One common characteristic of a beagle is their weight. A lot of beagles tend to over eat and become porkers. It is easy to blame the dog but in reality, the owner is allowing the dog to have poor feeding habits. To avoid an oversized beagle, you must be willing to lay down the law on types of foods, begging and eating times. If on a proper diet, your beagle will remain slender and healthy.
Whether you are new to beagles or a long time owner, it is apparent that they love food. They will eat anything you drop, raid the trash and break into the cupboards. This is the first problem that owners encounter with beagles. Just because they will eat anything does not mean they should. As a concerned owner you should want quality food for your beagle.
Your main concern should be the nutritional value of the beagle. It is easy to purchase the cheapest food out there but remember, poorer food leads to poorer health. You will want the best for your beagle. For commercial food, you can purchase dry kibble, canned and semi moist. I encourage you to buy all three and mix it into the beagle’s diet.
Dry kibble is a hard cooked food that comes in bags. It is the most popular food on the market. Dry kibble is composed of meat. Reading the back will allow you to further understand nutritional value that you are giving your beagle. It is the most nutritional out of all three.
Canned food is what beagles love. With the aroma and texture, beagles long for this. As an owner, you should not strictly feed canned food to your beagle. Canned food lacks a lot of the nutrients that are dry kibble. Your beagle will also take in more calories when it is eating nothing but canned food.
There are a couple other options when selecting your food. A raw diet is the healthiest option but it is the most complicated and can have health risk attached. A lot of people also feed cooked meals to their dogs. It is important to remember that the beagle is not human and that they do not have the same digestive system as us.
As mentioned above, diet is important. Your Beagle loves smell, taste and texture. You can partake in all of the options to give your beagle a healthy diet. Mixing the dry food with hot water and canned with give the dog a hearty stew and stay low in calories. It is also ok to give your dog raw discarded pork chop bones. And a few table scraps in the dog’s bowl never hurt anyone either. Also try giving your beagle a cooked egg. This will make their black, brown and white coat shiny.
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Sep 14, 2009 | | Caring for your Beagle
Like any dog, the beagle kennel is in important part of the beagle’s life. To us, the kennel serves as a safe place where we put the beagle when they are to go outside. To the beagle, it is their backyard. It is where they are free to explore and relax in safety. Since your dog will spend a lot of time there, it is important that you find a kennel that is safe and suitable for your beagle.
To make the kennel a safer place, you want to make sure that the Beagle cannot escape. They are small and can wiggle through the smallest of openings. Make sure the kennel is on level ground and that any possible opening is closed off. Once the beagle is out, the nose can lead it miles.
Another way to ensure they will not get out is by installing an underground barrier. Beagles love to dig and if the proper precautions are not taken, they will dig their way out of the kennel. You can also take some extra steps and clean up the kennel as well. Take some of the beagle’s feces and bury them a few inches under the surface near the fence. Once the beagle finds this, it will be deterred from continuing.
Kennels are great because it allows the beagle to get outside while you are busy. Even though that is great, you must consider adding some sort of shelter. If not, your beagle could face long hours of heat and rain. It is recommended that you build a small doghouse that will allow the beagle to seek comfort from weather. It can also serve as a place to nap and rest.
It is also important that you place the kennel in place that has plenty of shade as well. This will protect them from heat and rain when you leave. Also, try to place the kennel in a spot that will allow you to keep an eye on the beagle. This will allow you to loosely monitor the dog throughout the day.
Of course there are alternatives to kenneling your dog. A lead is another great option. By hooking up a long cable run to a leash, your beagle will get the benefits of running, sniffing and enjoying the outdoors. For beagles, leads are better but you have to make sure their running area is clear and that their food dishes are in reach.
Lastly, you will most likely feed your dog inside their kennel. It is important that you take their food out every night. Animals such as other dogs, birds and raccoons can come searching for food. And you do not want them coming around when your beagle is in the kennel.
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Sep 05, 2009 | | Caring for your Beagle
Once you have brought beagle puppy home the work, and fun, really begins. When we first brought Jack, our Beagle mix home, we already had two other dogs. We have a lot of experience caring for dogs because both my wife and I have had dogs most of our lives. Caring for a Beagle is very similar to caring for most other dogs. They do have a few differences you need to be aware of. We will cover them in this article and the following article.
First, prior to getting your dog you want to make sure you have the proper tools and supplies for training and caring for your Beagle. You will need at least the following: A leash/lead, a collar, dog bowls for water and food, dog toys (especially for puppies for chewing), a crate and dog food and treats.
The crate may or may not be something you decide to keep for the life of your Beagle. Some people use a crate for potty training the Beagle and nothing else. Others use it as the Beagle’s “safe place” or “den” for life. This is a choice you will need to make. I have a dog that loves her crate. You can take the door off of the crate and she sleeps in it every night. This is her safe haven. Both of my Beagle mixes do not like crates and once we potty trained them we never used a crate with them again.
Also, with a beagle puppy, you will probably want some baby gates inside the house to restrict its access to certain areas. At least until you potty train your Beagle as well as house train him. You don’t want your Beagle puppy wandering through your house chewing on furniture and using the bathroom wherever they please.
You will also want a safe secure area outside for you Beagle to run and play. As with most puppies it is important for Beagle puppies to get plenty of exercise. In fact you will want to your Beagle to get plenty of exercise throughout their life.
Beagles are notorious for wandering off more than most other breads. They can get on a scent a not stop for anything or anybody. Because of this you want a secure area for your dog. A fenced yard or portion of the yard is perfect. Just make sure there is no place the Beagle can crawl under the fence.
You can also try an underground fence or invisible fence. Some people don’t like underground fences because they feel it is cruel that your dog gets shocked if they wander into the underground fence area. However, the underground fence allows you to fence in a larger area for a lot less money than an above ground fence would cost. This can give your dog more area to run and play. Also, the underground fences give the dog a beeping warning sound before they get to the actual fence shock area. There is an initial training that goes along with an underground fence to teach them the boundaries and to keep them safe.
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Aug 16, 2009 | | Caring for your Beagle
