Speak to me of beagles

[bdj]

[QUOTE=meupatdoes;6891517]
Someone I know, who is a wonderful, life long dog owner, had a beagle once. While a picture of the departed hound hangs on the wall, she affectionately recalls that it was the “worst dog ever,” and says, hey, do you know of anyone who EVER got a SECOND beagle?

I have never met such a person.[/QUOTE]

A really good friend of mine has 3!
Her oldest one was found on the side of the road - he’s done agility, gone hunting with her husband and is a really funny dog. Fisher lets nothing in his world go by without commenting on it in the stereotypical beagle yodel.
The other two are littermates, picked because my friend and her husband “couldn’t take one and leave the other behind”. They’re around a year and a half old and doing really well training for agility. The female is shy with everyone except my friend and her husband (she’s small and cute, but doesn’t appreciate it when strangers pick her up and cuddle her), the male has never met a stranger - he loves everyone! All three go out with the rest of the dogs off leash for long walks, and while they can be a little stubborn about leaving something fascinating/stinky, they’re very good about sticking with the group.

My aunt and uncle had a beagle who was the kindest, sweetest, most tolerant dog I’ve ever met - she was completely content to be a housepet.

Gonna send a few get well soon jingles for the new guy, SMF - looks like he’s found a (much needed) soft landing!

[JanM]

Maybe he’s very dehydrated. With humans I’ve known some who have kidney problems when they are very dehydrated, and then the functions come back fine after they rehydrate. I’ll be jingling for him.

[pdq]

Jingles here as well. I adore the breed - irregardless of what others have said, I’ve always found the breed to be intelligent, biddable, warm, friendly, jovial, pack-worthy, and a sheer delight to have around. Yes, most do tend to follow their nature and instincts for hunting, but that is a product of their breeding.

I hope he does ok and makes a turn around. You have been showered with lots of good Karma for taking him in. Your facebook page photos of him looking up at your are precious! This winter is brutal, and not a place for a little short haired dog to try to survive. We are all hoping little lost Corgi Andy will be OK as well. He’s still out there in the snow/cold, waiting to be found.

[NotAtTheBarn]

I have never personally owned a beagle, and never will with my past experience pet sitting. I was watching a cute three year old beagle and she was great in the house, but she quickly found out that the sound of a car coming up the driveway meant that she could escape. Once she was running to the door there was absolutely no way to keep her inside. Even with a fully fenced yard, I would be hesitant to own a beagle.

[cowboymom]

Aw, he is cute, poor buddy. And I think I would agree that he needs some jingles-he’s got 'em from our house. I hope he pulls through; good job for taking care of him.

[2tempe]

OP - Jingling like mad for the little guy - What a way to start out life. Keep updates coming.

[Skip_s_Rider]

Bless you for helping this little dog. He’s adorable! Jingling that he hangs in there. If he does and you decide he’s not the dog for you, there are wonderful rescue groups that can help. Of course, someone on COTH might just snatch him up though!

[QHEventr]

I ADORE beagles! I have two old lady beagles (OLD beagles are my weakness), right now, both around 14yrs old. We are also fostering a senior beagle girl, and her litter of beagle puppies. They are comical little dogs in general, and tend to be super social. Our one old lady was a failed hunting dog in an earlier time, and was dumped on my husbands familys farm. She was basically semi feral when we caught her, and in the 7 years that weve had her, she has improved, but is still weary of strangers, and really only lives with us because we feed and shelter her. She has recently started begging for food, which if you knew her, is a BIG deal since shes not a people dog. My family all together has had upwards of 10 beagles if you count fosters, and we have loved each and every one of them. None of our have been diggers, or escape artists, nor have they been big bayers (unless alerting to something). They are chow hounds, and will eat just about anything, so lock your trash up.

I am a compete sucker for beagles, especially senior beagles and would love to always have one around.

I would agree that some are stubborn, and maybe learn on their own terms, but a clicker works wonders, and so does food. They tend to be very food motivated.

I LOVE my beagles!

[dani0303]

4 years ago this month, a small fluffy 1/2 beagle pup was dumped on the farm where I was living/managing. She’s the smartest, sweetest, and happiest dog ever. She was fairly easy to train and while she will wander some, she always comes back when called. I taught her not to bark and it was effective.

I know that she’s only 1/2 beagle but she really is a very, very wonderful dog. Your boy has a VERY precious face. I’m pulling for him.

[woodrwo]

Sending tons of jingles to SMF11! He is a brave little soul who deserves to pull through. And I know he is in good hands.

Not to hijack this thread but I am curious from Beagle owners if Beagles do well in a yard with invisible fencing. Do they just blast through when they are on a scent?

[threedogpack]

OP, please keep us updated! I adopted a .very. sick kitty last fall. She has thrived, but it was a rocky start for her as well so we will jingle for Baby Beagle here.

