How to Train a Beagle Puppy – The Ultimate Guide

How exciting! You’ve decided to add a Beagle to your family. Good choice. They are a personal favorite breed of mine.

There will certainly never be a dull moment in your house once you decide to share it with a Beagle. They just ooze charm and character. But they will run rings around you if you don’t put the right training and boundaries in place. Lucky for you, we’re here with our ultimate guide to training your Beagle pup to set you off on the right paw for a long and happy relationship. Just like Snoopy, your Beagle will be your very best friend.

Prerequisites for training my Beagle puppy

What age can I start to train my Beagle puppy?

You can start training your Beagle puppy as soon as you get them home. We know that all you’ll probably want to do is cuddle them and kiss them, but they’re super intelligent and very active, so you’ll also need to keep your Beagle busy with plenty of learning. Beagles are really eager to please, but they don’t come pre-programd to know what appropriate behavior is and what is not. It’s down to you to show your Beagle the ropes, so they become the polite companion you hoped for.

Like most dogs, Beagles thrive on boundaries and consistency. You’ll want to make sure you’re training them with these in mind, all while using positive reinforcement-based training. We can start you off with a personalized training program straight away in the Zigzag puppy training app. In fact, you can even use it before you bring your Beagle puppy home in our pre-puppy section; pretty handy before all action starts happening. You can also get in touch with our Zigzag puppy experts with any of the many questions you may have, and they’ll be happy to lend a paw.

What do I need to train my Beagle?

Beagles are fairly fuss-free when it comes to equipment, but here are a few essentials you will need as you begin your training journey.

A treat pouch – You’ll want to have plenty of treats on hand to reward your pup for all the wonderful things they’re going to do like pottying outside or giving you a sit. My favorite all-rounder is the Rapid Rewards treat pouch; it comes in many colors and looks rather stylish. The Mikki treat pouch is also good and a bit cheaper.

A comfortable collar – Although we’d like to see your Beagle wearing a harness when out on walks, it’s the law for a dog to wear a collar and ID tags in many countries too. Wouldn’t want to get in trouble with the authorities. These are some of our favorites.

A harness – Beagles do like to pull while learning loose leash walking, so a harness is preferable in the early days to prevent neck injury. My favorites are padded ones like the Dog Copenhagen or Fleece-lined Perfect Fit. Find a harness that fits well and doesn’t restrict any movement. There are indeed good budget-friendly harnesses that are still good to go for, like the True Love padded harness.

A leash – A training leash is vital for a Beagle – around 2m should do it, but 5m in the early stages is brilliant. You will read plenty of articles that claim Beagles can never be trusted off leash, but this isn’t the case…if you put the work in, of course. We reviewed leads here if you’d like us to “lead the way” for your choice.

A comfortable mat or a piece of non-slip vet bed – Not much to say about this, just that puppies need their beauty sleep too – it will reflect on their mood and willingness to learn, trust us.

Treats – The more smelly, the better. The wide range of options doesn’t help to make up your mind, so you can find our narrowed down review here to help you out.

Chews and chew toys – Lots of them! Our faves for Beagles are West Paw Toppl and Hollow Buffalo Horns for stuffing food into, and cow ears and pizzles for edible chews. Kongs and Licki mats are fantastic too, literally anything that involves food your Beagle is going to love.

Two identical toys: Excellent for swaps. Your Beagle puppy will be super playful and enjoy all the retrieving games we’ve got in the Zigzag app. It might take some time for them to get the hang of it, though; they love the chase part but are less keen on bringing it back and can easily get distracted. Persevere with plenty of food rewards, and your Beagle will learn the fun of it in no time.

A soft grooming brush – Beagles’ coats generally don’t require much grooming, but they can shed a lot of hair, which isn’t so amazing for your clothes and furniture. You’ll find it important to brush them, or at least get them used to being handled and brushed.

