Beagle: Your New Pet
Do you remember Snoopy? The adorable and reflexive dog that slept in a little house and it was an inseparable friend of Charlie Brown. Created by Charles Schulz for the cartoon Peanuts in the year 1950. Well, this famous animal is a Beagle.
It has a beautiful look, brown eyes framed with a strong dark line that goes from chocolate to black and a sweet expression that looks like it is begging for attention and love, this dog makes you want to hug it, love it and make it part of the family.
Its origin is not very clear yet, some ensure that one of the last known versions is English but since its antiquity dates from more than 2000 years ago, they believe that it has Greek ascendance in which we find ancestors of this beautiful animal. Therefore, it has not been possible to define the exact date of its creation. What it is known from many historic sources is that this dog was initially used as a hunting dog. Due to its excellent smelling skills, it was used to hunt hares and rabbits, although during the Elizabethan era reached popularity as a home pet for its gentle character.
It is a small to medium dog, corpulent, of compact and squared appearance, of equal length and height, moderately strong and with athletic aspect. It has thick, brilliant and short hair. It can reach from 33 cm to 40 cm to the cross. For its stocky contexture, it reaches a weight between 8 to 16 kilograms (from 17,64 to 35,27 pounds). With a good alimentation and not so excessive care, it can get to live between 12 and 15 years.
As most of the dog breeds nowadays, the current Beagle is the result of many decades of crosses between different species, marriages between dogs from the same species, and hybridizations in general. Therefore, the typology that we know differs a little from its ancestors’, obtaining more fineness and proportions in its physiognomy.
One of the cute features of this animal is its sweetness and gentleness. Everything in this dog overflows familiarity and positivity, even when sometimes it can be very anxious, its great ability to relate with children and old people, its little predisposition to fight and its unconditional loyalty, makes it still be the favorite pet of many American families.
Such is its popularity that the Beagle has been the pet of the English royalty during some reigns. For its excellent behavior and adaptability in packs, it was widely extended as helpers in hunting. Equally, its intelligence combined with its developed smell has made it one of the dogs selected to protect airports from smuggling illegal substances. Unfortunately, for being one of the few breeds that do not possess congenital diseases, it has been a target for laboratory tests.
Since it is very versatile, besides seizing its incredible smelling sense for many uses, due to its amicable character and beautiful looks, it has been the main character of movies like Super Dog and Cats & Dogs 1 and 2. Equally, it was used in packs by royalty to accompany them in their hunting activities as we can see in the French-German movie, Beauty and the Beast, which premiered in 2014. The Beagle is, for its beautiful features, ideal for the camera.
Someone who wants to include a Beagle in its family must know that he will have a new member a bit stubborn, with a tendency to get bored easily, so, it will look for other activities to do. Its smelling capacity makes it quickly decide to find that thing that called its attention and it will not listen to its owners until it finds it. The Beagle loves food, which, combined with its acute smell, could represent a problem if it decides to taste something that attracts it. You must put attention to this subject since the Beagles tend to suffer from obesity.
The Beagle will allow its owner to train it in what it considers necessary since its intelligence is such that it can define itself what pleases its owner that does not bore it. However, with positive reinforcement, some patience and a lot of respect and love, it can become a moderately obedient partner.
You must expose the Beagle daily to contact with nature, take long walks in which it can release the rush and energy proper of this bred. However, due to its amicable and sweet character, its attractive looks and its tendency to please its owners (without leaving what it likes to do), it can be the ideal partner of the family. It is easily excited, it likes to play, run, smell, but it can also cuddle with its owners looking for the warm of their affection.
History and Origin
During the Middle Ages, two varieties of hounds were known in England. They were classified between north and south hounds.
People believe the current Beagle is the descendant of the north hounds, with relatives related to the small Foxhound and the small Harrier, or maybe it is one of themselves but with a new name. During the 17th century, the Beagles received many names, including the ones previously mentioned and also “straight hair Beagle” and “tough hair Beagle”.
One of the biggest exponents and that had kept more predilection on Beagle packs have been the English royalty. In fact, there is evidence that points to its existence during the reign of Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth I, during the 16th century. We have to point out that during this period, the Beagle dogs were very small, forming part of the miniature or toy category. They were even transported on horse loins.
