Are Beagles Difficult to Train? Not If You Do These Six Things.

Can beagles be difficult? Absolutely. But they’re also incredibly loyal and loving. Couple that affection with a good training regimen, and you have a great dog to enjoy for years to come. Here are 6 ways you can assure your beagle (or any other dog for that matter) becomes the pride of the neighborhood:

1. It’s never too early to start. Begin training your beagle as soon as possible. Starting with something as easy as a feeding schedule will help to get your dog used to a routine. If he or she is used to a routine from an early age, and if you reward his or her good behavior often, the chances are severely reduced that bad habits will develop.

2. Learning simple commands early is good. “Stay,” “sit,” and “come” might seem like simple commands, but the earlier they respond to these, the easier it is to train them later. Remember, a beagle is a pack dog. It wants to be the leader. The sooner you let him know you’re the pack leader, the more readily he will respond to your commands, rather than the other way around.

3. Short and sweet. If you’ve ever owned a beagle, you know how easily they can be thrown off track because of their desire to follow smells. Keep your training sessions short, even 5 to 10 minutes twice a day can be very worthwhile. Make the sessions as entertaining as you can so he’ll want to learn.

4. Don’t abuse your dog. We all get frustrated occasionally. It’s human nature. But to take it out on the dog will only have the reverse effect. Physical punishment can make him more aggressive and cause him to be more fearful of you. It stands to reason that he won’t do what you want him to do if he’s afraid.

5. Positive reinforcement works. Who doesn’t like a treat? A beagle is a hound, and hounds are motivated by food. One word of caution, though. Don’t let the dog see the treat before the command is given. To him, it may be a form of bribery and he’ll only obey if he can see the treat.

6. Use training methods that are appropriate to beagles. Again, a beagle is a scent hound, so anything involving the nose, such as uncovering buried objects, would be very beneficial. Since beagles are bred to hunt, anything involving running and retrieving also would be quite useful.

Beagles are headstrong, no doubt about it. But that doesn’t mean training them has to be impossible. If, at the very minimum, you stick with these 6 guidelines, you’ll have a well-trained dog that will bring you years of lasting enjoyment.

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