Breed hub
Beagles
The merriest dog in the world, and a scent hound to the bone. Everything we've learned about living well with a Beagle, from the first thirty days to the senior years.
New · interactive handbook
The Complete Beagle Owner’s Handbook
The articles below answer one question each. The handbook puts the whole breed in order: the nose and the recall, the back, ears and eyes, food and the scavenger, training a hound with food, adolescence, howling and being alone, grooming, family life, and health by age. Twelve chapters with tools you tap, slide and tick, a recall plan, a back, neck, ear and eye sign checker, a portion calculator, a true-or-myth test and a certificate.
Before you get one
Honest answers for the thinking-about-it stage.
Are Beagles Good for First-Time Owners? The Honest Answer
Merry, sturdy, brilliant with children, and a scent hound with a poor recall, a loud voice, a bottomless appetite and a horror of being alone. The honest pros, cons and costs of a Beagle as a first dog.
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Your Beagle Puppy’s First 30 Days: What to Do, in What Order
The first month sets the next thirteen years. A week-by-week plan for a new Beagle puppy: sleep, house training with a nose, the alone-time ladder, the recall word, food rules from day one, and the jobs to do before day one.
Read more →The nose, the voice and training
The three things that decide whether a Beagle is easy or hard to live with.
Beagle Recall and the Nose: Living With a Scent Hound
A Beagle on a scent cannot hear you. Why the recall is the breed’s hardest skill, how to build the best one a Beagle can have, where the long line stays on, and why scent work is the enrichment they were made for.
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Beagle Howling, Baying and Separation Anxiety: Why It Happens and What to Do
Bred to sing in a pack and hunt in company. Why a Beagle howls when left, bays when they find something, and how to have a quieter house without silencing a hound.
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Training a Beagle: The Hound Owner’s Guide
Not stubborn, not stupid: independent, easily distracted and utterly motivated by food. What motivates a Beagle, the five skills every one needs, the teenage months, and the difference between doesn’t understand and the nose won.
Read more →Body and health
Food, ears, the back, and what to watch at every age.
Feeding a Beagle: Weight, Scavenging, Counter Surfing and the Things They Eat
A dog who is always hungry and never full. How much to feed, the waist test, the neutering calorie drop, counter surfing and bin raids, the poisons every Beagle owner must know, and the blockage signs that mean the vet.
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Beagle Ears and Grooming: The Weekly Ear Check, the Coat, Nails and Teeth
A wash-and-go coat that sheds more than anyone expects, and ears that need a weekly ritual for life. How to check and clean a Beagle’s ears safely, the coat and the moult, bathing, skin, nails and teeth.
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Beagle Health Problems: Back, Ears, Eyes, Epilepsy, Thyroid and Beagle Pain Syndrome
The conditions every Beagle owner should know by name: disc disease, Beagle pain syndrome, ear infections, cherry eye and glaucoma, epilepsy, thyroid, hips, and the DNA tests to ask a breeder for. What each looks like and how fast to move.
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Beagle Health by Age: Puppy, Adult and Senior Care
Beagles live twelve to fifteen years. What to watch at every stage: the DNA tests before you buy, the puppy year, the adult epilepsy, thyroid and back years, neutering, and the senior signs that are not just age.
Read more →Not a Beagle question?
Our Dog Language Handbook reads any dog’s eyes, ears, tail and posture, and the plan finder matches one problem to one step-by-step plan.