A crate and/or a playpen are optional, but I can honestly say that most Beagle owners would not be so happy without them. Beagles aren’t known for choosing to switch off – especially when they are puppies and young dogs – so having a safe space for an undisturbed rest is really important for them…and for your sanity.

Good to know about training Beagle puppies

What are Beagles bred for?

Before you begin to train your Beagle, it’s important to know a little about your merry little hound’s history and why they were bred in the first place. Understanding where they came from is quite enlightening to know how best to approach training.

Beagles are a historic breed referring to them as far back as 1475. They were bred to chase hares and rabbits. They are scent hounds that will start calling using their baying howl to alert attention once on the trail of a scent. It’s actually a wonderful sound and unlike the bark of other breeds.

What does this have to do with how I train my Beagle?

Well, knowing more about the breed will help you understand your Beagle much better and hence help you train them in a much more effective (and loving) way.

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Beagles are literally walking noses, so it’s important they get to use it.
• They can be fearless and independent.
• Many of their traits that make them talented hunters have left them with a reputation for being stubborn and untrainable. They are neither of these things. They just require good consistent training from an early age and plenty of activity to keep them out of mischief.
• They have strong personalities and are real characters.
• They have oodles of energy so need an active family life.
• Lack of stimulation WILL foster self-employment (fancy term for getting into a pickle), so you’ll need to provide them with items to rip up and pull apart to keep them out of trouble. By the way, if you leave them to it, they will go into your recycling and have a field day.
• Food. They just love food. And will stop at nothing to get at it. You might find a lockable bin useful if you don’t want to find your Beagle with their head in it regularly.
• They won’t stay on the floor either… Beagles can jump!! They’ll easily go over fences or walls in pursuit of a scent or scale your table or countertops in search of any leftovers.
• They are super sociable and love the company of other dogs or people. It’s important to do plenty of alone training early on. Otherwise, your neighbors might have a thing or two to say about all that howling.
• They will need to chew – especially when they’re teething, and Beagles love nothing more than chilling with a chew when they’re older.
• Your Beagle will roll in all sorts of disgusting things… fox poo, rabbit poo, dead animals, you name it. If they find any of these things, it will become their favorite perfume, and one they will wear with pride.

Overview of the Beagle training program and topics we’ll cover

• Sitting
• Lying down
• Learning their name
• Coming when you call them
• Walking nicely on a leash
• Playing fetch
• Sleeping in their crate
• Coping with being left alone
• Going to the bathroom in the right place

How we build this program: Push Drop Stick

So we know Beagles are clever. This also means they can get bored and frustrated when doing the same thing over and over again. They can very much have the ‘what’s in it for me look ‘ when you ask them to do something.

To get better and faster results, you want to avoid boredom. The ‘Push Drop Stick’ strategy will be the way to gradually increase the difficulty of exercises.

In the ‘Push Drop Stick’ strategy, you essentially do the same thing 5 times with your pup. Did they get all 5 right? Move to the next level of difficulty (push). Got 3 or 4 right? Almost there – but you should stay on that same level of difficulty for some more rounds. If they only get 1 or 2 right, you drop down to an easier version of the exercise.

This will help keep it interesting for your Beagle. A young Beagles’ attention span can be short, especially if an interesting smell wafts over their nose. Make sure your pup is always winning at training to keep their focus nice and sharp.

Week 1 – Training your Beagle puppy

In the first week, we’ll dive straight into socialization exercises, training and husbandry tasks.

This is the time when you’re first bringing your Beagle home, so make sure to take some time to get to know them. They can be very full-on as puppies, so you’ll want to give them plenty of good quality rest time too.

You might also need to think about Beagle-proofing your yard; you’ll need at least a six-foot fence all the way around. As I said, they can jump… high. That nose really can take over sometimes.