It was at the end of the 19th century when the Kennel Club was established in England. This is when these dogs started participating in dog expositions, and such was the acceptance that an exclusive competition was created for the Beagle dogs. In these years was also established the Beagle Club of England but, just like it happened to many other breeds, the arrival of the World War I and II decreased the creation of these puppies, leaving just a few to cross and to create new packs once the warlike conflicts were over.
On its behalf, in America, from the colonization period, there are registers of the arrival of the Beagle to these areas where Europeans in their excursions brought, among other things and animals, hounds. These would help them in hunting and activities of the new world, keeping their predilection on packs like hound dogs.
It was not until the end of the 19th century when the interest on some fans of the breed wakes to want to improve it. That is the case of Mr. Richard Rowett, native from Illinois. He imported Beagle dogs from England, performing stable crosses and of excellent appearance, being one of the best packs with great results.
On the other hand, was also Mr. Norman Elmore, who, just like Mr. Rowett, imported and created the Elmore line. They even got to work together, producing dogs very appreciated for their pureness and stability in their features.
It was at the late beginnings and mid-20th century when the Beagle obtains an interesting popularity increase, getting to be the favorite in many dog expositions of its style. The Beagle besides being great for its innate activities was also a good companion dog, which, combined with its beauty made it accepted in movies. This dog still is among the favorites of the Americans.
Characteristics of the Breed
Generally, any puppy is cute, almost all puppies cause a sensation of sweetness, but the ones of this breed are especially beautiful. They have an attractive aspect with their fur color and long ears. Besides, they have a sweet and begging expression that melts hearts. It looks like they were asking for hugs without talking, which makes them hard to reject.
This sweetness seems to adapt to them with time since, although they grow old, the Beagle never loses its kind and sweet face. This, combined with its physical features, makes it a very popular home companion.
Initially, its function was principally hunting, whether rabbits or hares, joining its owners who usually practiced this activity using shotguns. This developed in them a wide sense to follow tracks, a lot of determination and excellent temperament, always disposed to please and collaborate. It is an alert dog, tenacious to the point of seeming stubborn, kind and extroverted.
Appearance
The Beagle possesses an athletic and proportioned contexture, with squared appearance, meaning that its height in very proportional to its length. It gets to measure between 33 to 40 cm, counted from its legs to its chest and the height from the floor to the cross. Its weigh goes from 8 to 16 kg.
Its head is elongated, although it looks adequate for its proportions. It is strong without being rough. It does not have wrinkles. Females have more fineness and look more stylized.
Its skull is smooth and a bit domed, slightly wide and with a mild occipital protuberance reaching a clearly defined stop (a slump in the nose) that divides the face into two equal parts.
The snout is medium, is not sharpened but it has a straight angle. The nose is wide like its windows and is usually black although sometimes it has an attenuate pigmentation, especially on the light color specimens.
The lips are well developed without being too voluminous or thin, accompanied by a strong jaw. It has a scissor bite, with excellent fitting. This is because its incisors are closely superimposed on the lower incisors.
The eyes are dun, hazelnut or dark brown. They are big but are not sunk or bulging. These are perfectly separated and have an expression that makes the Beagle look friendly.
Its ears are wide and have a rounded end. These are long, reaching the end of the nose. Due to their fine texture, they are soft to the touch and hang stylishly close to the cheeks.
The Beagles possess a strong neck with the necessary longitude to smell the floor easily. It does not have jowl and it has a slight arc.
Its body is straight, short but proportioned, strong and flexible.
The Beagle has a wide chest that descends to the elbows area. Its ribs are much arched and reach the back. It has a slightly raised belly.
The tail is thick and a bit short, covered by fur with a white end. It does not curve over the back but it remains straight when the dog is active. Its insertion is slightly tall.
The shoulders are thrown back and not so heavy. They reach to the elbows that are firm and straight. These are in proportion to the Beagle’s height, generally half of the total measure to the cross.
The front legs are straight and the back ones are muscular and curved. The paws are compact, with pads and short nails.
