Tips For Beagle Training

Beagles can be great pets! They are fun, playful, cute and intelligent. They are also stubborn which can make training your beagle a little bit of a challenge. Here are some tips to help make beagle dog training easier:

1. Establish yourself as the Alpha dog. It is imperative that you establish yourself as the alpha dog as soon as you get your beagle home. Beagles can be very dominant so if you fail to do this, your dog will think he is the Alpha dog and won't obey your commands.

2. Be Consistent. Make sure that you have training sessions every day and be consistent in your commands. Don't make the sessions too long though - 15 or 25 minutes should do it. You want to be sure you capture your pets attention for the entire session and that he does not get bored.

3. Teach one command at a time. Teach your dog one command at a time and focus on that command until he does it perfectly. Most people like to start with the "sit" command because this is the basis for many other commands. Teach this command in each session until he knows it like the back of his hand, then move on to another command. At the end of each training session, always go through your beagles repertoire of commands that he knows.

4. Provide positive reinforcement. When your dog performs a command as expected be sure to praise him lavishly! Giving him a little of his favorite treat at this time an help too!

5. Correct bad behavior. You want to let your beagle know that certain bad behaviors are unacceptable but you must never punish or hit your dog. A sharp "No!" when you see your dog about to do the undesired behavior is all that is needed. Hitting your dog or other types of punishment will not work and will only serve to make your dog fearful.

Training a beagle can be challenging, but since this breed is very intelligent they can learn many commands. Patience, persistence and consistently will pay off in the end when you have a perfectly behaved pet.