How to Train a Beagle

Beagles are a popular dog choice for a family pet because of their sweet nature, intelligence and eagerness to please their owners. They are a medium sized dog and size can be a factor when deciding which breed of dog to select. Beagles come from the hound family and were originally bred for hunting rabbits and hares etc due to their well developed sense of smell. This characteristic can be both an advantage and disadvantage for training purposes.

Beagles can be stubborn and you will have to be creative to make training fun, or they can soon lose interest or become distracted by a smell they want to investigate. Beagles are very good pets particularly if you have small children. Their robust and placid nature means a large capacity to tolerate noise and busy activity around the household. Like most dogs, they are happiest when their family is around them and dislike spending large amounts of time by themselves. Many Beagle owners consider buying two to keep each other company.
Below are a few options about how to train your Beagle. You will need to chose the option that is most appropriate for your lifestyle and schedule.

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Teaching Yourself

There are many training techniques and materials available for dog owners who wish to train their dog themselves. Look for materials that have been written and developed by experienced, expert trainers. An advantage of going it alone is that you can fit training in around your other responsibilities and work at a pace that suits both you and your dog. Disadvantages of this approach to training your Beagle are that your dog will not get much exposure to other dogs, scents and people. All of these factors are important for developing a well adjusted dog. For more tips on dog-training and handling (very handy if you are considering training your Beagle yourself), take a look at Dove Cresswell's 'Puppy and Dog training online': packed with valuable information, straight from the mouth of an experienced dog-trainer.

Join a puppy pre-school class

Since Beagles are scent oriented, it is helpful to do some training in an environment where there are distractions aplenty. Your Beagle will be endlessly entertained by the scents in the grass and new dogs and people so you will need some very strong smelling treats to keep it interested. If you have rewards that aren't interesting enough to your Beagle, it will spend the entire training session with its nose in the grass! Beagles can be headstrong and are intelligent so they won't give in too easily to your training commands. Once again, you will need to be vigilant and firm with your instruction. If your Beagle is enjoying training it will be very responsive to your instructions and easily pick up your commands. Beagles are very rewarding dogs to train.