The fur is short, smooth but dense, enough to resist any meteorological change, which protects the dog from the exterior.
As for the color, this breed actually has a variety, although the favorite and more popular is the tricolor one. This is composed of a white base with big areas differenced by brown and white tones. However, you can find Beagle dogs with the hounds’ usual colors.
In general, this type of Beagle is born with just one tone, usually black, and it starts getting its white spots by the eighth week of life. Equally, the brown spots derivate from the black areas that are lightening with time. This could take one or two years. There are some specimens that continue to lose the black color during all their lives, completely erasing it.
Besides of this typology, we find other bicolor dogs with white color as the base. These can be combined with light brown, black, reddish, or dark brown.
On the other hand, Beagle dogs are widely known for their smell sense. These dogs can find their prey much faster than other breeds. However, they have the particularity of being better following a track than smelling the air. Therefore, they are not included in rescue teams for mountains, for example, but they are specialists in smelling on solid ground.
Behavior with other dogs
Most of the species, with few exceptions, show the necessity of socializing, whether as a way to have company, as a strategy to survive, or to reproduce, so, it is not difficult having these pets coexisting with others. Actually, the ability of your Beagle to adapt to other Beagle dogs or other breeds will depend on the education they get.
Naturally, the Beagle is very open to accepting other dogs, especially if these are of its same breed, even more, if they share its hound skills. This is due to the education they had for many years working in teams or packs in hunting activities.
The Beagle, just like other breeds, have the ability to deduce how to behave for association or observation, which is a very important resource to build its personality. This brings out the necessity of making it socialize since it is very little so it can understand that is a normal process that does not require much effort.
In general, the strategies to make your puppy adapt to the presence of other animals, whether dogs, cats or any other species, are included in the indicated for its training. This training can be specialized or homemade. However, the most important thing is the constancy of the owners in the education of the dog, accompanied by positive reinforcements.
On its behalf, it is possible to find certain trouble in the education of a Beagle, if its company is precisely the one that for many years was its prey, like rabbits, hares or any that the Beagle considers it can be its master’s dinner. However, this is not impossible, but it will require special attention to educate them and teach them to respect this kind of partner.
If your Beagle will live alone but you do not want to have any problem when your friends and their pets visit you, then it is useful that you take it out for a walk to some park daily and, if it is possible, twice a day. This, besides improving its health, will help it recognizing exteriors, realizing energy, sensing smells and other presences of people or animals, getting it as something very common and normal.
However, dogs are very territorials and the Beagle is not the exception, therefore, it will naturally tend to protect what it considers its own or its owners’. The Beagle will even want to look out for its owners’ attention, showing in some occasions a conservative attitude until it feels that its possessions are out of danger.
Once the dog accepts a new inquiline or visitor, is very possible that it will start inviting it to play, since the Beagle is a very extroverted and kind animal. Very few times it has shown shyness, so it is common to see it barking and turn around, arching its back, softly biting and taking active attitudes until it is allowed to entertain with its new friend.
In this sense, it is recommendable to be an attempt since, if well you can be sure of the training your pup has got, sometimes, the visitor dogs can take an aggressive attitude which could develop awkward or unpleasant moments.
As for mating, the Beagle has manifested a behavior very similar to the rest of the dogs. The male has a reaction caused by the trail of pheromones and natural elements that produce the zeal of the female.
When you decide to have a pack descendant of your pet, it is ideal that in the first place you evaluate the health and conditions of your dog’s couple. In many cases, they could have diseases or inherit conditions that you could prevent or control from the first moment.
On its behalf, it is widely known that the tendency in dogs breeding points to the one called “design dogs”, where they choose the qualities of two breeds and they create a new one with the best of each one. For this, the Beagle has been selected as one of the procreators of the Puggle, which is the result of the cross between a Beagle and a Pug, since this last is more controlled, less excitable and requires less exercise, resulting in a quieter dog to live in the city.
In any case, you want to participate, whether to create a new species or to keep its pureness and bloodline of your Beagle, you must keep in mind certain conditions with the intention of taking care of the dog’s health, especially the mother’s health. We recommend you that you let her grow at least until the year and a half of life, after she has had her first zeal, therefore her organs will be strong enough to have a healthy pregnancy.