Sleep Training – The First Week

Beagle puppies are just like any other breed, and will want to be with you at all times. However, they can also often be quite independent so that you might find that your Beagle is happy being left alone overnight quite quickly. Having a crate or bed next to your bed for the first few nights will help them adjust and feel comfortable in their new home while you get them into a Puppy night-time routine. Having them close will help tremendously to avoid accidents since they can tell you if they need the toilet. It will also make them feel much better since you’ll be there for reassurance in the middle of the night.

Alone Training

Teaching your Beagle puppy that they can be totally fine being left alone will be a process. But it can be done well with stuffed chew toys, time and patience. It’s worth doing alone training from that first week. Often, Beagles’ independent nature and the sheer joy at being left with a stuffed Kong will far outweigh being alone.

Potty Training

Your Beagle might be at the top dog at alone training, but this most likely won’t be the case with potty training. Practically everything you read about Beagles will tell you that potty training your Beagle puppy can be a challenge, sad but true. Check out our puppy potty training guide and keep your eyes peeled so that you can be ready to take them out to prevent accidents indoors! Consistency is key!

Socialization Exercises

This first week will be all about getting your Beagle puppy used to their new home. We can also start puppy socialization exercises such as:

• Letting your Beagle puppy explore the yard – Make it a point to show them the potty area is! This is very important in this first week. If they see any birds, butterflies and hear planes going over, it will also be great for triggering their socialization skills.
• Teach your puppy about surfaces – Confidence is something we all want for our puppies. Starting with exploring different surfaces is a great place to start! Use treats, of course, to help them through it.

Training Tasks

Let’s start off with some basic training for your Beagle puppy. Remember to use lots of treats when training. They absolutely love their food rewards!

• Teach your Beagle their name – it’s important that your Beagle puppy knows their name and can respond to it quickly. Turn it into a game and have fun!
• Teach your Beagle puppy to sit – It’s a lovely way to start teaching your puppy some manners as if they’re sitting, they can’t be jumping on people! It also looks too cute when they’re looking up adoringly with those big amber eyes!
• Recall – How to teach your Beagle puppy to come back when called – This is important for safety as Beagles love to greet others and follow that nose to the nearest picnic.
• Play – Beagles love to play, and they will chase a ball but often aren’t that fussed about bringing it back, make sure you reinforce the bringing back with something super tasty to keep the game going.

Preventing Resource Guarding

To avoid resource guarding, it’s important to teach your Beagle puppy that giving ‘stuff’ up will bring about fabulous rewards. This is basically when they have something they don’t want to let go of, like a chew toy, a sock or sometimes just a scrap of tissue. By the way, if you chase them around, it will only want to make them play much more and run away from you even further. For them, it’s the game of a lifetime.

Swaps will do the trick. You’ll want to do loads of them so that they learn that you’ll trade them for whatever they have. Since they don’t have hands to explore things, everything they find will likely go in their mouth.

Husbandry Tasks

Beagles love to be touched and stroked, but they’re really not as tough as they make out to be and should be handled with care. This first week we’ll be focussing on handling your puppy:

• Your Beagle puppy will need their ears cleaned quite regularly, their claws trimmed, and sometimes their bottoms wiped to look nice and sharp. To do this, we want to teach them that hands will do nice things to them and are things they should feel comfortable with, so use plenty of treats when handling your puppy.

Week 2 -Training your Beagle puppy

You’ve made it to week 2. Well done! We’re sure you might be quite tired as the whirlwind of owning a Beagle puppy is in full force. But you’re doing just fine, we can tell. This week we’ll be covering

• Getting a Beagle puppy used to novelty and sounds
• Starting some lead walking training
• Getting your Beagle puppy used to being groomed

Socialization Exercises

It’s important to get your Beagle used to novelty, interesting sounds and to go in and out of the car while they’re young and in their socialization period.

