Frequently asked questions about Beagles

Are Beagles good with children?
In most cases, yes! Beagles tend to love social interaction with people, and children especially. Well bred and socialized beagles are very gentle with youngsters, and they can be wonderful companions for older children as they typically enjoy attention, rough housing, and interactive activities such as playing ball. The beagle is a "big dog in a little package"; small and unthreatening, yet sturdy built and ready for action. The one area of caution, however, concerns food. Beagles take their food very seriously, and so children must be taught to understand that the hound should be treated with respect and never to tease or approach a beagle while eating.

What are the common colors for Beagles?
The American Kennel Club and National Beagle Club of America recognize "any hound colors" as acceptable. Hound colors include all shades and combinations of white (or cream), black, tan/lemon/red, brown/liver, blue/grey, and the colors of the hare or badger. The color combination which most people associate with a Beagle is the black, tan & white tricolor, with a black saddle marking, and white occurring in an "Irish spotting" pattern on the face, neck, legs and tail tip. Second most common color combination is probably the red & white coloring, also known as lemon & white or tan & white depending on the depth of color. Tricolors can also occur which have a "faded" black saddle, or with the dark pigmented areas being brown/chocolate/liver in color, or even with the black or brown pigment diluted to blue or lilac. Patterns of markings in beagles can range from predominantly solid black & tan, to the typical "Irish spotting", through open marked or piebald hounds where the background is white with smaller patches of color. Blue tick or red tick hounds are those with heavy speckling known as "ticking" throughout the white portions of the coat (also called "mottles").

What sort of grooming do Beagles require?

Beagles should require daily brushing to remove any dead or loose hair. A wipe down with a damp towel should suffice for the bathing aspect, however a rubber, wire, or hard bristled brush would work best for the brushing aspect. The ears of this breed should be cleaned on a regular basis, as this breed is prone to painful ears or ear infections. The nails of the Beagle should also be trimmed. This breed is an average shedder, which can be controlled with regular combing.

Are beagles trainable?
The Beagle is very intelligent and very eager to please making him a wonderful student to work with. However, they do tend to lose interest fairly quickly as they are bound to pick up a scent and follow it. This is when obedience training definitely comes in handy. If properly trained, the Beagle should listen however, if not trained properly, ignoring is a big problem. Consistency and firm yet gentle handling is a must if this breed is to excel as they so desperately want to.
Should I take my Beagle to obedience class? YES! Any family pet needs rules to live by, and an obedience class is just the ticket. You and your Beagle will learn to work together as a team and you'll probably enjoy it too. By the end of the course you will find your Beagle has mastered basic manners, and can sit, stay, come when called, lay down, and walk nicely on a lead, all of which will make him a more pleasant companion to live with. You may be amazed at how quickly your Beagle might learn with a little practice and the reward of a tasty treat.
We recommend that basic manners training begin as soon as you bring a new puppy into the home. They have a wonderful ability to learn things at this age, and you want to establish good habits right from the start. Just remember, that like children, their attention span is rather short and they easily become bored with repetition, so keep lessons short. Be consistent.

What sort of excercise do beagles require?
The Beagle is fairly active and loves long and vigorous walks, as they are the outdoorsy type. Considering they have a very strong hunting instinct, this breed should always be kept on a leash or in a fenced in yard as he is bound to run off if something catches his interest. Two long daily walks are recommended, as this breed seems to have great stamina and be somewhat tireless. The Beagle responds best in a home with a large yard.
Left on his own, the adult "house pet" beagle is actually often a fairly lazy animal. The adolescent beagle, however, is an exhuberant creature who will need adequate opportunities to exercise his growing body and mind. The prefered forms of exercise include leisurely walks with their family or a good run while out hunting. Many beagles are enthusiastic retrievers, if taught when young. The beagle also can be a faithful jogging companion if you wish, but it is important to not over-exercise a young animal as you could do damage to the skeletal development. If you like to take walks with your dog or jog, please remember that it is very unwise to take a puppy under the age of 18 months on walks or jogs of more than 1/2 mile as their skeletal systems are not yet solidified enough to take the stress. After 18 months gradually extend the walks a 1/2 mile every week or so.

Are Beagles difficult to house train?
No more so than any dog. The secret to housebreaking is timing and consistency. The most successful method in the majority of cases is to crate train; the theory behind this being that dogs insitictively dislike soiling their "den", and will do their best to wait until released to the appropriate outdoor location to relieve themselves.
Be very consistent right from the start... Always crate your hound when you can not properly supervise and then immediately take outside to potty when you release them from the crate. To properly housetrain, it is important to not give the puppy the opportunity to repeatedly make mistakes (never allow freedom to roam the home unsupervised before a dog is very reliably housebroken... this is where many people make a big mistake). You must be consistent, even if your beagle buddy protests the restricted activities. If allowed to roam the house unsupervised, and permitted to relieve themselves in the home it is likely to become a difficult habit to break.
As for the occassional spotting around the house: accidents will happen, especially if not closely supervised. Remember, young puppies will need to relieve themselves quite frequently. Ignore mistakes and praise/reward all successes. Be sure to clean up all accidents extremely well... or the beagle is likely to return to the scene of the crime later and "mark" the same spot. Use of one of of the enzymatic cleaners that remove all traces of odor, such as "Fresh & Clean" is a good idea. Remember that the crate must be used wisely, and that young puppies typically can not hold their urine for more than a few hours at a time. With patience and consistency on your part, your beagle will eventually develop bladder control, establish a routine for voiding, and learn the appropriate location to do so. Puppies do not have complete bowel and bladder control, physically, until about 9 months of age.

How can I keep my beagle from running away?
The short answer is, you can't. Beagles are scent hounds, bred to hunt with their noses, following a scent until they're nearly exhausted. Although with a great deal of perseverance, you can train a beagle to reliably come to you when called much of the time, they will never be 100% reliable, especially if they are following a scent. For this reason, beagles cannot be trusted in a non-fenced yard or off a leash.

Are they noisy?
The normal, active Beagle will bark when strangers arrive, at the neighbor's cat or trespassing wildlife, and at strange goings on in the neighborhood. But beagles in general are not nuisance barkers, unless given good reason to do so. Beagles can, on rare occasion, become prone to howling if they are left alone for long periods of time and become bored. As a result of their hunting heritage, beagles may be quick to bark when they discover an intriguing scent, and will “tongue” (produce a baying sound) when in pursuit of their quarry

I've heard that beagles smell, is that true?
Beagles smell only if they're dirty. If you brush them once a week, feed them a nutritious brand of dogfood, and bathe them only when they need it, they should not smell. There is nothing inherently "smelly" about a beagle unless it has indulged in one of its favorite hobbies and rolled in something yucky. That usually requires an immediate bath, after which you will be entertained by the well-known "post-bath beagle frenzy" during which they run around the house as fast as they possibly can, pausing only to roll around on the floor in an attempt to dry themselves off.
Usually, when we hear remarks about a smelly beagle, it is one that has been housed outdoors, and continually runs through or rolls in urine and feces or other interesting scents. To a beagle, these odors can be somewhat appealing. But this is clearly different from any natural body odor of the hound.