Diet and Alimentation
Just like happens with humans and with most animal species, alimentation is a primordial factor in the health of dogs, and especially of Beagle dogs. This is an important point of their lives, happiness, and beauty that, with the right habits, can help them have a long and healthy life.
In this sense, it becomes necessary to establish certain guidelines that you must follow with discipline and dedication. Since this type of dogs generally lives inside the house, they have the facility of accessing to leftovers and snacks that can cause them obesity, especially if they are adults or sedentary. Equally, this brings other series of consequences.
To start with this series of disciplinary rules, you have to define the adequate space to feed the dog daily. If your pup and you are used to have a place and hour for the food, you can prevent falling in the temptation of giving it the leftovers or that the dog eats beneath the table. The Beagle dogs are especially humdrum and although you do not believe it, the dog will be happier if it gets to eat every day, at the same place and if it is possible, on the same plate.
It happens the same with the food itself, it is not true that they get bored of eating the same. On the contrary, if you use your Beagle to eat any industrialized dry food of a specific brand and you decide the brand, you must get into a transition process. This consists of giving the dog a bit of food of a brand and then, a bit of the other, to prevent it from rejecting it.
This transition must be done at least three times during its life if your veterinarian does not indicate the contrary since the Beagle will have special requirements associated with their age and growing period. These growing periods are marked in three essential periods.
In the first period, it needs an alimentation that it goes complementing until it reaches the first maturity, that is when its teeth are completely formed and strong. This is around the first year.
When is born, it needs to be fed with breast milk, this is the ideal food for its forming and developing. During the first months, its organs and bone structure are still in formation. The breastfeeding will give the dog all the nutrients and vitamins it needs for it. Once its first teeth start showing, you can start giving it soft food.
When the first year passes and its teeth are strong, the pup can be considered as an adult dog, which now requires another type of vitamins associated with its maintenance and the prevention of diseases. Among these, we can mention the B12 vitamin which will help the dog in the hair-change and its brightness.
The way of feeding the pup will depend on the style you choose or the one your veterinarian indicates. There are generally two types, homemade and industrialized food, both must be based on meat protein.
In the case of choosing the homemade food, you must make sure that the dog eats all elements of the plate. You can combine meat with large bones, vegetables, fish without spines, liver, among others. Equally, you must avoid feeding the dog some elements like chocolate, milk, cooked eggs, avocado, tomato, raisins, garlic, onion, or leftovers, since these could generate stomach problems to your dog.
In general, families choose industrialized food since besides being easy to serve, on the package are already established the portions and are more homogeneous in the composition of each portion. You must only make sure that it is composed of at least 25 percent of animal proteins and some vegetables. It can contain liver, fish, meat and A, B and D vitamins.
If your Beagle has a good alimentation, combined with daily exercises and some check-ups with the veterinarian, it will probably get to old age with perfect health. However, this new period requires a new food transition to incorporate other elements.
It is very common to see some Beagles that during their old age have overweight, generally because of a deficient exercising routine and being too permissive in the snack consume. This, besides diseases associated with weight, could develop arthritis or joint pain, so taking care of them during this period is extremely important.
That is why you must make sure that your pet eats all food rich in omega-3. or fish oil, just like watching over the amount of calcium in the products. Frequent visits to the veterinarian are very important. He will measure the caloric values and will define a special diet or the supplements consume, in case of needing them. Never give any supplement to your dog without a medical recipe because it might not need it.
Necessary Care of the Breed
This breed, in particular, has a tendency to present some diseases associated with its contexture and typology. However, with the correct care, adequate maintenance and the diet indicated by the specialist, it can have a normal life, without any disease or with the less of them.
As for the care, the Beagle does not require other special care different from the rest of the dogs. The Beagle needs basic care to help it with the hygiene and the maintenance of its physical and emotional health.
These arrangements must be done depending on the need that your pet manifests. In fact, some cannot be so frequent since these could affect their delicate skin. Therefore, it is important to determine the periodicity of the care, classifying them in continuous and sporadic.
