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Thinking about getting a Beagle. Do they make good house pets? I have younger children. Would also like to use it for the local bunnies. So please tell me the good and bad if you've had any experience with this breed. | ||
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One of Us |
The first dog I had after getting married was a beagle. She was fairly easy to housebreak and train to trail rabbit scent. I could not however, break her of wanting to dig out of the yard and travel. She was a very good, friendly house dog but she also shed hair fairly badly but no worse than my Labradors. When I was reassigned overseas, my parents took her and kept her a house pet until she died. Beagles are a great size for house pets. And, she was very good with my brother's children and they were young at that time. She could also be very loud and really howled (bugled) when someone would leave without her. This was often a bit of a problem when I would leave her in the ranch house at 4:30 to go out for deer. As with other breeds, there are good and bad points. I enjoyed the beagle and she was a good dog. My experience is based on a sample of one. Your experience, expectations, and intended use (hunting or pet) would seem to best help you select the breed you want. I saw nothing that would cause me to advise anyone not to get one. "Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult." | |||
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I think they can be as good a housepet as any other. But, in general hounds are more independent...not their fault, they've been bred that way. So, they're gonna go off huntin if there's nothing stopping them. Make sure you get your Beagle from real hunting stock. I'm not impressed with these brace Beagles that are popular in the AKC. I'd go with a dog from large pack stock, dogs that can really get out and drive game. | |||
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One of Us |
Beagles have been discussed on here before. My experience is also based on a sample of one. For our female, "Whiskey River Thunder", I would use a stronger term than "independent" - I would use "defiant". But, as JonP stated, they've been bred that way. The kids and wife absolutely adored the animal. And I loved her too, but when she'd roll in the most disgusting filth she could find (she was most miserable right after a bath), when she refused to come in at 11pm or midnight, when she'd get out and run deer into the next neighborhood until she'd almost die of exhaustion (and take the lab along for 1/2 the distance until the lab would wise up and find a human to befriend her), well sir that all comes under the heading of "Dad's job" to fix. The bugling is a concern depending upon where you live. Before we moved to a larger place and she got older and slightly more subdued, I'm certain that I had some neighbors that hated me because of the noise. There aren't many things cuter than a beagle puppy. But I will never own another one. Hopefully she is running everything that moves in the Happy Hunting Grounds to her heart's content. | |||
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I have owned beagles for 50 years. They make great house pets. All the bad side of them has already been mentioned. Over the years i think i have had two that i would't trust around kids. At one time i had 6 beagles in the house. Down to 2 now but can no longer hunts so they are just pets. I love beagles. | |||
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I still chuckle over the last time this question was posed and your response. The driving around in the car with the crying wife is just to true and funny if its not you. | |||
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I've owned around 20 beagles, and currently have one. They make decent house pets, but they have a stubborn streak that makes housebreaking them trying at times. My current beagle took around 5 months to be 100% accident-free, but now she does fine. Additionally, they'll get into anything that smells good and is within reach. It's a good idea to keep lids on all your garbage cans if you reside with a beagle and don't leave any food unattended on low tables. Mine have all been at least tolerant of little kids. I haven't had any that I wouldn't trust around little ones. I've only had a couple that didn't love kids and love to play with kids. Training most beagles to hunt rabbits is easy as pie, as long as they come from decent hunting stock. I've always just taken mine hunting, and they pick up on it pretty quick. Sometimes I've had some trouble with mine running deer, but a shock collar fixes that pretty fast. | |||
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