This week, we’ll try the following socialization and habituation exercises with your Beagle puppy:

• Fireworks – Start playing these sounds at a low volume from your phone…don’t make the firework sounds yourself, of course, although we’re sure you’re great at doing impressions. Your Beagle should just ignore them. You can use treats now and again to distract them if needed. Beagles aren’t especially noise sensitive, but it’s still important to prepare your pup even if firework night is ages away yet.
• Watch the world go by – Your Beagle will like to sit out the front of your house and just watch all of the sights and sounds that go past them. They’ll soon realize that none of this – cars, ambulances, unattractive neighbors – is a big deal. Remember to hold your Beagle in your arms if they aren’t fully vaccinated yet!
• Play dress-up – Outfits for your puppy can wait. In this exercise, you’re the one dressing up wearing a hat, sunglasses, or funky wigs. Try using a walking stick, so your puppy gets exposed to new things, and don’t try to play a game of tug-of-war with someone with a real walking stick. Beagles do like to see people or other dogs, so dark sunglasses or motorcycle helmets can be unnerving for them.
• Sit in the car – Have some treats handy and teach your puppy that the car is just a nice place to be at first. No need to go anywhere yet. Just let them climb over the seats and explore a little too.

Training Tasks

We’ll crack on with some training this week, nothing too tricky! Only a few more useful things for a young Beagle puppy to learn:

• Alone training – Sadly, we can’t be with our Beagles all of the time, much as we would love to, so do work on teaching them that being on their own while home alone is fine.
• Crate training – this can be useful when teaching your puppy to switch off. It can also become their safe space when people come around, so they get a chance to have some peace and quiet. Beagles can often need enforced rest periods, so crate training is especially useful to give them the rest they need.
• Teach them their name in the yard – we need to teach them things in different places so that they respond everywhere. The yard has distractions aplenty and is a good place to start.
• Recall training: Add a cue word so that you’re not just calling their name out for fun. In addition, give them the instruction to ‘come’ to you.
• Fetch and drop – the fetch part of the game is usually quite easy. A reliable drop at the end is what you really want to work on.
• Introduce leash walking training – You’ll choose a harness for your Beagle when you start actual leash walking. But for now, we’re just practicing close following in the house and yard. Beagles often want to rush on ahead, so be sure to spend some time teaching them how to walk nicely next to you.

Husbandry Tasks

• Brushing your puppy – Beagles coat is relatively low maintenance. Although their coat is short, they will shed, so it’s worth getting all of the dead hair out to keep their coat healthy.

Week 3 of training your Beagle puppy

It’s Week 3! We hope you’ve started to get into the swing of this Beagle puppy training lark. This week, we’re going to be covering:

• Inviting your friends over to meet your new bestie!
• Working on recall
• Not jumping up
• Teaching your Beagle to lie down
• Fitting them for a harness

Socialization Exercises

• Scent trails – This is what life is all about for a Beagle. Get your puppy’s head down and engaged with snuffling treats from the floor while following a trail of them.
• Invite friends over – Your Beagle will likely love to meet lots of new people, but let them do it in their own time. Try not to rush them or do too much picking up!
• Go for a drive with your Beagle puppy – Key for when you’re starting to think about going on trips. Make sure they’re strapped into a car harness or in a crate in the boot so that they’re safe. Some will like a booster seat to see out of the window too!
• Write a puppy socialization checklist for your puppy: What kind of things are important for your lifestyle, perhaps you have horses, or like going on train journeys? Your Beagle puppy will need to be exposed to the world in the most positive way possible so that when they’re older, they’ll be smoothly walking the streets without anything phasing them.

Training Tasks

• Recall: Teaching your puppy to come when called, especially when outside, will be important for your Beagle. Remember that when a scent floats by, they’ll go off to follow it. It is better to practice recalls often with super high-value treats to have them come back!
• Stop your puppy jumping up: Puppies jump up to be friendly, bless them – Beagle puppies are really friendly and love people. But in the human world, many people aren’t the biggest fans of being greeted with muddy paws. Puppies need to be taught other things they can do to say hello that don’t involve jumping like a nice ‘sit to greet’
• Generalization: Practice exercises with your puppy in 5 different locations around your home. They need to learn to sit out and about as well!

