Training a scent hound (e.g. beagle)

[Fenton]

We used to have a beagle who sadly passed away last year due to an enlarged heart.

Now one thing we never did was let her off the lead as we were repeatadly warned by the breader that they would bolt as soon as they caught a scent of any animal.

Now I don't know if not letting her off the lead could have contributed to her heart condition, but she was always a frail little girl.

Anyway. We may consider another kind of scent hound in the future as they have a great nature and are great with kids.

Is it possible to train them to be off the lead in a park and get them to respond (our beagle certainly never listened to us as her entire world was in her nose), we couldn't even get her to sit.

Any tips?

[Guest]

We had a beagle when I was little and growing up in the country. He used to run off regularly and even joined in with the local hunt a few times. He was so ungovernable that in the end my parents gave him away to our cleaner's husband. Within a few weeks he was perfectly trained and well behaved.

With hindsight we realised that we were rubbish at training dogs (proved again many times since with other breeds, so it's not just beagles - some years later driving through a village I stopped my car at a red light and our Cairn terrier jumped through the window and raced into someone's house through their open front door to chase their cat).

I think you should be fine if you get advice from a local dog trainer who knows what they're doing.

[GSJ57]

So sorry about your beagle. We have a beagle too and I totally agree with you about their world being in their nose! We never let ours off the lead either - but she get 2 good walks a day and gets plenty of exercise following me around the kitchen! Oue beagle does sit and follow a few other commands but will totally ignore us if following a scent.

Maybe training from birth would be successful - I would be interested to know if it could be done too.

[Fenton]

I could never fault her behaviour.

It it said that one should never leave a dog alone with a small child, she was the exception. Even when my son (2 at the time) decided to cut her hair and snipped her hear, she just sat there with a look of "what did I do?".

She never snapped once in her 7 years of life and loved meeting other dogs of all shapes and sizes with no trouble what so ever. I'm convinced she thought she was a cat!