So you just got your beagle puppy home. Let me tell you one thing, you gonna enjoy the whole journey with your four-legged pal. Teaching your beagle the right thing when he is still a puppy is necessary. Following are the 7 Basic tricks and commands for your beagle puppy that would prove very useful in the long run.
Teach your puppy his Name
This is not a trick, but something essential that you would want to teach your new puppy. This is the first thing you would wanna teach your pooch, as this creates the foundation of all other training. Name training will allow your dog to understand when you want him, and when you are talking to him. Additionally, it helps to create a fundamental bond between you and your pet.
Things you will need:
Puppy Treats, or puppy kibble if he likes it.
Step 1: Grab your Puppy’s Attention
The general idea is to make your pup believe that something amazing is gonna happen when he hears the name. The first step is to give him a treat without saying anything. In this way, you will gain the puppy’s attention.
Step 2: Say his name
Once the pup has your attention, say his name in a cheerful voice and immediately give him a treat. Do not say anything else, just his name, and treat him. This would probably be the first time you are teaching him something. He is not yet aware of the concept of treat teaching.
Step 3: Rehearse
Repeat Step 2 for 15 times. Say his name, treat him, and repeat. In this way, you can associate good things with your puppy’s name.
Step 4: Take a Test
Now wait for 10 minutes, let your pup get distracted. When he is about to turn his head around, repeat his name. If he turns and looks at you, praise that four-legged smarty and reward him with a treat. Beagles are intelligent dogs, its more likely that he would turn. If he doesn’t, no problem, stay patient, and repeat Step 2 for five more times after 30 minutes.
Step 5: Take a break
That’s it for now, give your pup a break, or else he would get bored and won’t listen to you.
Step 6: Practice
After a few hours, go through the entire session again. Go through multiple such sessions spread over a couple of days. Conduct them in different rooms at different times.
After this, I am sure that your Beagle puppy will be associating treats with his name, which is good.
Step 7: The Name exercise
For this exercise, you would need one volunteer, so call one of your friends or a family member (Ninja Tip: Ask you crush to help you train your puppy. This will let you bond with your crush as well as your puppy, thank me later).
- Get some treats and split them between you can your partner.
- Make your partner sit on one end of the room, and you sit on another end.
- When your pup has your attention, call out his name, show him the treat and let him come running to get the treat.
- Now ask your partner to do the same.
- Make him run back and forth.
Step 8: The Final Step
Your goal is to make your puppy respond whenever you call out his name. Slowly and gradually increase the distance at which you say his name. Call out his name from another room, and if he comes running at you, treat him and praise him for such fantastic progress. If he doesn’t, no worries, continue with the practice.
Some beagle puppies may need more time than others. It’s not because they are not smart, it’s just that few puppies are a little more free-minded and stubborn. If your puppy is more than six months old, then you can try this test on your beagle to find out his intelligence.
The ‘Sit’ Command
The ‘Sit’ command can be handy in various situations. It helps to curve your beagle’s behavior. For instance, you bring the dog bowl filled with his food, and your beagle puppy gets excited and jumps at you. In this situation, to control his excitement and make him behave properly, say the command and make him sit before you give him food.
This command should be the 2nd thing you teach your puppy after his name. So let’s get started:
Things you will need:
Puppy Treats, or puppy kibble if he likes it.
Step 1: Grab the puppy’s Attention
Step one is to stand in front of your pup and grab his attention. You can call out his name or clap, or do anything that could grab his attention.
Step 2: Show the Treat
Show the treat to your pooch. This will excite him, and you will have his 100% attention.
Step 3: Keep the treat close to your puppy’s nose and raise.
Keep the treat close to your puppy’s nose and raise the treat above. He would look upward to see the treat. As he follows the treat with his eyes, his lower body will rest on the floor.
Step 4: Say the Command
As his bottom touches the ground, say ‘SIT’ and give him a treat. If he fails to sit, you can help him position his body with your hands.
