Christa--beagle owner thread

[monarch64]

Christa, I noticed previously that you had a beagle baby in your avatar...I have a 2.75 yr. old black, white, and tan beagle boy named Milo...I want to ask you how you bathe your beagle? We get Milo''s nails clipped and his ears cleaned once a month (In between ear cleanings done by ourselves, but no baths ). We''ve read over and over that beagles are sensitive-skinned and don''t do well when you bathe them for no reason...do you find this to be true? If so/if not, please advise...

I guess my basic question is what do you use to shampoo your beagle with, or do you take her/him to the groomers? WE were looking for a low-maintenance d-o-g when we got him, but have since noticed a "musty" doggie scent on our couches (the ones he is allowed on) and bed (my fault, lol), and would like to keep him fresh and clean if possible...

Thanks in advance!

 

[Small]

I own a beagle...she''s black, white, and tan and she''s 4 years old. My husband bathes her with regular shampoo. While she doesn''t enjoy it she definitely needs it as she seems to get into all kinds of stuff that causes her to ''stink''

Our vet actually told us to bathe her. He did give us some shampoo to use as well but I think it may have been lost in our move or my husband just likes using the regular shampoo

We don''t bathe her monthly...really I''d say about every two or three months or if the situation warrants it (like her rolling in something that makes her smell awful like she did yesterday). Your beagle should do fine with you bathing him. Otherwise take him to have him bathed...they definitely need it now and then

 

[Mara]

my parents have a beagle and they give her baths with regular dog shampoo, not sure what brand or anything but she is a hardy girl with no skin issues or anything...she gets a bath i think about once a month or so. she's also an outside dog. if milo has skin issues then use something like what we use for portia...earthbath's aloe and oatmeal is what we have used on her since day one. it's soothing to sensitive skin.

portia is a westie and typically you don't really ever bathe westies. they are supposed to have a hard coat that you can brush to get dirt and things like that off. but portia is an inside dog and so when she goes out and plays, even if she comes in and i brush her fur off, she still gets dusty and dirty. also she itches more when she is dirty, and westies have sensitive skin (part of why you don't really bathe them that often)....and we actually find that she is happiest when she is clean. she doesn't itch, doesn't bite her paws...and if we let her go too long between baths, she itches more, bites her paws more etc. so she gets a bath once a week, usually on saturday or sunday...and she seems happy. it's such the opposite of what most westies prefer...and sometimes we run into westies that obviously have never been bathed, it can be pretty scary!! i can't even imagine that dirty body sleeping next to us at night...yikes!

just goes to show that each dog is different i guess!!

 

[Christa]

Just saw this--yes, that was our beagle in my old avatar . . . and here he is again. He''s a three-year-old tricolor named Frodo (my husband''s a huge Lord of the Rings fan).

We don''t have him professionally groomed at all--low-maintenance was one of our criteria, too! He walks about 4 miles a day with me, so I rarely need to clip his nails, and I do baths and ear cleanings myself.

I know this is totally against what "everyone" says you should do, but I bathe him every week. I totally know the smell you''re talking about--not really bad, but a doggy smell--and me no likey. It doesn''t seem to hurt his coat or skin and it makes me like him more.

I use regular people shampoo--against all the rules again--or baby shampoo, which I like because I don''t have to worry about his eyes.

So is your beagle obedient?

 

[Small]

Date: 9/27/2006 5:22:51 PM
Author: Christa
Just saw this--yes, that was our beagle in my old avatar . . . and here he is again. He''s a three-year-old tricolor named Frodo (my husband''s a huge Lord of the Rings fan).

We don''t have him professionally groomed at all--low-maintenance was one of our criteria, too! He walks about 4 miles a day with me, so I rarely need to clip his nails, and I do baths and ear cleanings myself.

I know this is totally against what ''everyone'' says you should do, but I bathe him every week. I totally know the smell you''re talking about--not really bad, but a doggy smell--and me no likey. It doesn''t seem to hurt his coat or skin and it makes me like him more.

I use regular people shampoo--against all the rules again--or baby shampoo, which I like because I don''t have to worry about his eyes.

So is your beagle obedient?

OMG...your beagle and mine look identical

He''s beautiful...LOL...guess I''m a bit biased since I think we have a gorgeous beagle as well

Their faces look ALOT alike. I''ll post a picture of her when I get a chance. We bathe with regular shampoo as well and she stinks alot LOL. She likes to roll in stuff all the time so we have to bathe her when that happens but aside from that I''d say it''s once every few months. She hates baths

. I''m glad my husband does all that. They are inseperable (she goes to work with him everyday LOL) so he pretty much does it all...cleans her ears, cuts her nails, bathes, feeds, etc. She''s not all that great with our kids either

My kids love her and she''s not remotely interested in them unless they have food