• Teach your Beagle puppy to lie down: Some Beagles will do this more readily than a sit, actually. They just seem to prefer lying down apparently, and might even splay their back legs out like ‘frog legs’.
• Alone training: Keep building on the home alone training week by week so that your Beagle puppy can settle by themselves when you’re not around. A Kong to keep them busy will be their best friend while you leave the house for a few minutes.

Husbandry Tasks

• Choosing a harness for a Beagle puppy: There is a world of harnesses on the market, and some will be better than others for your Beagles shape. Beagles can vary quite widely in size, which means there isn’t an ideal Beagle harness. Blessing and a curse at the same time, really – just try plenty on until you find the perfect fit.

Week 4 – Training your Beagle puppy

Four weeks in already! I bet you’re really getting to know your Beagles’ character now. This week we’re going to cover:-

• Meeting another dog and finding a puppy class for your Beagle.
• Teaching your Beagle puppy to settle on a mat and increasing the difficulty of exercises using the push, drop, stick method.
• Grooming sensitive areas of your Beagle puppy

Socialization Exercises

• Meeting another dog: Your puppy will likely be quite full-on when meeting another dog, so let’s go for a nice, calm older dog who likes puppies for a smooth start.
• Find a good puppy class for your puppy: It’ll be important that your Beagle can focus on you when other dogs are around. For an easier life, that is. Beagles are super social, so they can find this really hard, poor things. Check out the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, The COAPE Association of Pet Behaviorists and trainers, or any of the UK Dog Training and Behavior Charter members to find a good one.

Training Tasks

• Settle on a mat: You know you want that cafe lifestyle with your puppy. Or at the very least, you just take them out to places without any trouble. For this, you’ll want to teach your Beagle puppy to settle on a mat. A stuffed chew toy under your foot with some yummy goodies inside is a great trick to keep your puppy focused on eating rather than up to something funky. A comfortable piece of vet bed or a memory foam travel mat to settle on will also help them stay put
• Leash walking: Use your new harness and practice walking your Beagle puppy around the yard. Despite their small size, they are strong and determined little dogs, so it’s better to teach them that being next to you is the place to be when you’re preparing to take them outside.
• Recall games – Play tennis with your puppy! Yes, it’s possible. Your puppy will lap up the attention of being called between people for treats, strokes, kisses and praise. They love a tickle too! Cute.

Husbandry Tasks

• Grooming a puppy – focusing on sensitive areas. For a Beagle puppy, that place will be ears and feet. Those gorgeous floppy ears catch a lot of dirt, so try using dry cotton wool pads, giving your puppy frequently as you do it. Then, moisten the pad with a special ear cleaner like Epi-Otic ear cleaner to give them a thorough cleanse.
• Never squirt things in your puppy’s ears, though! They will hate it, and you’ll struggle to clean their ears after that.

Week 5 – Training your Beagle puppy

In week 5, we’re going to be doing some training outside. If your puppy isn’t fully vaccinated yet, you can always opt to take them out in your arms or a bag so that they get to see the world. As long as their paws don’t touch the floor, everything is fine.

We’re taking a look at

• Working on items on your personal socialization list
• More recall and leash walking training outside
• Pretend nail clips and grooming

Socialization Exercises

• Go to a bar or a dog-friendly café – you deserve it! Yes, everyone will love to say hello to your Beagle puppy. They will be quite the celebrity! But be mindful that not everyone loves dogs, and actually, you might not want to be disturbed when you’re sitting chatting with friends. Decide in advance if you’re happy with people coming over whether you want your puppy to be disturbed too! In my personal preference, as the saying goes, let sleeping dogs lie. If my dog is calm and relaxed or even asleep, I don’t want people disturbing her.
• Tick 3 things off your personal socialization checklist – what will it be this week? Perhaps you could take your puppy on a boat trip or to the beach.

