Are Beagles Good for First-Time Owners? The Honest Answer

The Beagle is the dog people picture when they picture a happy dog: sturdy, friendly, funny, tail up, nose down, pleased to see everyone. Ask a trainer whether it is a good first dog and you will get a smile, a pause, and then a question about your fencing. Here is our honest answer.

What makes them a good first dog

• Temperament. Cheerful, tolerant, sociable, rarely snappy and rarely a guarder. Beagles were bred to work in a pack of twenty and to be handled by strangers, and it shows. Near the top of most vets' lists for families with children.
• Size. A 13-inch Beagle is 9 to 11 kg; a 15-inch is 11 to 16 kg. Big enough to be robust, small enough to lift into the car.
• Grooming. A short, weather-proof coat that needs a rubber brush once or twice a week and a bath when they have rolled in something. The ears need a weekly look, but none of it is skilled work.
• Other dogs. Among the easiest breeds to have alongside another dog, and many are happiest as one of two.
• Food motivation. The easiest dog alive to pay. That makes training with food a pleasure, once you understand what you are training against.

What makes them a hard first dog

• The nose. Around 220 million scent receptors and two hundred years of breeding to follow a trail for hours while ignoring the humans behind. A Beagle on a scent cannot hear you. Most Beagles spend their walks on a long line, and a first-time owner who dreams of a dog trotting off lead through the woods should be honest about that dream.
• The voice. Beagles bay when they find a scent and howl when they are left alone. Both are the breed. Both carry a long way. Close neighbours are a consideration.
• Being alone. A pack hound left for eight hours a day howls, chews and toilets indoors, not from spite but from distress. A Beagle needs company, or a plan for company: a walker, daycare, a neighbour, a second dog.
• The appetite. Beagles are among the most commonly overweight breeds in every survey, and they counter surf, raid bins and eat things on walks that put them in the emergency vet. Management for life: lids, closed doors, weighed meals.
• Health. Mostly sturdy, but the back, the ears, the eyes and a few named conditions need an owner who knows the signs. Insurance is not optional.

What a Beagle day looks like

An hour to ninety minutes of walking, most of it on a long line, with the dog setting the route. A scatter feed or a 'find it' game most days, and a scent work or mantrailing session when you can. Two weighed meals. A weekly ear check. A dog who is asleep on the sofa for most of the rest of it, because a Beagle with a nose that has been used is a quiet Beagle. The breed is not hyperactive; it is under-employed in most homes, and the two look similar from the outside.

Which Beagle

Whichever size, meet both parents and judge their nature and their noise. Ask for DNA tests for Musladin-Lueke syndrome, NCCD, Factor VII deficiency, Imerslund-Gräsbeck syndrome and glaucoma, plus hip scores. A breeder who hasn't heard of them is not the breeder. Or adopt an adult through a breed rescue where the recall, the voice and the nature are already on show.

The questions to ask yourself

Can you accept that the recall will never be a Labrador's, and walk on a long line for years? Is someone home most of the day, or can you arrange company? Can you keep food, bins and counters out of reach for life? Would you enjoy scent work or mantrailing with your dog? Can you say no to a face that has been perfected over two centuries?

Five yeses, and a Beagle could be the dog of your life. Two noes, and you will both be happier with a different breed.

If you go ahead

Insure before the first vet visit. Buy a 10 metre long line and a harness before the puppy comes home. Start alone-time practice in week two. And read the nose and recall guide before you fall in love with the idea of off-lead woodland walks; it is the most useful thing on this site for this breed.