Step 5: Praise your puppy
Always praise your puppy when he does what you want. This will help him differentiate good behavior from the bad one.
Step 6: Say ‘Release’
Now set a command word for release, you can use ‘Release’ or ‘Free’ or ‘Get up.’ Say ‘Release’ and walk backward while showing your pooch another treat. This will make him get up and follow you. And as soon as he gets up, give him a treat and praise him for being such an adorable puppy.
Step 7: Practice
Practice. Conduct a 10 minutes session twice a day. Do not stretch this, or else your pup would just lose interest.
Step 8: Reduce the number of treats
Gradually after a week, treat him alternately when he follows the command. But don’t stop praising him. In this way, soon, you will be able to make him sit without any treats.
Teach him to ‘Stay’
Beagles are super-energetic dogs, and sometimes you just need to calm them down for their good. And that’s when the command ‘Stay’ comes in rescue.
I live in an apartment with my two beagles, and both of them are door-bashers. They would run as soon as the door opens. The ‘Stay’ command helps me every time the doorbell rings. This is not that difficult to teach, especially after he knows ‘Sit.’ So let’s get started:
Note: For ‘Stay,’ you must teach your puppy to ‘Sit’ first.
Step 1: Grab the Puppy’s attention
The first step would be, of course, to grab the puppy’s attention. But this time, he knows that he gets treats only when he does something you want. So you can show him a treat to grab his attention.
Step 2: Say ‘Sit’
It is necessary that he already knows the ‘SIT’ command. So ask your puppy to ‘Sit.’
Step 3: Say ‘wait’ and step back.
Say ‘wait’ and step back. If your pooch stays, then give him a treat. If he doesn’t, then work on the ‘release’ command a little more.
Step 4: Increase the number of backward steps.
Gradually increase the number of steps you go backward. Go slowly on this.
Step 5: Practice is the key.
You will need to work on this daily for several weeks until your puppy has mastered this, but trust me; this is all worth it.
Teach your Beagle puppy to Play TUG OF WAR
This is the most important thing you need to teach your beagle puppy as soon as possible. Let me tell you how it works: So you ask your pup to play tug of war with a rope or a toy. You and your beagle both pull the toy from each end. And when you say ‘leave,’ your puppy puts down the toy.
There are so many benefits to this game. If you are not familiar with the beagle’s past, then let me tell you that beagles were used as hunting dogs. And that’s why they have instincts to grab things and pull them. Once your beagle grows up, he would wanna pull everything he wants. And that’s why it is necessary to teach a beagle to play when you want and to leave things on command. One other benefit is that this fun game will enable your puppy to release all his energy.
Things you will need
- A rope, or a rope-like toy
- Treats
Step 1: Grab your beagle’s attention
Play with the toy; just do something with it and grab the attention of your puppy by calling out his name. When your puppy sees you playing with the toy, he will come running to grab that. If he doesn’t, then use his favorite toy.
Step 2: Say the Command
Say ‘take it’ when he comes to grab it. You can even move the toy around him. He won’t be able to resist it.
Step 3: Make it interesting
As he grabs the toy, pull it a little. Let your pooch pull it too. Also, you must keep things interesting, so always praise your pup.
Step 4: Teach him to Leave the toy on command.
Now you have to teach him to leave the toy on your command. During the play, stop and hold the toy firmly. Do not move the toy at all, hold it tight, and say ‘Leave’ in a strong voice. Your puppy would not give up on the toy easily. Don’t give him, hold the toy and say ‘Leave.’ Soon this will make the toy uninteresting for your pup, and he would release it. Reward him as he releases the toy.
Step 5: Practice.
Grab another toy and repeat the entire process two to three times in one session. Your pet will need lots of tries to understand this command. So practice this daily.
Things to Remember
- Do not let children play this game, at least not until your beagle is trained.
- Your beagle might grab your hand while trying to grab the toy. Do not get angry with your pup, its a genuine mistake.