[SMF11]

First of all, I have to say it was Woodrwo who actually found the beagle, while she was trailriding behind my house. She dismounted and carried him all the way back to the barn. So this little beagle wouldn’t be around if it wasn’t for her!

Morning update: the good news is that he’s peeing normally, and drinking too. I feed him every 2 1/2 hours or so and take him outside immediately to do his business, which he does. So far (ok, it’s been a day!) he has not had an accident in the house, and if he is a hunting beagle, I’m sure he has no idea what living in a house means.

He’s very subdued, and spends almost all of his time curled up in a corner of my kitchen. I put a picture of this on my facebook page.

I put him on my lap and cuddled him last night for a couple of hours, and he seemed to like this, but he isn’t very communicative/interactive (you know, how some dogs will “talk” to you?). On the other hand, my friend the veterinarian says he’s in survival mode right now and can’t be bothered with the finer things, like social communication (he’s also ignored my dog who had given him the silent snarl when the puppy tried to get into the dog food bin).

I appreciate all the good thoughts and I’m sure the puppy does too.

[Superminion]

Jingling for your pup SMF! You are doing a wonderful thing, and I’m sure that he realizes it. My guess is that he’ll become a wonderful companion for you.

Let us know what you decide to name him.

[SMF11]

[QUOTE=Superminion;6892590]

Let us know what you decide to name him.[/QUOTE]

My ten year old really wants to name him Patrick, because he was found on St. Patrick’s Day. I can’t stand that name! So my son came up with O’Reilly or Riley . . . if anyone has any suggestions for Irish names we’d love to hear them!

[Louise]

No name suggestions because I’m terrible with them. Usually, my animals end up kind of naming themselves. Something just clicks and I know that’s their name.

But, I will add my multitudes of jingles that he makes it to those of everyone else. He is a sweet looking young man, and I’m glad that he found you.

[cowboymom]

http://www.amethyst-night.com/names/irishmale.html Male Irish names…

Fiedhlim (Fell-um) means lucky but I don’t know if you want to go there yet!

Glad he’s doing better-he’s been through quite an ordeal for a young dog; it’s going to take him a bit to get his feet under him again.

[wendy]

is that they’re sweet-tempered, but virtually untrainable from an obedience perspective.

this is SO untrue. Lots of people do agility and rally obedience and tracking/nosework and drug detection/ bomb sniffing with beagles- all of which require extensive training- they are very popular for many reasons. Highly trainable, fast, athletic, high-drive non-aggressive little dogs. When they are used for their traditional role of hunting, they are worked off-leash, obviously, and yet the hunter manages to control them and take them home again.

People think hounds are untrainable only if they approach training using the traditional compulsion methods. And yes, if you try to force-train a hound, you will discover the hound won’t work for you and won’t get trained- some hounds, a single collar correction is enough to permanently ensure the dog will never work for you again, they are that sensitive and that unimpressed with force. They need to be convinced it’s worth their while to work for you. They respond brilliantly to positive reinforcement motivational methods. Most are very interested in food, and have high prey drive, so they can be readily trained using click-treat and with toys to increase drive.

It is true that when a hound’s nose locks onto a strong scent they often seem to literally “turn off” their ears and thus cannot hear you calling them, but extensive work from early puppyhood on the recall can often stop this problem from ever developing. If necessary, a remote collar can be used to get the dog’s attention off the scent and back onto you. That might be necessary with an older dog who missed the early work on recall. But they can be trained to come when called.

[grayarabpony]

[QUOTE=meupatdoes;6891517]
Someone I know, who is a wonderful, life long dog owner, had a beagle once. While a picture of the departed hound hangs on the wall, she affectionately recalls that it was the “worst dog ever,” and says, hey, do you know of anyone who EVER got a SECOND beagle?

I have never met such a person.

After fostering one for a few months, I get it, too.
I think beagles are really adorable and fun to play with when somebody else owns them. lol[/QUOTE]

Why is that? The “singing”?

My husband’s family always had packs of Beagles and Beagle/Basset Hound mixes for rabbit hunting, and my husband had a beagle as a pet that he gave to his grandmother when he went to college. I’ll have to ask him again but I think that beagle was fine as a pet, although he did get huge from the grandmother overfeeding him. (Despite that he lived to be quite old.)

My BIL had a beagle that they re-homed because he stank (hound funk?) and supposedly he whined all of the time. His wife was a lot of the reason the dog was re-homed though; she was intolerant of most things and they’d already re-homed two labs.

I’ve always heard that stereotype about hounds spending their time doing one of two things: 1) sleeping or 2) following a trail while giving tongue at the top of their lungs.

[Mara]

Oh, he is just precious! Peeing normally sounds like an encouraging sign.

[threedogpack]

[QUOTE=grayarabpony;6892862]
she was intolerant of most things and they’d already re-homed two labs.[/QUOTE]

I was reading this quickly the first time through, and misread “re-homed two labs” as “re-homed two kids”!

must. slow. down.