Hi,

I'm really hoping & praying that someone can help, my 1 year old Beagle, Alfie has just discoverd deer! On Friday my partner walked him and there was a young deer in the woods, apparently it took about fifteen minutes but thankfully as the deer stayed put my partner finally managed to grab him and put him on his lead. His recall is generally quite good unless there is a distraction but not usually that bad.

Anyway, I walked him yesterday with my parents and their dog, we were on the way back from the walk when all of the sudden he was gone! He had been being really good, staying close etc, when he just started tracking, barking and then ran off. We didn't find him again until nearly 4 hours later, it was absolutely terrifying, there were a few occassions when we managed to find him but just couldn't get close. He had his nose to the ground and was just running along barking to himself, it was like we were invincible. Most of the time we could hear him in the distance barking, he went for miles, eventually we lost my mum (the only one who didn't have a phone) she came across him in the woods, he was apparently just stood watching her, anyway she grabbed him and raised the alarm at a local garden centre.

I have no idea how to prevent this in the future other than never letting him off again which we absolutely do not want to do. We've done 18 weeks of training previously plus 1-2-1 training at home with a behavioural expert. We knew as he's a beagle recall would always be a struggle but there is no way I can go through that again, I was so distraught by the time we finally got home. I went through barbed wire, brambles, frozen ice everything and spent the day crying and shaking, whereas he slept all day and apart from a few scratches is absolutely fine.

We are already booked on a 4 week recall course that starts on Saturday but I'm just not convinced it will help. He becomes completely fixated and I really fear nothing and no-one will be able to help.

I just can't believe how lucky we were to find him and that he has not been hurt or taken. I feel so bad, I couldn't go near him for hours, he's cuddled up to me now, he means everything to me and I can't lose him.

Does anyone have any ideas/ advice, anything would be really appreciated. I know it sounds silly but are deer always around or are there certain times of the year when they're out and about more?

Sorry for the rant and that its so long!

Hollie & alf x

So sorry to hear your problems, most of my dogs have gone through a spell of chasing deer, in your case I think you are going to need professional advice.
Maybe see if there is a beagle pack near to you and try and get some advice from them. Beagles have such strong hunting instincts and you will probably need a specialist trainer

It's great you've booked in for recall lessons.
I would keep him on a long line until he is fully trained.
I don't know much about deer, but I see them pretty much all year round.

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A dog Possesses Beauty without Vanity,Strength without Insolence, Courage without Ferocity, And all the Virtues of Man without his Vices.

Good for you for signing up to the recall class, I wish my brother had done that with his beagle (who I'm currently looking after and unable to let off lead)

Beagles are pack animals, do you have a mate with a reliable dog that you could allow to trot around with your dog? See if this focuses his attention away from sniffing for a minute or two?

In the meantime I would go back to the behaviourist you consulted originally and ask for follow up.

BTW Alfie is gorgeous!!

Sorry to say this but I fear this is a problem you mayl never cure, once beagles get the scent - thats it they can go for miles, maybe you should use a tracking lead to give your dog some degree of freedom without fear of losing him


when booking the course did you tell them that your dog was a beagle?
regards
DT

Thanks everyone for the comments, so far.

Yes the course we were booked on for Saturday is with the behavioural expert who did the 1-2-1 with him and the previous training.

I spoke to her today and she suggested we cancel Saturday as it would involve letting him off in the woods and there's too high a risk with the deer around at present. We will hopefully arrange another 1-2-1 instead, she hopes to de-sensitise him to the deer, although I have no idea how!

With regard to him being in a pack, we were with another dog which he is walked with regularly when he ran off. My dog walker who also owns a Beagle thinks that there is not much we can do and once they get a scent, they will only stop when they have had enough. The trainer seemed to think we should ensure he is starving and go back to basics with practising recall but the risk is so high.

It's awful not being able to let him off to play with his friends.