She actually used to growl at them all the time and for a while we were considering getting rid of her because of that but when we had to be seperated from her waiting for our house to be built (she stayed with family as we couldn''t have her with us) she must have changed her tune because she doesn''t growl at them at all anymore. Good thing because my husband would be beside himself if we had to get rid of her

She''s not obedient in the least

She marches to her own tune and it annoys the hell out of me and my husband. She''s very good at not listening...that''s the thing that really gets me up in arms. She sneaks off whenever she gets a chance...they are bred to be hunters and so she is forever on the trail of whatever she can find

She''s very smart too...she''s always watching us to see when we get distracted then she snakes off and by the time we look up she''s a couple of houses away

. And my vet tells me that beagles are the hungriest breed so they could literally eat themselves to death and she definitely would. She''s the hungriest dog ever...another annoying trait! Overall she''s been a good dog. She''s the size I wanted and has just the right personality for my husband (he enjoys big mean dogs and she''s a fiesty little thing with a very mean sounding bark) so it''s all good

 

[Christa]

Thanks Small! I think he''s pretty handsome myself--the comment I get from people all the time is "so THAT''S what beagles are supposed to look like!" So many of them get fat because they will eat themselves into oblivion. We measure his food carefully, and like I said, long daily walks.

I think the not-listening is a beagle trait. I used to think ours was dumb, but I''ve realized that he just DOESN''T CARE. They aren''t motivated by their people''s approval like most breeds. They are trainable, though. We did "puppy preschool" with him and it helped a ton. You really have to be consistent with them. I''m surprised that yours isn''t much of a kid dog. Ours is just the most perfect family dog. My kids love him more than they love me. I''m kidding . . . kind of.

How old are your kids?

There are trade-offs with all breeds, I guess. Beagles are not the most obedient or easiest to train, but they''re super friendly and (I''ve been told) almost never aggressive, which was the deciding factor for us. We have so many people in and out of our house all the time that a "watchdog" breed would never work for us. Here''s the story we tell that sums it up: our whole family was spending the night away from home and while we were gone a friend of ours who our dog had never met spent the night at our house (long story). So this total stranger comes in while his masters are out and makes himself at home, and what does our dog do? Growl? Bark? No . . . he drove the guy crazy whining at the bedroom door until our friend let him in, and the genious dog snuggled up and slept all night with him! Yeah, SO not a watchdog.

 

[monarch64]

Oh my goodness, your beagle is just gorgeous, Christa! And Small, not to worry, sounds like yours has all the beagle traits and then some, God knows Milo has tested our patience more often than I like to tell, lol!

So, on the bathing thing...Milo HATES water! We even bought him a little doggie life jacket this summer for our trip to WI, we brought 3 labs along and they all loved swimming in the lake but Milo? No way, we actually had to PLACE him in the water with my DH and he got a terrified look on his face and almost swam right under the dock. That was it for his swimming experience, forever, I think.

They are definitely bred for land hunting and not water, that''s for sure.

I''ve bathed him a handful of times in the bathtub, with puppy shampoo, the Hartz kind, I think. He hates it, and doesn''t really smell any better when he dries off. We try to only bathe him in warm weather when he can go outside and dry off though, so maybe he is finding something to roll in outside in the backyard, I don''t know. That musty doggie smell drives me insane! I notice it not only in the summer, when he''s outside a lot, but in the winter as well, when he spends most of his time indoors, only not as much. (He is neutered, so I don''t think he''s giving off "male" scents.)

As far as training, I took him to 2 sessions of an 8 week obedience class offered by our Village recreation department...beginner and intermediate. The very first class I took him to, I was in tears. He practically hyperventilated from pulling on his leash so much to get to the other puppies (not aggressively, just trying to play and he was SO excited!) The instructor suggested I use a prong collar and sure enough, that helped immensely. I''m not talking about the regular chain choke collar, but the one that has prongs that dig in...I know people probably have an opinion on different styles of training but that ended up being the one that worked for Milo. If I had put him on a choke I think he would''ve committed suicide unintentionally. Anyway, after a few weeks he was SO much better and we got through all the rest of the classes just fine. To this day he has retained his skills that he learned because I spend a few minutes a day with him almost every day doing some "remedial" training! I''ve even been able to teach him a few new tricks...

The obedience instructor we had was never able to get him to lay on his side (Milo would rather do the "frog leg" thing with his hind legs stretched out behind him) and during one class the instructor got frustrated about that and decided he would "make" Milo lay correctly. Milo ended up biting him and drawing blood, much to my (and the other people in class''s) dismay. It caused me to realize that you just can''t make a dog bend to your will, if their minds are set another way...you have to find another approach that will give the dog incentive to do as you wish. I have used treats and words consistently to get Milo to "lay" correctly and even roll over at home and he responds immediately now. It was just a matter of finding the right approach that he would respond to.

