Bramble the beagle

[sallyrowe]

I acquired a lovely 3 year old beagle bitch last September who is great in every way except when I let her off the lead. I only let her off in the field behind my home, but have to wait ages before she decides to come back to me, even though I give her a treat when she comes finally comes to heel! It seems such a shame to have to keep a young active dog permanently on a lead. I have not tried using a whistle. Does anyone have any advice?

[RATTER15]

Firstly get some treats that she would die for, probably something like cooked liver, don't be mean with it, she wont return for a piece the size of your finger tip.
Start with a long training lead if you have one or a long rope, call her with plenty of excitement, if she doesn't come immediately reel her in on the lead, give her loads of excited praise and her liver treat. one she has got the message just give her the treat every other time. You really do need a very good treat for this to work, none of the shop bought treats is good enough, cooked liver can be messy but well worth the effort.

[D_James]

Use a longer leash or even better a length of rope and keep her tethered. Make sure you have plenty of her favourite titbits and come home at a set time each visit. She will soon learn.

[RATTER15]

You will need to practice this for about half an hour every day, don't go too mad on the liver though, it may give her the squits.

Whistles are good but stick to the same whistle so the pitch doesn't keep varying or you will confuse your dog.

[woofgang]

As well as long leash practice, do the recall loads of times around the house too. I used the whistle before feeding and loads of other times, praising and treating each time except of course at mealtime when the treat is the meal. Once he has got the hang of it in the house, start it in the field but not at times when he's distracted. The idea is to get him into the habit at times coming to you WITHOUT DOUBT then upping the ante to more distracting situations. If there is anywhere in the field to hide, if you call and he doesn't come, go hide or lie flat on the ground. Eventually he will realise that you have vanished and come looking, when he finds you praise and treat. The thing to avoid is only calling him to you when its time to go so lots of recalls praise and treats and maybe on the lead, short walk (3 or 4 steps) then praise and off lead again. Of course, all this works better if you ytake him out good and hungry and the treats must be totally fabby.

[tinpotLizzie]

She's a hound doing what comes naturally to a hound, i.e. hunting & investigating each & every smell & sound while she's free! Hounds are pack dogs by nature & she probably enjoys the company of other dogs too.

[sallyrowe]

Thanks to everyone for their advice. The training is working already!

[woofgang]

glad to hear it...a good dog and agood owner is an unbeatable combination!!

[lankeela]

Unfortunately this is classic Beagle behaviour, they hunt by scent and just follow their noses. You will be extremely lucky to get 100% control. I would use a long line like a horse lunge rein to ensure your dog does not run off and get killed on a road or shot by a farmer.