I did search for more info on this on-line but there were the most awful comments on what people do to their beagles to stop them hunting deer, nothing that I would ever consider

i sadly cant yet trust my beagle off lead and dont know if i ever really will. he is extremely smell orientated. his nose is on the ground for 95% of the time on walks. the only time he is let off is when he is at a specific park and there are lots of other dogs and owners there, there are usually at least 2 other beagles there too. he chases the other dogs around and doesnt stray too much. but when im out with him on my own, it doesnt matter what tasty treats or toys i have to offer, his deaf ears are on. its a shame, i'd absolutely love to be able to let him run around freely, but for now the tracking lead is staying on!!

Hi I would say he has just woken up and realised what he was meant for!!! Although deer are the wrong thing lol. I dont think it will be impossible to train him to be of lead again it just may take a bit of time and patience. It sounds like you are doing all the right things. Good luck

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she hopes to de-sensitise him to the deer, although I have no idea how!

Perhaps try getting your own deer and keeping it in your garden. When the Beagle realises how boring the deer is he won't show any future interest and hopefully your problem will be gone.

*I'll get my coat*

Hi Hollie,

We have two beagles - one 18 months old the other 8 months. They're still too young for me to be able to say "We've solved the problem" or "we've failed to solve the problem", so I'll simply tell you what we've done and where we are now.

I'd be very interested to hear updates from you too! Beagles are the best dogs in the world, but they can be a handful!

We let ours off lead every day on one of two places:

1. A local park that has a huge meadow, surrounded by trees, then surrounded by a golf course on one side and the rest of the park on the other. From our central position the dogs would need to go a very long way before they got to roads.

2. A beach, 3 miles long and half a mile wide with half a mile or so of open country beside it - again, a long way to go before getting to roads.

We wouldn't risk letting them off in open country - too many smells.

We've had 'difficult' times, but now I'd say 99.9% of the time they stay close. They will occasionally run off out of sight, but always come running back with big happy faces within 2 minutes. The worst that's ever happened is a 10 minute wait but that was quite some time ago. Having said this, a friend's beagle disappeared in our park for a whole night. They could hear him (chasing foxes) but couldn't catch him. That was completely out of character and happened out of the blue when he was about 18 months old. He hasn't done it again since. They think the key was to avoid late afternoon walks - the scents seem stronger then. Is there a particular time of day when yours is more likely to go after deer?

Like you, we've always worked hard on recall. And like you, we've found it all goes out the window when the dog picks up a scent. They've been selectively bred to single mindedly follow a scent - you can't easily train that out.

Two 'tools' that we find particularly useful:

1. A 'Really Reliable Recall' DVD. A google search will find it for you - but really you don't even need it as the method is described very well here. I HIGHLY recommend this and it only takes moments to do each day:

http://www.dogagilitypreschool.biz/H...e%20Recall.pdf
http://www.dogagilitypreschool.biz/H...0Part%20II.pdf

The claim is that by following this simple daily training you'll have an emergency recall that will cut through your dog's natural instincts. He'll stop in his tracks and run to you. It was devised by a lady with Afghan hounds (worse than beagles for recall!) and she says it works reliably with all of her dogs. We haven't had an emergency yet so can't tell you whether it works for ours - but the impression I get is that it might...and it's getting stronger every day that we practice it. Using these methods our normal recall is definitely much improved and our dogs are more inclined to want to stay close to us.

2. A GPS tracking collar. This is a recent (and expensive) purchase but one that I wouldn't be without. We chose the Retreiva collar. If our dogs did wander off (and we work hard to make sure they never will) we can track them using mapping software on our mobiles.

3. We've got together with other beagle owning friends and are currently looking for a piece of land to buy. Our plan is to fence it in securely and have a safe place for our dogs to play. Early days with this - no idea what it might cost, but with bank interest rates so low and a recession.....

I hope you get the problem sorted. But I'm confident that even if your Beagle proves to be particularly keen on hunting you'll find a way to let him have fun and freedom with a bit of creative thinking!