Continuous Care
The Beagle possesses a very manageable coat, short and thick, which makes it easy to maintain. It is very unlikely to find entangles on its hair but due to its hound nature, it tends to get dirty and bring rests stuck in its skin or hair. Therefore, frequent brushing is a very good alternative to keep the dog clean.
In this sense, it is recommendable to brush it at least twice a week, which will vary according to how active your pet is and how much time it spends outside. Preferably, use a brush with soft and thick bristles that do not affect its skin.
The best way of doing the brushing is starting from the neck to the tail, softly and repeatedly. You can seize the moment to collaborate with your hand, petting it and checking that it does not have gum or any element stuck to its skin such as parasites like fleas and ticks.
At this moment, is also possible to check its paws and nails since it tends to bring herbs, seeds or other small elements that you have in your garden, causing it irritations or infections.
Sporadic Care
Usually, people tend to confuse the necessities of the dogs with the human’s, without knowing that, although we are compatible species, our anatomic and psychologic composition is different. Therefore, there are many aspects that are completely different, as is the case of the baths.
When you check the Beagle’s skin, you can notice how is covered by some kind of oil or grease, this is far from denoting dirtiness, it demonstrates the health of your dog. This oil is there, especially to protect the dermis of your pet, without it, it can get irritated and be prone to fungus or other severe diseases.
Due to that, the frequency with which you have to bathe your Beagle will be defined by its level of activity, the quantity of dirt that you observe and the presence of unpleasant smell. It is advisable that you wait for at least five or six weeks from bath to bath.
There are only a few Beagle dogs that accept a bath easily. On occasions, it is hard to make it but if you have patience and disposition to end up pretty wet, there will not be a problem. If, on the contrary, you do not consider yourself fit to do it, you can take the dog to any dog groomer where they will do it for you.
When the bath is finished, the Beagle will retire the water on its body with a good shake, but it will always need your help. Do not leave the dog sopping because it could get a cold. Dry it with a towel and then retire the moisture with a hairdryer at a warm temperature, not too hot, this will relax the dog.
Equally, it is important to remember that the smell sense of your pet is very developed so you must not apply to it any shampoo or soap with a smell. Try to avoid that the towel has any perfume, this could only cause the dog annoyance and allergies. For this, they sell shampoos specially design for them, very easy to find in the market.
Another factor to consider is the care of its ears, which, for their shape, tends to accumulate dirt, so, to prevent infections, it is necessary to clean them sporadically with a piece of soft fabric with oil. Never clean them with water and soap since the rest of the water could cause them earing diseases.
The health of the Beagle
The Beagle specimens tend to have spinal disk problems due to the length of their paws and their way of walking. Therefore, it is very important to keep them with a healthy alimentation to prevent the obesity they are prone to that causes them damages in the articulations.
Equally, they could suffer from certain congenital diseases like epileptic seizures, hypothyroidism, or in some cases of dwarfism. Any of these conditions can be controlled with medicines indicated by a specialist, after carrying out the studies for the diagnosis.
How to train or educate a Beagle
Society has been evolving and with it, the type of demands people ask from some animals has also changed, especially from the domestic ones, including the dogs. Undeniably, dogs have had to adapt to our lifestyles during different periods of time.
How it can be corroborated, throughout history, our dog friends have developed in many tasks, some more than others because of their skills and instincts. However, all have had to answer to their masters’ demands, going from being great hunters to athletes to models or actors, all in order to please their owners.
The truth is that each time, we observe them actively participating more and more in human activities, whether as pets, as collaborators and some as vigilantes or companions, for which they must follow certain rules of coexistence.
These rules change each time or are more. For example, they cannot bark to visitors, but now they also have to be good guardians, they must be playful but they must not bother strangers. They must respect the house items and understand they have their own toys. They must not eat beneath humans’ table but on their own plate. They must live in reduced spaces or wait for their masters after a long day of loneliness.
All this coupled with the fact that they do not really understand our language, although they read us perfectly, has made it necessary to have strategies to help them comply with all that we demand and that they can certainly carry out.
On its behalf, the Beagle needs the training to carry a quiet city life since its hound instincts are always active and it tends to distract easily. However, its desire to please its human family means that, with a little patience and perseverance, your dog can learn several basic orders.
