The beagle's well-developed nose and tenacity make it an excellent hunter.
Beagles are scent hounds whose sturdy build, highly developed sense of smell and tenacity have made them prized for their rabbit-hunting abilities for centuries. Their even temperament and gentle disposition also make them excellent family pets and has prompted the American Kennel Club to refer to them as "Merry Little Hounds." Many sportsmen choose beagles for both sport and companionship. However, it is important to remember that despite their instinct, all beagles must be taught the discipline of the hunt.
Instructions
Prep Training
1. Place food in your hand and allow the 4- to 6-week-old beagle pup to smell it. Once the puppy is excited, hide the food in an accessible location. This encourages search by scent and should continue for several weeks. Note that puppies have very short attention spans and training should last no more than 10 to 15 minutes.
2. Throw a pair of rolled-up socks down the hallway and yell "fetch." Grab the sock from the puppy's mouth before it runs past you and say "good dog" while providing praise and petting. Once the puppy consistently brings back the sock on command, you are ready for outside work.
3. Take your puppy and a frozen, gutted dead rabbit outside. Continue your retrieval training using the dead prey, which will still have a rabbit scent to it. You can use something you have shot yourself or obtain one from your local hunt club. Fur should be intact, if possible, to mimic a real hunting experience.
4. Tie a hot dog to a string and drag it around the grass to leave a scent. Beginning every 3 feet, drop a small piece of hot dog along the scent trail to encourage your puppy to follow it. As the puppy becomes more focused at following the scent, gradually increase the scent line while also increasing the intervals at which you leave rewards. Eventually you will conclude the scent training by replacing the hot dog scent with a rabbit scent and rewarding the puppy only after it has followed the entire line.
Live Rabbits
5. Obtain a tame live rabbit, which are bigger, slower and leave a heavier scent than wild ones. Go outside to a fenced yard with the rabbit. Leash your puppy, which should be 14 to 16 weeks old, for live training. Either tie the leash to something sturdy or have someone hold it while you chase the rabbit. The beagle should quickly become excited and try to break free. When this occurs let it off leash so it can sight-chase the rabbit.
6. Begin live rabbit scent trailing. Let the tame rabbit hop in the yard then place the rabbit in a pen or upside down milk crate at the end of the scent line. As with the hot dog scent, make the line increasingly longer as the puppy becomes more proficient at tracking the scent.
7. Expose your puppy to loud noises and gunfire on an ongoing basis to prevent a gun-shy dog and encourage a positive association. Dogs are typically 30 feet from the gun during hunting when it is fired; however, they must be comfortable with its sound. Begin with a cap gun and work your way towards a shotgun, rewarding the dog with food after each firing. Do not aim the gun at the puppy. Until it becomes accustomed to guns, reward it each time the gun is brought out, regardless of whether it is fired.
8. Place your puppy in a starting pen outside. Your puppy should be 4 to 8 months old at this phase. Starting pens are outdoor enclosed spaces with rabbit-proof fencing approximately three-quarters of an acre to 5 acres in size. The pen will contain several rabbits, either tame or wild and natural habitat. The puppy should spend a few hours in the pen every other day simply tracking and chasing rabbits. The puppy will begin to "tongue," a term used to describe the unique bark made by a beagle who is on the scent of a rabbit. Each beagle has its own unique "tongue," which its owner is able to identify from a pack. If you do not have acreage large enough for a starting pen, you can use your local hunt club or simply take walks with your puppy just after dawn or before dusk in areas with many rabbits are present.
9. Place your puppy in a running pen, which is a larger version of the starting pen and can be up to 100 acres. Allow your puppy to run solo occasionally, but you should accompany your puppy as much possible. This builds a strong relationship between the two of you, which makes for a solid team in the field.
10. Introduce an experienced hunting beagle into the running pen. Older females are excellent teachers who are not overly fast runners. Beagles are pack animals who frequently hunt in braces, which means "pairs" in hunting terms.
11. Take your beagle on a hunt with other, experienced beagles. Beagles learn from and enjoy being with their kin.
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