Beagle training tips

[Tim Kosteczko]

My brother recently added a new member to the family...
   

And i know many of you use these guys for runnin cottontails, which is something we would like to do with her in the future. we have been doin a lot of reading on how to train her but i figure getting first hand knowledge could really help. she is curently just over two months old.
Thanks in advance
Tim

[Whip]

That little girl looks like she hates rabbits!  She'll try to chase every one she ever smells.  
I haven't owned one myself, so cant' give you any training advice.  Only problem with a beagle is the ones I have known can't be trusted to be let outside on their own without a chain.  They would never come back!

[swampbuck]

Beagle,s have a pretty strong will and can be stubern LOL Their smart sometimes to much so LOL and most of them can,t hear when the nose goes to the ground which is instinctive and doesn't need to be taught.My tritronics shock collar is the best investment I,ve made concerning dog,s.It has a warning tone and 5 levels of stimulation makeing it pretty easy to get their attention.

As for bunny training just get her out there on some rabbits,the more often she runs them the better she'll get at it.

I,d really consider a collar but I don,t think I,d put it on her just yet she's kinda young,mine was an adult when I got it with a pup I,d wait at least 6 months probably a little more

[Guru]

Tom, you can school Timmy sunday...him and his sharp shootin' dad will be hunting with us.....OOOOOOHHHHH YYYEEEAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

[swampbuck]

"Tom, you can school Timmy sunday"

Does that mean he's gonna try on the collar        

[TexMex]

I have a beagle and a beagle/jackrussel and swampbuck is right, once the nose hits the ground they go deaf.  Mine even go crazy on the squirels in the yard.

[Roger Norris]

I hope Ron LaClair posts. His beagles always hunt, but mind like Labs.

[BigHink66]

Beagles don't listen.

My brother tried to having one as a house dog.  Not once but twice, and neither worked out.  Also had a 2 different friends do the same.

All four were terrible inside the house dogs. Poop on the carpet, constantly getting into garbage, jumpin up on the dinner table, one was so hyper active it would just sprint around the house and knock things over.  Reprimands and punishment like the shock collar or a smack on the rear only caused them to become the sneakiest SOB's you ever saw.

Had another friend that kept his outside.  They were ok dogs.  He kept them tied or penned.

Anyways, my tip is to keep them outside and forego the unavoidable agony and destruction that keeping them inside the house will provide.

[Swanny in MD]

"Beagles don't listen."

Dunno about that.  Same could be said for children, but we would be smarter than to believe that.  Tis the trainer (of dog or child) that takes the blunt of the blame if this would be the case.

I've had em ever since I was a young pup myself. My grandad had em. An older friend of mine has had them as well....his dogs are highly sought after.

My kids have two and will breed them for a homeschool project this fall.  Beagles can be hard headed at times, but, hey - aren't we all?  

If they're characterized by getting on the track of deer and you don't want them to....

take and put a couple deer legs in a barrel along with the dog and roll them down a hill.  The motion sickness will be associated with the smell of deer and they will avoid trailing the scent.

Good strong shock collar works wonders.

[swampbuck]

Mine's inside and he's fine when I,m home.During deer season I,ve got to sneak the cannon out so he doesn,t see it,heck it got to a point that I was useing my LB for bunnies so much I had to sneak that out too or he'd be pissed and my wife and daughters would have to deal with him.No problem opening cupboard's gettin into the garbage or into things he normally wouldn,t just because I left him.

He's crate trained and is in that when nobody is home and as for the other part they(my wife and kids ) should be able to handle it LOL

The poddy training.....I tried real hard to not break out the news paper and wack him upside the head but afterawhile it wasn,t workin....only took about a week after he started gettin wacked with a newspaper.

Same deal with the shock collar,if he is in site and I call him he better listen cause he won,t get the warning if I know he can hear me.....I almost never hafta shock him anymore heck I can probably get away without the collar at this point but he is a beagle so I don,t chance it unless I,m in the yard and paying attention to where he's at.

As for the house dog again he goes and lays down at dinner time I don,t like begging and knows way to many words from spending time with us.I can leave him in my truck with the slideing window open and he won,t get out....ofcourse that wasn,t always the case the last time he did get out was yrs ago and he got put back in abrutly thru the same slidein window he got out of....now I can leave the door wide open and tell him to stay and thats that

"Reprimands and punishment like the shock collar or a smack on the rear only caused them to become the sneakiest SOB's you ever saw."

