

[SprinklerBandit]

I have a beagle. He is my beloved little hound and will snuggle with me for hours. That said, I take him running 3-5 days a week and he hunts with my husband on the weekends. That is the only way to keep his little hound brain sane. If he has 4 days off, he starts running laps around the house and pouncing on bugs.

It took a solid month to house train him, his recall when loose in the mountains is only so-so, he’s -never- loose in the city, and when he’s hunting, he’s not my little beagle snuggle anymore. Puppyhood took forever; he’s three and finally maturing out of it. He’s not overly destructive, but he’s extremely smart. He only applies himself to stuff he cares about though. He’s fast and athletic.

And oh yes, the smell. Hounds have ‘anal scent glands’. Guess where they are? Yeah. My beagle has been able to ease them himself, but if they get clogged, you or the vet gets to have a fun time. It also contributes to a distinct hound odor that you may notice if things get backed up.

He never was very noisy at home, which was great, because his noises are very distinctive. When we got a corgi, though, he learned to bay at people walking by.

I love him, but you have to understand hounds and be committed to living with them. The corgi is -vastly- easier to deal with.

[danceronice]

LOL, I have found completely the opposite. The beagles and beagle mixes have always been fairly laid-back, if gluttonous, dogs, while the Corgi is bossy, vocal, opinionated and into EVERYTHING!

[oldenmare]

I love my beagle, although she is a roadside rescue and I never would have voluntarily gotten a beagle. I also couldn’t leave her starving in the middle of the road - picked her up thinking I’d take her to the rescue group. Yeah - a really great plan. One look out of those big brown eyes driving home from the CUTEST little face in the world as she snuggled up to me - just call me “SUCKER”. We call her “Hope” for the “hopeful hound”.

That said - she is very HIGH maintenance. Fortunately, to this I am accustomed. She has to be separated from others at feeding time, or she will gulp their food after she’s bolted down her food; she will get into any trash left around (of course, she has a partner in crime there, as the GP will pull stuff down off counters, then she takes it from him); she is a digger extraordinaire (two twisted ankles this summer thanks to her); she rooted out a massive hole under my heat pump that has a concrete platform!; and we won’t go into how long it took to housebreak her. Which still has the occasional “oops”. Sigh. Thankfully, I have ceramic tile downstairs. She used to sleep with us, but got to where she would try to climb between us and then would growl at the SO if he tried to move her. She’s a bit attached to me. :sadsmile:

My backyard is fenced which kept all the other dogs in just fine (7lb Pom to 100lb GP). Not Hope. We now have electric tape running around top and bottom of fence, including gates. It’s the only thing that keeps her in. Otherwise, she heads for the woods and generally comes back between 3-4am. And BAYS outside the front door until I get up to let her in. I wish I were joking.

She’s a bundle of pure love - I wouldn’t trade her for the world.

[rivenoak]

@GoForAGallop;5873467

The next morning, at breakfast time, I plunked the food in his dish. He looked at the dish, looked at me, looked at the dish, and walked away. Laid down on his bed, gave me the patented “I’m a beagle and I’m cute and angry and you should know it” look, and died. :lol: I’m not even kidding.

This was several years ago now, and I still get teased about forcing poor old Jasper to commit suicide because of the diet I forced him on. :lol: He clearly had just decided that he had lived 15 years eating essentially whatever he wanted, and he was not going to deal with any dieting BS as an old man. :lol:

So yes, they’re stubborn! To the death!

I’m sorry, that’s one of the funniest things I’ve read in a long time!

Broken hearted at the diet rations, I’m sure. :lol:

My husband was floored at my description of how the pack beagles are fed at troughs: “First, the skinnies are let in to eat. Then, when they’ve had a go at the food, and there isn’t much left, the fatties get their chance.”

Juni is kind of a fatty by build. She was 45 lbs at her spay appointment, but I’ve gotten her down a bit. She thinks that 1 cup 2x/day is an insult, but she’s looking good.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/bJLbm7U-zXPNnzRdGmt4KlXcSzGG074oEevaA_aUBbE?feat=directlink

Chopper’s more slender to begin with, but I don’t have a good picture of that.

For fun, 'cause everyone should see cute puppy photos, here’s their litter when they were 10 days old.

https://picasaweb.google.com/duddlesworth/JPuppies619202010?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCO3E1f-UkOv_cQ&feat=directlink