Will a beagle be a good addition???

Welcome to the BW pack... almost.

Labs and beagles are a great mix. My father-in-law has had many labs ovber the years. Summer and Murphy have always had a good time there.

As for "destructive behaviors", that goes for any breed puppy, not just beagles. You trained your lab, you can train a beagle. Beagles are very loyal, loving, and playful as well as intelligent, self-reliant, and stubborn. The last three traits are good, but combined can make training tougher, but not impossible. You are raising two kids, thats harder.

On leash only... thats is a beagle fact of life. Beagles are tracker/hunters by nature. They are ruled by their noses. If they get on scent, they go deaf (not literally). They will follow that scent trail until they lose it, which could be miles away. I recommend a fenced in yard for any beagle owner, not an invisible fence. They will follow the scent through the I-fence, but are smart enough to know what will happen if the try to come back through into their yard. I-fences also do not keep other critters out.

Good luck.

Training a beagle IS NOT the same as training a herd dog or a retriever. Both of those breeds were bred to turn to their master for direction. Beagles were bred to be independant thinkers. That said, beagles are very pack oriented and they will see you as a member of the pack. They wan't to please the pack so training while different is not hard in almost all cases EXCEPT RECALL which Murphy's Dad has already alluded to. Beagles will respond well to treats and praise BUT will respond negatively to seperation and/or chastisement. As long as you have a good beagle containment area, they will be fine. Except the fact that you will need to walk them on a lead. My beagle always evaluates all his options when called and 95% of the time, the love I dispense when he comes to me is evaluated as the best option BUT if his nose is engaged, the onoly way to get him is to reel him in (He wears a tracking harness so reeling him in is just a case of pulling him back! It annoys him as he has already called me (Arrooooed) to tell me about latest scent discovery and in hios mind, can't understand why I'm not as excited as he is!


I rescued my beagle when he was somewhere between 3 and 5 and I had a great adjustment. I had a nice fenced backyard which had satisfied all previous rescues but my new beagle expected to be with me in the house whenever I was home. I sought advice from Kristine Kraeuter's while she was writing that book. I learned to think like a beagle and I must say, my next rescue will be another beagle.