Hi, Beagles are definitely a handful aren't they, Alfie is now just over a year and although he is great in some areas, he def tests our patience every day in others!
Can I ask, does he chew on the days when he is left for 4 hours and the days when he is left for 7... or is it just on the 7 hour days? It is a long time to leave a dog, we use a dog walker with Alfie, it's £11 for an hour so not too bad. I wouldn't ever have considered trusting anyone else with him, but I've been out with her and she also owns a Beagle so understands he's not like any other dog!
We've been quite lucky, although Alf is very destructive with his own toys, he's been quite good with our furniture! There seem to be a few different anti-chew sprays on the market, we tried several to begin with, but to be honest, he seemed immune to it! Other people have suggested things like hot curry paste.
Frozen kongs are great, we freeze stock which he seems to quite enjoy, just cover the end with peanut butter. Also, he loves to chase empty bottles with treats in, as long as he can't eat the bottle, this keeps him occupied for ages. The only other thing I guess is a pen, rather than keeping Alf in it, we stretched it out and used it as a barricade to keep him in one half of the room to limit destruction!
I hope things improve for you soon
