My wife and I have fought it for as long as we could. We have neither had a dog since we left home more than 20 years ago. We enjoy other people's dogs. Our two kids (nearly 6 and 4) love animals, especially dogs. Every house we frequent, including grandparents, with a dog is a favorite place for them. We have hundreds of reasons not to get a dog, but we have two very special reasons to get one. A 10 week-old Beagle puppy is being picked up on Saturday, thanks to my mother-in-law. I just dropped nearly $100 at the pet store getting ready. I guess I'll be even more poor from now on, but I'll have some priceless moments that will last our family a lifetime.

Family consensus - his name will be "Fritz".
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Exactly, Jamie...enjoy your new family member, Fritz! :-)
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Congrats on the new family member. My wife and I adopted a 10 yr old Dachshund about two weeks ago. We love old dogs and we figured we might as well give an old timer a couple more years of happiness outside of a pound, especially during his golden years. He came with the name Walter and we added his middle name, Chorizo.
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:-) Fritz I like that :-)
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As a past breeder of Labrador Retrievers (nothing to do with Beagles) I would always recommend crate training a new addition to the family. Not only for the family's benefit but for the animals.

pro for the dog: his/her castle, his/her domain...the dog cave. The crate is their refuge.

pro for the family: if done correctly the dog is not traumatized when left alone. house training is very easy. The crate should be just big enough for the dog to lay down stretched out. My dogs loved their crates and would have free run of the house but mostly chose to sleep and relax in their crate. Never use the crate as punishment, when in their crate the dog is never forcefully removed.

Also everyone trains the dog the same way....so the dog doesn't get confused. Establish alpha Dog leadership right away, training helps with this. If the dog is old enough to learn potty training, then start on simple commands....NO, Come, Sit, Stay. Training is aided with the use of hot dogs...cut in 1/4 inch circles and then in 4 ths the puppy will do anything for the treat and they can eat a ton of the little pieces. Be consistent!

You will never be able to out love your dog. Enjoy! :-)

Oh if your Beagle is outdoors he or she WILL dig. It is what they do.:-)

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:-)
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We have a Beagle,he's a great pet. Congrats!

BTW Beagles are very intelligent.
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We had beagles when I was a kid, great dogs...congrats!
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Congrats on the pup! One of my best friends has a beagle mix, and she is a great, fun, loving dog. You're in for a treat.
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Congratulations!! One of my buddies and his girlfriend have two beagles (two brothers). They're almost two now and are a great animals. Oh how they love to sniff. :-) Here's to Fritz! :-)
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Congrats! You life will be changed for the better!
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Always have liked Beagles.... Congrats on the dog!
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That dog'll hunt!

:-)
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Congrats on the puppie Jamie!! I WILL ALWAYS have dogs in my house.
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yaaay Fritz...pics please!
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:-) Dogs are awesome. If you have a stressful day at work, you can always come home and that dog will give you unconditional love. You just have to get past the times when they crap and pee on the carpet :-)
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Congrats on the Fritz!! He and your family are lucky. We have three dogs and they are very important members of the family.:-)
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Congrats Jamie on your new addition to the family.
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But really

:-)

:-)
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Congrats on the new dog Jamie. I love dogs. Some great advice from Kevin, but one thing I would recommend is positive reinforcement seems to go a lot farther than negative punishment. I'm a bit of a goof, but when my dog first went the bathroom outside, I probably looked and sounded like I belonged in....well....an asylum. :-) One more thing..... If you can teach your dog to go to the bathroom on the potty, you should be able to easily train him to come, sit and stay! :-)
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