Teach him ‘NO.’
Beagles are naughty, and you gonna use NO a lot while they are growing up. With the help of this command, you can stop your dog from doing something which they are not supposed to do.
Things you will need
Step 1: Put your beagle puppy on a leash
Make your pup wear the harness and put the leash on. The harness might be a new thing for your pup, so let him get used to it.
Step 2: Put the treat on the ground
Put a treat on the ground and let him notice that.
Step 3: Do not allow him to get the treat.
As soon as he notices the treat, he would wanna reach that treat and eat it. Do not allow him to reach the treat.
Step 4: Say the command ‘NO’
While your pup is struggling to reach the treat, say ‘NO.’ Keep saying ‘no’ until he calms down and stops trying. And as soon as he stops trying, give him other pieces of treat that you are holding.
Step 5: Practice every day.
Practice. Your pup won’t learn ‘no’ immediately after the first try. Repeat this exercise daily. Gradually, try the command without the leash.
Bark on Command
This is for older puppies who are more than six months old. As you might already know, beagles are very vocal about their feelings. One thing that helped me a lot was teaching my puppy to bark on command. I taught this so that I and my pooch can sing together. But to my surprise, this also made my beagle bark and howl less as compared to before.
Dogs usually bark when they want something or when they want to tell you something. In this training, as you give treats to your pup when he barks on command, your pup starts associating his barking with pleasant things. This will drastically help to reduce the barking of your beagle.
Step 1: Make your puppy bark
Do something that makes them bark. Play that game again in which your beagle puppy barked last time. Just make him bark.
Step 2: Say the Command
As soon as he barks, say the command word ‘Speak’ or ‘Sing’ or ‘Bark’ and give him a treat and praise him.
Step 3: Repeat this Twice a day.
Do this once or twice a day. Its gonna take days if not weeks to teach this, but its all worth it.
The ‘Go Home’ Command
This command will be convenient once you have crate trained your puppy. The crate is a safe and secure place for your beagle where he can rest. And at times, you would want your puppy to go inside the crate. Instead of picking him up and putting in the crate, what if you could tell your four-legged pal to go home. How convenient would that be!
If you have not yet crate trained your pup, then go through this article of How to Crate Train your Beagle puppy.
Step 1: Grab the attention of your little pal by showing him a treat.
Step 2: As soon as you have his attention, take the treat to the crate and let him follow you.
Step 3: As he follows you, say the command ‘Go home.’
Step 4: Hold the treat inside the crate. Let your pup get inside the crate to get the treat. Keep saying the command ‘Go Home.’
Step 5: As he gets inside the crate, praise him, and reward him with the treat.
Step 6: Repeat it for more 5 to 10 times a day.
Few Tips for Training a Beagle Puppy
Beagle Puppies are complicated. They are adorable and love to cuddle but, at the same time, have an independent mind. I have listed a few things to get the most out of their train sessions.
Set a Marker Word or use a clicker
Set a marker word, such as ‘Good boy’ or ‘Good girl.’ Say the marker word every time you treat him. You can use this for praising him too. Marker word helps you to tell your pet that he did something right. You can even make a clicking sound with a clicker to encourage this behavior.
Rome was not Build in a day. Take things slowly.
Beagle puppies have a short attention span. They get distracted quite easily. So take things slow. Don’t teach your pup a command for 30 minutes straight. He will get bored and lose interest. Give him considerable breaks. A training session should not last more than 15 minutes.
Train Indoors
To teach them something, you must have your pup’s 100% attention. Select an area in your house where they are comfortable and have minimal distractions. A beagle-proofed room would be the best place.
Go according to your Pup’s mood
- Choose a time when your pup is fresh and playful if you want to teach him tug of war.
- But if you want to teach him some basic commands, choose a time when your pup is a little tired but not exhausted.
- If you notice that your pooch is starting to lose interest in the training, then take a break. Start with 5 to 10 minutes of training and gradually, over time, increase the duration.