Beagles, a dog breed, are scent hounds that were initially meant for hunting rabbits, particularly. In the modern world, people prefer these dogs as pets for their loyalty and active nature. Driven by their acute sense, beagles can follow a strong smell and wander off at times. I can leave him unsupervised for just 2 minutes and find him walking across the lawn, heading for the gate as he sniffs. They are meant for hunting and sometimes yearn to be in a pack to go hunting; therefore, he may smell other dogs nearby and walk off to join them.
Do beagles run away? Certainly, yes. The beagle’s nature is to smell prey and hunt it down. It was bred for centuries for this cause. The main reason for beagles running away is their scent hound nature and partly to hunt down prey. Beagles can track a scent and runoff.
For a fact, even though these dogs can run away, it doesn’t mean that you did anything wrong to them. A beagle is an active dog and will always look to find out what’s happening. So if your beagle is running towards the gate or away from your home, call him back. Here’s the deal, if you teach your beagle to listen to your commands, like sit and down, he will listen to you and stop running. Below you will find out if beagles run away often, if they come back and how they behave on and off-leash. Have a read.
Do Beagles run away a lot?
An active companion, the beagle breed is always up to something. These dogs can pick up scents from 3 to 5 kilometers away. Castrated male beagles will commonly run away in search of female dogs in heat. This breed is astounding as it can take up pheromones from dogs far off and even know their gender, health, and mood. He can run away from picking up such a scent just to mate with all this in mind.
Another reason why beagles can wander off is to hunt down prey. Traditionally, hunters used to go rabbit or wild pig hunting with pocket beagles. This breed can track, smell and catch prey because they are scent hounds and have incredible hunting instincts. Sometimes these dogs can run away to look for other dogs to form a pack and go hunting.
Compared to humans, dogs can have a pretty strong sense of smell depending on the abundance of scent glands. An average human has about 5 million ethmoidal cells. In contrast, dogs can have scent glands ranging from 125 to 300 million, particularly beagles have 200 million. Dogs have a smell sense, 1000 to 10000 times that of a human depending on the breed. The beagle’s nose is enormous and wet to pick up scent specks to help identify them. This can allow him to smell scents from the ground or the air, which is more reason for them running away.
My beagle may run away, but this doesn’t mean he is not getting enough love and care. They are just a curious breed, and as soon as their natural instincts kick in and they start to follow their nose, running away is not an option but too strong an urge to resist. Curiosity and this smelling ability coupled up can actually make him run time and again. Beagles also do not like loud noises, like thunder and this can make them run off too.
Are beagles good off-leash?
Local breeders encourage using a leash or a harness on the Beagle breed to keep it safe from running away. If apparently you visit the park and allow your beagle to go off-leash for his normal routine exercise, be on the lookout because of their off-leash behavior. You need to have trained him to listen to your callbacks whenever his mind sways, and he goes off to follow his nose. When playing outdoors, the leash may loosen and let your beagle loose. Make sure this never happens because wandering off can be quite easy under no restrictions.
Beagles have too many temptations to scampering off. A sharp or attractive scent will lure him to running away to find it. Another reason can be to go hunting for animals, say rabbits, that a beagle may have picked up its scent. Their natural instincts, being scent hound and a skilled hunter, often overpower them. At all times, keeping the leash on even when he plays is essential to avoid him playing for a bit and scampering away not to be found.
Primarily, for a beagle pup, keep the leash on at all times. Puppies are curious in nature. Beagle puppies, to be specific, are very unsettled and always up to something. Taking off the leash is giving him too much freedom to wandering away. I wouldn’t fancy finding out that my beagle pup got an accident while crossing the road chasing prey. If I really want to let him loose, I do it in an enclosed area like my fenced backyard while he exercises or plays a fun game. Crate training for a beagle is also another solution to keeping him safe at home off-leash.
How do I stop my beagle from running away?
Beagles, from time to time need to get away from their animal shelters for exercise but sometimes they may run off during exercise. If he runs away, you may have a daunting experience trying to chase him up and down as people watch. This may happen if he is a puppy or just unfamiliar with the owner. Beagles will run away at different periods of time, be it at the park or at home; they seem to be subjected to what their strong sense of smell picks up. This, therefore, means that taking some steps to ensure he doesn’t flee is the best option to stopping him because they can be pretty difficult to train.
First, make sure you put up a fence, but you need to know that a fence around your yard is not enough to contain your beagle. Extra active beagles will find their way outside, either over, under, or through the hedge. To stop this, you must survey the fence to establish and work on its flaws. You can also limit your beagle’s time outside if he is self exercising. Ensure you keep him monitored by a friend or relative when you are away. If you don’t want him going over the fence, you might want to consider removing any furniture that can aid him.
If you can’t have a fence, don’t tie him to a tree. This will cause him stress because he will be all wound up. Just keep him monitored as he runs back and forth for outside areas. When you are out and about, get him a leash or a harness to avoid him disturbing you moving up and down, smelling everything. At the park, you can let him socialise with other dogs and play, keep the leash on because your beagle’s instincts may kick in at any time, and him scampering away will be inevitable.
Do beagles come back after running away?
Training your beagle on simple commands can help you with the running time and again. You don’t need to get a dog trainer for this simple training. He needs to know when to sit, stay or come when you order him to. An untrained beagle will focus on the scent he picked up with his sensitive nose or the animal he spotted to hunt. A very ambitious beagle will chase prey down the street and further away, never to be seen again. Showing your beagle that you are the leader and he has to do what you say will make him adhere to your commands all the time. With just that easy-to-go training, your beagle can be saved from an accident or getting lost.
To call my beagle back, I need something to lure him to return to me, maybe a toy or a sweet treat. He will come back as soon as he sees the item. Another way is to move steps away from him and call him by his name to see the response. If he keeps coming and obeying the commands, tenderly hold his collar, award him with a toy or his favourite food.
Beagles are not usually running away from their owners but just keeping up with the natural instincts of their hound family. A beagle will come back home after some hours or less. Keep the gate open and wait for him. If he comes back, find out where he went out through and cover the spot.
Remember to teach him basic commands and reward him for obeying you. Your beagle has to obey you, so you have to become the leader first to command him.