Tough Dog Breeds: Beagle

Once again I am going to state that I am not a professional and it is not my intention to hurt anyone's feelings. I love all dogs and I am not trying to say that any of them are bad. However, I know from my own life and from other people's experiences in the same realm that this particular breed is a real handful - and people who acquire one really need to know what they are getting themselves into.

That being said, our family beagle was an absolute terror

source

One of my childhood dogs was a beagle named "Pepper." Pepper was actually my first exposure to having a dog as a pet. When I talk to my parents about it now, more than 30 years later, they say something along the lines of it being a "spur of the moment decision that they regretted for many years."

Beagles were bred to be hunting dogs and require a tremendous amount of exercise. This didn't seem like it would be much a problem because my family contained 4, very active and athletic, kids who were constantly outdoors. We also had a big yard in a suburban neighborhood with plenty of open space.

The problems we didn't anticipate was that beagles are pretty well-known for having selective hearing and also an insatiable wanderlust. This meant that we spent a lot of time tracking Pepper down anytime that we let him off the leash.

source

Beagles are also incredible escape artists so even if you have a fenced in backyard I can assure you, they are going to find a way out. We spent more time trying to find Pepper than hanging out with him. Pepper wasn't a bad beagle, Pepper was just a beagle, and you can't change your roots! This dog was behaving exactly how it was mean to.

This breed is also well-documented for becoming destructive when they are bored and they are easily bored. Pepper would annihilate almost anything in his path with his insatiable desire to chew on pretty much anything other than the items we purchased for him to chew on. Pepper was also very vocal with his constant barking and howling in the yard... we never could figure out what he was barking at... we didn't tie him up or cage him, and if he wanted to come into the house he was welcome to any time he pleased.

Eventually we ended up giving Pepper to an uncle who had a farm and Pepper lived out his days doing what he loved the most: Wandering all over the damn place and only coming back when he needs you to feed him.

source

This memory is burned in my mind but the notions I have outlined above are not just my opinion, it is the general consensus of dog professionals. If you don't have a lot of land, a lot of time to spend with the dog, or even worse if you live in an apartment - this is not the right dog to get. Get a Shih-Tzu :P