Generally, the Beagle’s training goes associated to respect the rules of the house, and the activities planned for it to comply.
Before adopting a Beagle or starting its training, you must define with the other members of the family what will be the forbidden elements or spaces for the dog, where it will sleep and eat, what will be its diet, the probable schedules for the walks out, among other rules. Therefore, everyone will participate in the education of the puppy and it will not see duality or permissiveness to break the rules.
Normally, you can wait until your pup is two or three months to start the constant training but you can start even a bit before with simple orders. Keep in mind that the Beagle loses focus and gets distracted very easily, so you should do this process with as much patience as possible.
It is recommendable that your Beagle does not feel pressured during the training since stress will annoy it and it will stop following orders, it will lose focus and will find something else to do. You can appeal to teaching through games, or make it look like games so that your pet gets entertained, learns and enjoy.
If you observe that your Beagle does not want to follow any order, that it is tired or a bit angry after some time of training, the best advice is to leave it rest. Allow your dog to distract, follow some trail, drink water and then restart with a new order, in order to get its interest into a new game and maybe a new reward.
Each time your dog complies any order or does what is indicated correctly, try to reward it, either with a caress and kind words, or some snack but do not do it in excess.
If you feel like you do not have enough time or the patience to train the dog on your own, then we recommend you to take it with a specialist. In this sense, there are a series of training centers classified according to the style of training and the breeds and sizes of the puppies. You can also hire a qualified personal trainer that will also give you the guidelines to follow to complement your puppy’s education.
When you choose the training center or the trainer, ask for the style and method they use. The best one is based on minimal coercion and better rewards, where they help you strengthen ties with your pet and teach the pet to obey orders from its leader.
Likewise, remember that your Beagle does not understand by nature the human words. It recognizes better our gestures or feelings and some short terms such as «no», «still», «above», among others. It is very important being constant with the repetitions and your determination when you say them.
Behavior with Humans
Dogs over the centuries grew and developed hobnobbing with humans, sharing activities, stories, inclement weather, food, among other things. This, supported by their excellent perceiving ability, made that they could come to understand the needs of humans and in some way how to communicate with them.
This close relationship made that almost all breeds could socialize with humans. Even some of them do not tolerate loneliness or being without their favorite humans for a long time and they could even get to feel anxiety for separation.
In fact, most of the breeds that do not tolerate humans it is proven that had little socialization or abuse in their education since they were pups. So, this behavior is a conditioned response, being just a few breeds the ones actually dangerous for humans.
Likewise, Beagle dogs are famous for being spoiled. They love being part of the family, being pampered and taken into account the activities of the house. Even though some activities like watching TV are not compressible for them and actually confuses them, being close to their humans will make them feel comfortable, safe and happy.
As for their behavior with children, we can actually say that it is excellent, and it is not about trying to flaunt because Beagle dogs are ideal for them. They have an appropriate physical constitution and they love playing nonstop. They represent an unconditional friend that will protect the children for life.
In this sense, it is necessary to emphasize that in many cases we must be careful with the education we give to children. The sweetness and kindness of this dog can give them so much confidence that they get, unwillingly, to hurt it by believing that it is a toy or that it does not feel their abrupt treatment. Besides, instill in children respect for all other animals and living things is always important.
On its behalf, their behavior with old people tend to be very amicable and they can be trained to warn in case of observing some change in the health of their master. They are tender and their necessity to please will make them excellent companions.
Generally, their temperament is sociable, although they are territorial and overprotective. Therefore, a strange visitor can make the dog a bit distant or reticent while it accepts the new company as someone secure.
It is clear that the dog needs certain education to control its modals and stubbornness but, in general, its relationship with humans is friendly innately. However, it needs the training to help it have a less excitable behavior.
By the same token, is worth mentioning that experiments have been done to investigate the qualities of dogs, and one of them is their ability to learn and respond to orders, having a general idea of the discipline and attention of each breed, in which the Beagle is not ranked among the top positions. This shows that although is very clever, its self-determination and decision-making ability makes it a bit disobedient.
