MudderChuck

Just an opinion, but IMO training a Beagle is an oxymoron. I'm likely to upset somebody, but IMO most are all instinct and no brains. Their whole world is fixated on following that scent, you can be pretty much irrelevant when they get fixated on a scent. I love the sound of the music they make.

Maybe somebody has succeeded in breeding a smarter or more flexible Beagle. In my experience they kind of get tunnel vision and are hard to train to anything once they get a scent or the occasional idea.

A little story, I had a Hog dog, a catch dog, half Rottweiler half Beagle. I got him from the airport Police, he was a dope dog. He was a trial that didn't work out. A PHD was breeding them as Hog catch dogs. Somebody decided whatever made them good Hog Dogs, would also make them good dope dogs. It didn't work out, he was great at finding dope, but borderline uncontrollable and basically a man eater. I Hog hunted and had a recent home invasion. I volunteered to try and rehabilitate him, put him to work and help him avoid being put down. I actually made the hundred mile drive to the PHD that was breeding them and asked for advice. What he told me was interesting, a dog that would go into a thicket after a Boar or Bear almost had to have tunnel vision, have a strong prey drive, be a scent hound, extremely aggressive and stupid. No kidding that was the traits he was breeding for. What he meant by stupid was a disregard for the consequences or in other words a dog that would do that a second time.

My Hog dog was buddies with my wifes dog, a Pharaoh Hound, a really good Rabbit dog (an eye hunter almost as fast as a Greyhound). The Pharaoh we got from the family of a Grandmother who had died of old age. One day about a year and a half after we had gotten the Pharaoh, she jumped the fence and disappeared. We did everything possible to find her with no success. One day my Hog dog tore the fence down and headed East. I eventually found him. I built a better fence, that he tore down and headed East. And built a better fence, he tore down and headed East. I eventually caught him, that time, two miles from home headed East and chained him to a 45 foot long cable line roller setup.
We got a call from the grandson of the dead Grandmother, he had seen the wifes dog. Half a mile from Grandmas house about ten miles **due East** form our house. The Pharaoh was smart enough, just stubborn and independent. The Hog Dog was dumb as a sack of rocks, but would track until he dropped (that was the Beagle in him). I have no idea how he knew his buddy was ten miles East, must have been his nose.

I raised Beagles at one time, I could see the Beagle in my Hog dog. I have a Terrier mix now, I can see the Beagle in him, I can also see the Bull Terrier in him, he is mostly Jack Russel. Trying to train against basic genetic instinct can be difficult (understatement).

Beagles tend to pick up a scent and stay with it, which can make training them to do anything else problematic. They have a really strong instinct for certain tasks and getting them to do anything else can be futile and/or extremely difficult. IMO they aren't very smart or flexible.

Like I said, just my opinion.