Cattle

Archive for May 23rd, 2008

The Beagle is a very intelligent, loving, food-motivated dog. This make the breed highly trainable and has helped the Beagle successfully enter and dominate the work force. The real reason Beagles excel as working dogs, however, is their impeccably accurate sense of smell. For this reason, Beagles are often used as detection and tracking dogs in rescue operations and law enforcement. They are used to track and locate missing persons, and they are used as both rescue and cadaver dogs, helping seek out living victims and bodies in the wreckage from buildings collapsing, fires, or natural disasters.

Though Beagles were originally developed as high-powered game detectors for hunters, its role in modern-day society has expanded vastly. The Beagle’s sense of smell is so accurate that they are employed by the United States Department of Agriculture to detect contraband fruits and vegetables that may be smuggled into the country. They even have a name for this Beagle-based team: The USDA Beagle Brigade! Beagles are also used to detect things as strange as termites in homes and as common as drugs in airports. They are a favorite choice of law enforcement agents because of their obedient nature and high intelligence. They also have one of the most sensitive noses of any of the hounds.

It is said that the Beagle’s floppy ears and moderately long snout help the breed when following scents by gathering the molecules from whatever smell it is that they are following. Beagles are more successful at tracking a scent from the ground than they are from an arbitrary place in the air, but they still excel at both skills. Most beagles can even track scents across water. It’s very hard to outsmart a beagle when he has a good whiff of a subjects scent.

The Beagle’s excessively effective sense of smell is a huge benefit and asset to a working dog, but can turn into a significant obstacle when dealing with a household pet. With such accurate noses, the Beagle will always know when you are eating and what you are eating, or if there is something they might want to get at inside the garbage can! This can be difficult to deal with, being that Beagles are notoriously food-motivated animals. The easiest way to counteract this behavior is to train against garbage digging or begging for people food, starting from puppyhood. If your dog knows he will never get to eat the bacon he smells on your breath, he will be less likely to go digging for the wrapper in your trash bin.

Another problem with household pet Beagles and their sense of sent is their innate desire to always track a smell that makes them curious. If you live in a rural area, this can mean your dog wandering miles away in search of a rabbit that could have bounced through your back yard two days ago. Invisible fences or shock collars are virtually useless against Beagles, as they just don’t care about something giving them a light shock when they are following something they could eat, play with, or even just follow!