Besides, its super developed smelling sense makes that every time he finds something that appeals to him he loses his attention in other activities or actions. Obviously, this does not influence their temperament but it does influence the response that humans have when we want to educate them. Therefore, it is necessary to remember that it is important to have a lot of patience and respect for its nature.
As for the jobs that Beagles are fit to perform, we find many in which we seize its hound skills. If well is true that hunting activities are forbidden in most of the countries, their abilities have allowed them to develop perfectly in other functions like detecting forbidden substances and violations regarding the transport of food in the luggage of travelers and in some occasions, the larger specimens have been used for the detection of explosives.
Likewise, they have developed very well in rescue activities, standing out in front of other breeds. We have to mention an important moment in which a Beagle helped finding the owner of a hotel in Haiti during the 2010 earthquake after he was buried under the rubble for almost a hundred hours.
Besides, thanks to their versatility, kindness, and excellent temperament they have trained for animal therapies. They are used in animal-assisted therapy as part of the treatment dedicated to the elderly and hospitalized patients.
In addition to this, the beauty of these dogs and their ability to adapt has made them one of the favorite breeds in cinema, television, and plays. Even getting to have some leading roles and even their own comic strip.
Ideal Environment
When planning the Beagle environment, it is necessary to consider the factors associated with its behavior and physical characteristics, as well as its needs for exercise and care in its diet. All this is what compounds its personality and can generate ideas about its space requirements.
In this sense, it is important to evaluate the historical evolution of this puppy, which throughout time and due to its excellent smelling ability worked for many years as a collaborator in the tasks of hunting of their masters, chasing hares and rabbits, and following traces even better than other races, besides of being raised in packs.
All this, in addition to its daily exercise necessity, could make us think that it needs too much space for living but actually, this little animal can adapt to any place, whether a big farm or a small apartment, as long as it receives enough quantity of daily walks out to release energy and practice its hound skills.
If you possess a wide yard, farm or country house, the Beagle will be happy of smelling all the area and will collaborate detecting vermin and it will be a great guardian in this matter. However, you must keep in mind that due to its size, it could get harmed with short bushes that have thorns. Therefore, we recommend you to prune or limit its range in order to protect it and to prevent that it gets hurt.
If on the contrary, you decide to adopt a puppy of this breed and your house has a few square meters, it will also be a good option, just make sure of finding a nearby park where you can take it daily to run play and get distracted. Remember that exercise in this species is crucial to take care of its health and prevent possible weight problems.
When adopting a Beagle, regardless of the size of your home, you must choose what the dog’s sleeping and eating space will be. For this, keep in mind that these animals feel more secure and comfortable with the establishment of a routine, so you can choose a space to be your dog’s forever.
When you select that area you must make sure that is a place with little traffic. This way you will prevent accidents like some stumble of family members with the dog and that either of them gets affected with it. The same happens with the eating space. Try it to be in an area where it feels quiet and alone, preventing children from interfering with its mealtime.
The place of its sleeping area will depend on the habits of the family. Some people prefer that the Beagle sleeps inside the bedroom, others in someplace safe of the house, and others choose the garden. All options are good as long as you make sure of giving the dog adequate comfort and safety. For example, if you decide that your dog will sleep in the garden, it is recommendable to build a roofed place and a high place to prevent moisture from affecting it, just like finding a strategy to protect the dog during cold periods.
On the other hand, it is necessary that its eating space has a non-slip mat, which you must clean frequently to prevent fungi and bad smells. A cup for food and one for water that must be refilled daily, always verifying that it is clean. Likewise, you must make sure that these are a bit far from its sleeping space to prevent that this gets crumbs of food, water, ants, among other things.
The Beagle tends to tour the spaces. Although it enjoys being caressed and spending time with humans, it will also try to tour all over the place in search of things that could entertain it. Therefore, you must be careful with objects that fall or are sharp that can hurt the dog. Imagine that you have a small child learning to walk until little by little the dog understands through training what objects are forbidden or in which spaces it must not enter.
As for its tours in the garden, it is recommendable to take it initially with its leash and collar until it recognizes all the smells. You can release it as long as it is a controlled space and you are sure that it will not run to the street looking for something to hunt. Remember they do not know the danger and we must prevent accidents.