Beagles are an energetic and active breed. They are always ready to go out for a walk, run, and jump. They just love to play various games with their parents. But do beagles play fetch?
While Beagles do not have a natural instinct to retrieve objects, with a little training, beagles can learn to play fetch. In fact, with their level of energy, you can play fetch with a beagle for hours.
We will further look into the benefits of playing fetch, learn how to teach it to your beagle, and understand why do they love to play this game.
Benefits of Playing Fetch with your Beagle
Fetch is one of the most popular games among dog owners because its a perfect way to exercise your beagle and you don’t even need to move around much. Let’s look into various benefits of playing fetch with your cuddle-monster.
A Perfect Exercise
As I said, beagles are an active breed and they like to run and jump around. I always say ‘an exhausted beagle is a happy beagle’, and what better way to exhaust your beagle by making him run and chase an object and bring it back to you.
While beagles need a lot of exercises, it can be draining for the parent. That’s when playing Fetch comes handy. The best thing about this game is, you don’t even need to move much. All you need to do is, sit around, throw a ball, and your beagle will be happy to bring it back to you.
Improve your beagle’s behavior
There have been tons of cases, where beagle owners complain about their dog’s destructive behavior in the house. Destroying furniture would be the last thing you would want your beagle to do.
90% of times, it’s because of lack of exercise and the beagle’s unreleased energy. As I said, exhausted beagle equals to a happy beagle. Constant running while playing fetch will definitely drain your beagle and make him more lovable.
Satisfy their instinct
In the past, beagles were used for hunting small animals. This gave them a natural instinct to chase. In simpler words, they love to chase. As you know, in fetch there is a lot of chasing and catching an object. This satisfies their urge to chase.
Creates a strong bond
Back in time, beagles use to be a hunting companion of a human. Beagles and their owner would work together during the hunt. This would create a strong bond between the owner and the beagle.
Playing fetch is a lot similar to hunting. Playing this with your beagle will create a strong bond between you two. Your pooch will start respecting you even more.
How to Teach Fetch to your Beagle
There are a couple of methods for teaching fetch to a dog, but I find the ‘Go-Bring-treat’ method most effective on beagles. Follow all the steps below and your beagle will be able to play fetch within a week.
Step 1: Excite the Beagle with a toy
You can start with any object like a ball or a frisbee. The best thing will be your beagle’s favorite toy. Get the toy and try to grab your pooch’s attention. Play with his toy, make it seem interesting. Knowing the beagle’s personality, your pooch will get excited and want to have that toy.
Step 2: Throw the toy
Once your beagle is excited to get the toy, say ‘Fetch’ and throw it at a short distance. Your pooch will go running behind that toy for sure. As soon as he grabs that toy, go give him treat and praise him. Repeat this few times.
If your beagle doesn’t go chasing behind the toy then try changing the object. A new colorful ball might work.
Step 3: Encourage to retrieve the toy
After practicing fetch, its time to teach your beagle to retrieve the object. Now this time, say ‘fetch’, throw the toy and when he runs and grabs the toy, do not treat him just yet. Say ‘bring it’ and encourage him to bring the toy to you.
If your beagle comes back to you while still holding the toy, give him the treat. If he drops the toy and comes running to you, do not give him any reward and repeat the entire process.
Practice this multiple times daily.
Step 4: Increase the distance
Once your beagle is retrieving the toy, its time to increase the distance. Throw the toy from one corner to another corner of your house. Once your beagle has mastered the indoor fetch, its time to take things out.
Step 5: Practice is the Key
While it may take around a week or two for your beagle to learn fetch, it will take much longer to master it to an extent that you don’t even need to say fetch. And this will require daily practice.
Soon your beagle will start enjoying this game and then you can stop giving him treats.
I think my beagle cannot play fetch
So you have tried your best to teach your beagle fetch, but he just doesn’t learn it, what to do now? While beagles are smart, they are independent thinkers. There are some few special, but equally adorable beagles who are self-governing and refuse to learn things if they find it uninteresting. For such beagle, try motivating them with better and tastier treats.
While some beagles are self-governing, there are few who are just slow learners. You will have to be patient and persistent with the training.
However, there are other exercises for beagles which you can try.
Ideal Toys for Fetch
You will need rough and tough toys that can survive fetch. Here are three of my favorite toys perfect for playing fetch with your beagle:
The Fake Stick Toy: Wooden sticks are not safe for your beagle. The broken splinters can cause injuries inside your beagle’s mouth, later leading to infection. So its better to avoid them and use a safe stick look-a-like. This toy is made up of good quality latex rubber and is quite durable. I have had one for over a year now. You can buy it from Amazon from here.
A Ball: Ball is a popular choice for playing fetch. But the problem is, a ball rolls over and gets lost easily. I cannot tell you how many times I have thrown a ball and my beagle couldn’t find it. And that’s why you should get this ball which has ropes attached to it which stops the ball to bounce and roll around. You can get this one on amazon here.
Kong Flyer: How can we complete this list without a frisbee. Well, there are numerous choices for this toy. This one is my personal favorite, check it out if you want.
Final Thoughts
We have made it very clear that fetch is an amazing game for a beagle. You can play it with your pooch for hours. However, it is advised to limit this game for a beagle puppy. Over-exercising can cause issues with a puppy’s development. So its better not to play this game for more than 15 minutes until your beagle is not 18 months old.