Training Tasks

• Alone training: increasing time alone will be important – have you tried to leave the house? if you have, well done. Increase the time you are away slowly.
• Recall – Practice your recall outside, in your yard or in the park. If you’re at the park, choose a quiet area and just do recalls on the leash, stepping a few steps backwards, so your puppy has to travel a bit further. You can also think about using a long recall leash so that your puppy has a little more freedom but can still be managed. Beagles are notorious for following that scent, so you need to get this recall aced. That means practice, practice, practice and probably plenty of treats. There will be maaany distractions in parks, so bring along the big guns! The stinky treats and the special toys that your puppy finds irresistible.

• Leash walking – Walking your puppy outside will definitely be challenging! To help out, you can start thinking about it more like you’re going on a training walk rather than just going for a walk. When you’re practicing leash walking training with your Beagle puppy, it can be useful to keep going up and down the same road several times. Walking a Beagle can often be like walking a hoover. To be honest, they are nose down, and in the zone, so you’re going to need something delicious up your sleeve (not literally) to hold their attention.

• Push/drop/stick on known exercises – can your puppy sit on a verbal cue yet? Can they sit for 3 seconds? Think of inventive ways to raise the criteria (the difficulty) of exercises.

Husbandry Tasks

• Start pretending to clip your dog’s nails: Get your Beagle puppy used to you feeling in between their toes so that nail clipping won’t be an issue later. Always use your trusty treats, and have your claw clippers at hand. Whenever you show your puppy the clippers, give them a treat, so they start to predict good things when the clippers come out.
• Grooming your Beagle puppy: Carry on with the brushing and cleaning of ears and face each week. They mostly enjoy it anyway, but using treats will make them love it!

Week 6 – Training your Beagle puppy

In week 6 of training your Beagle puppy, we’re going to be

• Doing more socialization and habituation training
• Following on walks and building difficulty on known exercises
• Checking your Beagle puppy’s mouth

• Tick 3 more items off your socialization checklist – how about taking your Beagle puppy on a bus? Or booking a swimming lesson at a hydrotherapy pool?

Training Tasks

• Following on walks – get your Beagle puppy to be happy and excited to stay with you when they’re off lead by calling them frequently, and rewarding them heavily for good choices. Mix up periods of on leash and off leash walks in the park. You don’t want to only put your Beagles leash on at the end of a walk. He will get wise to this very quickly!
• Push/drop/stick – you can do this on any of the cues your puppy knows by now. We can increase criteria by doing it in a distracting area, holding a longer duration or asking them to do the behavior further away, or having the behavior cover a longer distance.

Husbandry Tasks

• Start checking your puppy’s mouth and teeth. It’s worth checking your Beagle puppies teeth, so they get used to being handled this way and don’t snap at anyone’s face. You’ll also want to check that they have lost their puppy teeth and that their adult teeth aren’t coming through over the top or in front of their baby teeth.

Start gently, just see if you can lift their lip and reward them with a treat to begin with, then gradually open their mouth a little more, giving them lots of verbal praise. Let’s face it, none of us like people looking in our mouths, so we need to teach your puppy that although a little unpleasant, it’s quite normal.

Week 7 – Training your Beagle puppy

We hope you’re enjoying training your Beagle puppy. They’re probably getting quite big now, but don’t forget they won’t be mentally mature for some time, so be mindful of your expectations on how they behave.

This week we’re going to teach you about:

• Going for a walk with your puppy and a friend and their dog
• Letting them off the leash and practicing your recall
• Pretending to put ear drops in

Socialization Exercises

• Tick 3 things off your personal socialization checklist – what will it be this week?

