My Beagle, Need some guidance/advise...

[FlyinSoLow]

My beagle is a 13” petite little beagle. She is a little over a year old now… We got her last August and she has been ‘running’ rabbits since we got her at 9 weeks old. (Granted she wasn’t doing a whole lot back then but she gave it heck!)

She does great so far, last season she was still really little but she LOVED going out with us, she ran a few rabbits up and down line fences for short distances (all we did was stand at the hole and she pushed the rabbits at us, but we know how to play the game and it was all short straight line stuff)
Then we ran her on a Christmas tree farm after the season last year just to get her out and trailing. We did that up until we started seeing the baby bunnies this spring; we stopped because we didn’t want her ripping into any nests…
She hasn’t run with any other dogs yet because we are been having a hard time getting together with the few friends we have that have beagles and hunt them, but it is certainly a goal we have.

This is our first beagle, so I’m a bit confused with how well she should be doing at this age. To us, she seems really geared for her job, she knows it well, and she started to slow down a little and stop over running her trails this spring.
She can run the rabbit in a full circle easily.
She never really sight chases them though, she always uses her nose, is this a good thing? Even when she can see them, she keeps her nose in the dirt and chases that way…

We take her for a lot of walks, she gets a TON of exercise and she’s still crazy! she loves to play, lives in the house, and is a good member of our family…. But she is still a hunting dog, and she loves it!
We only use her for hunting… but I’m thinking about getting more involved and started looking into local Beagle clubs.

At this age, what are you looking for in your beagles? What can I do to improve her game? How do you keep them happy in the off season when you’re not out hunting? Any other beagle advice?

We love her to death; she’s been a neat little hobby too!

This is Krazy Daizy Dooo aka Daizy (AKC reg. but I don’t think she’s from any ‘great’ popular bloodlines)
I'm sure everyone here knows not to trust the 'cute face' pure evil lies underneith!

[Cutemloose]

My dog is also a house dog and i run him everyweekend both days for a few hours a day when its hot out it keeps him calm until about thursday or friday then hes all wound up and ready to go again so my advice is they only get better by running more and it keeps mine calmer so take her as much as you possibly can

[FlyinSoLow]

She is also a little slow to start opening up...

She always yipped when on a rabbit (like someone was stepping on her haha) however was almost a year old before she sounded more like a 'real' beagle... is this normal?
She howls, barks, and gets loud when she is on a rabbit now, but around the house shes SOOO quite. I guess I shouldnt complain about that, but I wouldnt mind if she opened up some more

[beagle crazy]

She's a beautiful hound! I would join a beagle club and get to know fellow beaglers in your area. Most beaglers are eager to help out "newbies". Field trials are great for networking and meeting other beagle people. Sounds to me like she's doing fine--I'd keep her! And just keep doing what you've been doing. You'll learn more as you go along, and the beagle community loves to give advice!

[recone5]

i agree that she is doing what she should be doing. As far as her having more energy than nuclear power plant, thats how beagle pups are. I got a 7 month old that is non stop. I can run him in the morning at the club, again in the evening, take him to a buddies house where he runs with bird dogs for an hour in the yard, and he still won;t stop when we get home. NO complaints, he'll be good for hunting season. My older beagle, well he likes the couch when he's not chasing rabbits.

As far as things to work on, if she listens like she is supposed and hunts how you want, then just keep running her. Does she work in front of you? Does she bust the through the thick stuff even when not chasing a rabbit?

Beagle clubs are good place to keep a dog in check during the off season. I like running at mine because we got rabbits everywhere, its far away from roads or other things that the dog can get into, and the guys there are full of information and other places to hunt.

[bigjohn]

Like the others said,she is doing fine.I wouldn't worry about hurting the little rabbits,if it is thick enough they will get away easy enough.I think it also helps dogs search when they get on little rabbits that tend to hid rather than run.By the way ,pretty,pretty pup.

[cris axtell/coal hill ken]

were are you from? are you runing at storyland?

[cris axtell/coal hill ken]

sorry i thought you were in nw pa. i run at a 100 acre tree farm.

[FlyinSoLow]

sorry i thought you were in nw pa. i run at a 100 acre tree farm.

We have a number of places to go... Actually, we lucked out around here, it seems like all the older farmers grew up with beagles, but no longer have them and they just love when we bring her over and let her loose... everyone comes out and listens to her, atleast for a little, its amazing how many people love these dogs and their music... I was quite impressed that so many people were so willing to let us run the property, some even go out and hunt with us! Its a good time!

The only thing is, at the Christmas Tree farms you pretty much can only run them, you can't shoot into the trees, which is always where the rabbits are!... which is fine, we just like watching her work.

The future Husband insisted that we not get her spayed, well I won that battle and she was spayed as a pup... if only I'd known how nice she would grow up to be and look, she honestly has THE nicest inside hunting hound personality and she adores children and small animals.

But, its like I told him, their aint no beagle shortage (and wont be for a while!) so when we want another we can just go and get another!
Its a lot easier to do that!

[blckcrk-dog]

sounds like she is doing perfect for her age ,keep up the good work and feed her plenty of rabbit tracks she will only improve with age .

[Moore Beagles]

Marissa
That is a beautiful pup, bred what she is intended to do. Hunt, and be a great companion for you, children, and other people. She is right on track with her hunt, and appears that she has good ability. It sounds like she has a very strong tracking instinct. Some just prefer the tracking better than the actual chasing to catch. Some just are so ingrossed with the track that they hardly see the rabbit ahead, and rabbits are very clever at waiting for the exact moment when a dogs eyes stray away. She looks like a very well bred beagle, Now if she develops into an incredible rabbit dog, the no breeding part is really gonna hurt us! I'd say keep doing what your doing, and everything will fall into place.