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Is the Beagle Right for us?

6849 Views 43 Replies 26 Participants Last post by  Pop_Rivit
Hi everyone, I understand that this is a forum for current beagle owners, and I hope to soon be one. I thought I could get some good advice from you on whether my fiance and I should get a beagle or not. We've been doing research and talking to breeders for 4-6 months now, but we're still not sure if our situation is right for us and the dog. We both think beagles are adorable and would love to have a fun, cuddly family pet, but we keep hearing horror stories that make us think twice. We know several people that have beagles, and they have mixed reviews. Here is a quick breakdown of where we're at:

We live in Boston. Our neighborhood is extremely dog friendly. We live next to several parks, and specifically a fenced in dog park that is usually quite crowded. We are both active young adults (late 20's/early 30's) that like to be outside and get exercise. I work full time during the day, but only about a 10 min drive from home. My fiance is in med school, so she has long but odd hours. Sometimes she leaves later in the morning, sometimes comes home early, but basically I assume that she is out of the house for most of the day, and sometimes until 8 pm or so. We do not have any children, but hope to in the next 5 years or so. We own our condo, and it is about 850 sq ft with a private, fenced in back patio that is probably 15-15 in size. The fence goes right to the ground (which is concrete around the edges) so there's no way a dog is digging under it.

We're thinking of getting a male tri-color puppy. I plan to come home at lunch everyday for at least month or two to let the dog out, and we're committed to going to puppy school, working with the dog at night, etc. I'm worried that leaving a puppy alone for 3-4 hours for the first 6 months will make it lonely and cause it to act out (ie bark a lot while we are gone, etc). We could potentially get a dog walker for the first few months to come let him out every 2-3 hours. Also, we've recently heard that beagles have a problem with seizures. A person we spoke to in our dog park mentioned their beagle has seizures every 3-4 months. Is that a common occurrence?

So, that's where we are at. We're trying to make the right decision for us and the dog. Any advice would be much appreciated!!! Thank you.
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first, welcome to the forum!


Sounds like you've done your research let me adress some of your concerns.

As to the barking, well beagles are VERY varied, in color,size,temperment etc. my beagle is a very quiet beag, and i know its a tossup on what you get. But just because its a beagle doesn't mean you'll have a dog baying all day long. Worst comes to worst you could just teach the quiet command.
As to destroying many items around the house, well i have an 11 months old and to be honest he's def. chewed up a few things. Any puppy you get will likely chew up a few of your items but think of it as a way to correct him and teach him the righ way.
Excercise wise its also a tossup, some beagles just want to sleep all day (my pup) some are just rearing to go , others are in between. I've noticed that my dog loves walks but if i dont have the time for one he's just as happy spending his day playing with toys and napping on the couch.
Training can be difficult but if you start young and are consistant you should be fine.

Personally i've never heard about the seizure thing but i'll tell ya what, beagles actually are one of the healthiest dog breeds they have very few genetic problems and tend to live long full lives

Another thing, beagles are EXTREMELy friendly, they wont make a good guard dog, maybe alert dog but def. not guard dog. In many instances i've found our mailwoman and pizzaboys playing with my dog....seriously they think all strangers are friends. With kids, they are by nature very gentle, atleast i never taught mine to be easy with the kids in our family, he just knew to be gentle even with the toddlers that pull on puppy tails and ears, or just meeting babies and toddlers on walks they tend to really like kids and there isn't anything cuter then a small kid and his beag


Good luck and again welcome, feel free to browse the forum and use the search there are probably alot of threads you'd enjoy.
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Also another suggestion, do you think one of your friends with a beagle would let you petsit for a weekend or preferably two weekdays and nights so that you get a feel for the breed and what it would be like once you have the dog in conjunction to your work schedule etc?
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