Training Tasks

• Teach your Beagle puppy to stay Teaching your puppy to ‘stay or wait there until I tell you to do something else’ can be such a useful behavior to teach. It will come in handy when you want them to stay at the front door while you go and grab a towel to wipe their paws. Or maybe they wait at the side of the road with you until you say it’s safe to cross? It can be a nice little self-control exercise too.
• Go for a walk with a friend’s dog – The dream! Your puppy will probably get quite excited at seeing your friend’s dog. Use lots of treats for both dogs so that when they’re on leash, they can walk calmly.
• Recall – off the leash. Sounds scary, we know. But by now, all of the fabulous training you’ve done has built a huge reinforcement history, not to mention the growing, wonderful relationship between the two of you. If you’re worried, don’t forget you can simply drop their leash and let them drag it or switch to using a recall line.
• Push/drop/stick on known exercises – Perhaps you can do this for recall and build on the distances they can reliably recall?

Husbandry Tasks

• Pretend ear drops: Beagles ears may be super cute, floppy and soft, but they are a breeding ground for bacteria. Prevention is always better than a cure, but sometimes even keeping your Beagles ears squeaky clean may not be enough, and they’ll need drops, so why not teach them that ear drops are nice from the beginning? Use a bottle with the lid on, pretend to put the drops in their ear, then give them a treat. Keep it light and stress-free. If they walk off, then let them and go back to it later.

Week 8 – Training your Beagle puppy

We’re in our final week of this guide, but this isn’t the end of your training. Oh no! Not even close. Sorry to break it to you, but training your Beagle will go on for many years to come. In fact, probably their whole lives. But who doesn’t love a life-long student?

This week we’ll be teaching you about:

• How to get your puppy to stay calm around runners and bikes
• Teaching your Beagle to target your hand
• Nose work
• How to trim their claws

Socialization Exercises

• Joggers and Cyclists – Beagles love to chase; especially people in athleisure. Remember, it’s in their DNA. Take lots of treats out with you and teach your puppy to focus on you, do some sits and downs or simply reward them for being calm.
• Tick 3 things off your personal socialization checklist – although their socialization window will be closing, it’s still important to introduce them to new things.

Training Tasks

• Practice exercises in different locations: How about going to some dog-friendly places? Why would you go anywhere else, really?
• Teach a hand target – Beagles love to play this game, and it works great as a recall. Targeting is often the basis of many trick behaviors too, and we’re sure you’re going to love teaching your Beagle some ‘party tricks’ to show off to your friends.
• Introducing nose work to your puppy – the Beagle nose is a force! See if you can hide their toys and then get them to ‘find them’ by scent alone.

Husbandry Tasks

• Trim your Beagles claws – we’re going to do this for real this week. If you do them regularly enough, all you need to do is just snip the very ends off. Take care not to cut the Quick, the little blood vessel that runs almost to the end. The dewclaws (where your puppy might have once had thumbs!) don’t touch the floor so they will need more attention than most. They can look like parrot claws sometimes. Just do one paw at a time, maybe even just one or two claws and then take a break. Oh, remember to treat regularly. It will help do the trick a million times faster. You can also offer something like a lickimat to take their attention away from what you’re doing too.

What’s next for your Beagle puppy?

We hope you’ve enjoyed our 8-week guide to train your Beagle puppy and come away with some tips and useful exercises to teach.

If you’d like to make some friends along the way, look out for “Beagle walks” in your area. Often, groups of Beagle owners meet together for walks, and the dogs love to interact with their long lost cousins. The howling sounds they make when together in a large group is quite something!

Looking for more puppy training tips? Discover the best places for online puppy training next. Why not look at some of the other training you can do with your Beagle puppy in the Zigzag puppy training app? You’ll find more in-depth training, games and socialization advice – access to a team of experts to help you every step of the way too. They’re awfully friendly too.

By Zigzag Puppy Expert, Lisa Milleret

Diploma in Companion Animal Behaviour (DipCABT Hons), certified Animal Behaviourist (ICAN) and a full member of the COAPE Association of Applied Pet Behaviourists and Trainers. Read More