Yea my wife and kids tell me that LOL he,s incredably smart and knows when he can and can,t get away with things.I pay attention and he knows better.....my wife says their female beagle wasn,t like that at all so it could be a blockheaded male thing....make that a blockheaded male hound thing LOL

[BMOELLER]

If its still rabbit season where your at go kill one and let her sniff and chew on it.  Get her fired up.  Then tie it to a string drag it around your yard and hang it low from tree.  Take the pup outside and put her on the trail where you started and hopefully she'll start trailing.  At the end she get that rabbit hanging there as a reward.  
Worked for me when I had a couple.  Then when they get older start taking them out to get on some live ones.

My first beagle was in the house and she was a good house dog once potty trained. But if she ever got out from the backyard or threw the house door, you had to run her down she would not listen and probably have rolled in some crap by the time you got to her.

[jacobsladder]

I've always heard the best way to train is let her run with some good adult beagles. She'll figure out what there doing pretty quick.

[Tim Kosteczko]

thanks guys this is exactly what i was lookin for, more the marrier too.

[Chris Wilson]

Ours is a pretty good dog, not too hard headed and very easy going.  You do have to watch'em with the trash and never leave food unattended where they can get to it.  Our beagle was house broken pretty easy.  She hasn't messed on the floor in a looong time.  Beagle require a pretty firm, but not harsh, hand for training.  And it needs to be consistant.  We do keep her outside quite a bit during the day.  We installed an invisible fence that works with a shock collar.  It only took a few zaps from the collar for her to learn where the boundries are.  Haven't had any trouble with her trying to cross it since.

[TexMex]

Calm, assertive, energy    

[MAC]

Youre better off not to even think about training on rabbits until they are about 9 or 10 months old and then by their selves not with a pack of dogs that know how to make short cuts, that is the best way to ruin a good pup.

[woodchucker]

When I was a kid I had 2 beagles.(not at the same time) I had nobody to "run" my dog with,but I read in an "outdoor" magazine to get a Havahart trap.

You catch a rabbit in the trap,then take the trap,rabbit and puppy out in a big field.You get the puppy "interested" in the rabbit,(hopefully VERY interested LOL)The puppy can't get at the rabbit because it's in the trap.About the time the puppy is in a full blown tizzy,with a nose full of rabbit,you let the rabbit out of the trap and let the puppy loose right behind it.

If the puppy catches the rabbit,Mission Accomplished!!!!! Now he knows what the game is all about.      

Good Luck!!!!!!!!!!

[swampbuck]

Perhaps you have a beagle club near you that,ll have a large penned in area with rabbits in it.I joined one for a short time and my buddies got a pen just for puppies that's about an acre in size with everything the bunnies need to escape puppies inside.Way to small for a dog but just right for a pup maybe somebody will have something like that near you and the best place to find out is at your local beagle club

[whitebuffalo]

I like what mac said. First teach'em to come to you, sit and poty train inside when they got that down there more than likely not to be so deaf to your voice. I also like to use certain words when hunting, Hunt'em up, I'll say to Rose. I like to get her going good before I let her go. Rub her whole body, shake her around a bit (gently) just get her blood pumpiun and the whole time I talk bunny to her. I know this sounds goofy but we are the best huntin parters, if we work toghether. I can direct her to good sign, call her to me, Get her to go for a pile or brush,we HUNT bunnies toghether, not just chase'em.  My neighbor got me interested at a young age. He would leave a pup by itself (20 ft or so away),until it started to whimper for him, then he would call it to him the pup learned to come to him. When they were ready for bunny training he would buy a floppy eared rabbit from the pet store or a private buyer and leash it like a dog. Then get the pups all excited about seeing it, smelling it, then track the bunny off out of sight guiding the bunny around trees, the barn,the house, our house,pines,brush and then tie it to a brush pile and try to geet it to hide a little bit. Then let the dogs out on its track... the dogs never killed a rabbit when they found it.   He has the best dogs in this county. Ever see 6 dogs running a track in a line, on heck of a crazy site to see. and they worked like a well oiled machine all as one.  

Take care JB.

[Incognito]

I have beagles and start all of mine when they are 5 months old on a rabbit hide. I keep one in the freezer with a string on it and get it out in the yard and let them chase and play with it. When they are about 6 months old I start taking them with the older running dogs, it doesn't take them long to start. Beagles are the easiest hunting dog there is to train. Most any beagle from hunting stock will run a rabbit. Now, whether or not they are good at it is a whole nother story. I have a nice 2 yr old male that will run the fire out of a rabbit that I would give ya if ya want to drive to Texas to get it.