Well this is getting way too long...sorry! He is our baby (we don''t have kids yet), and I would love to find him a sister but the ones I have been looking at have been out of our doggie budget thus far...I would love a female lemon beagle pup to raise with him and be a companion to him, but we only paid $180 for him and the breeders I''ve talked to here in Chicago want $700 at least for a female lemon colored. Milo has some separation anxiety issues and I think a companion would be a great benefit to him...he is never left alone for more than 4 hours (I come home for lunch every day during the week, and his grandma and grandpa take care of him when we are OOT), but even at almost 3 yrs. old he is still displaying the usual behaviors of a dog who isn''t happy to be left alone, i.e. forgetting that he is potty trained while inside, and crying for more than 5 minutes when we leave (as witnessed by our next door neighbors.)

Thank you everyone for the bathing tips... we will definitely try to wash him more often! I posted pics a while ago in the "no kitties allowed" thread, you can see him there on the later pages, for I can''t upload the same pics tonight without renaming them, it''s late and I must get to bed, he hee!

 

[Small]

Here is our beagle (not the best picture but one I had available on my computer to post)...her name is Chelios

Chelli we call her for short. My kids call her Woo woo (as in the sound a dog makes when they bark LOL)...my kids are 3 and 19 mos.

We've been training her since she's been with us. The vet told us we needed to train her right away. LOL...don't think it worked LOL No..she's not so bad. It's the taking off that really annoys us and ofcourse the not listening. She's 4 years old...born May 1, 2002. We got her for free and she's pure bred

My uncle had cancer and was dying and my aunt had no idea how to take care of his two hunting beagles. He always kept them seperated so they wouldn't mate LOL but she didn't know and kept them together. So at his funeral I was informed she was looking to get rid of puppies and had no idea they were beagles. So when I found out I immediately asked to get one...and I picked her but she's been hubby's dog since the minute I brought her home. That's ok...at least the two kids like me LOL

Christa...that's a funny story about your dog and your house guest. I used to think my dog would be like that but as she has aged she's gotten meaner. I think the thing with kids stems from a time when we lived at our old house before we got our fence...a little girl came up to her while we were in the front and started yanking on her chain. Our dog didn't like that in the least

The parents of that girl are lucky my dog doesn't bite. Who lets their then 3 YO wander across the street into someone else's yard??? I was super pissed off

Monarch...do you live in Chicago? I live in the south suburbs

I'm going to find your thread so I can see your beagle.

So I need to ask the both of you if your beagle is skiddish? Chelli is SO INCREDIBLY skiddish. She is very afraid of any noise and freaks out about everything. The vet says this is normal with this breed but man...sometimes it drives us nuts LOL She gets afraid when the wind blows the curtains LOL

 

[Mara]

It's funny because beagles aren't my FAVE breed and it's all because of my parents dog!!! she is totally a PITA! she never got any formal training so she barks all the time and howls, she begs at the table, jumps on you when you come visit, EATS POO (gross!), and is just generally kind of an icky, annoying girl. hehee. i like to play with her when i go visit but she also is super aggressive about food and will snap and bite if you try to touch her or pet her with food around. she and Portia get along fine after the initial rough spots because Molly (beagle) was also never socialized so she does not like other dogs at all, and Portia MADE her like her by just not taking NO for an answer. She'd jump on Molly and make her play and would dance away when Molly snapped at her. So now Molly tolerates P but she is just in general kind of a cranky dog and hard to adore! That is the only beagle we have ever had proximity to and when she was young she was super hyper and barky and just hard to handle. Now she is 8 and more mellow but still gets aggressive sometimes. I would never pick her up and handle her like we do Portia. So it's interesting to hear you guys tell your funny beagle stories, and they sound so loving and cute!! Anyone want to take Molly? Seriously, my parents keep trying to give her to US...we are like no way we don't need another dog, esp one that has so many stubbornly bad habits. hehee.

 

[Small]

Date: 9/28/2006 2:20:45 PM
Author: Mara
It's funny because beagles aren't my FAVE breed and it's all because of my parents dog!!! she is totally a PITA! she never got any formal training so she barks all the time and howls, she begs at the table, jumps on you when you come visit, EATS POO (gross!), and is just generally kind of an icky, annoying girl. hehee. i like to play with her when i go visit but she also is super aggressive about food and will snap and bite if you try to touch her or pet her with food around. she and Portia get along fine after the initial rough spots because Molly (beagle) was also never socialized so she does not like other dogs at all, and Portia MADE her like her by just not taking NO for an answer. She'd jump on Molly and make her play and would dance away when Molly snapped at her. So now Molly tolerates P but she is just in general kind of a cranky dog and hard to adore! That is the only beagle we have ever had proximity to and when she was young she was super hyper and barky and just hard to handle. Now she is 8 and more mellow but still gets aggressive sometimes. I would never pick her up and handle her like we do Portia. So it's interesting to hear you guys tell your funny beagle stories, and they sound so loving and cute!! Anyone want to take Molly? Seriously, my parents keep trying to give her to US...we are like no way we don't need another dog, esp one that has so many stubbornly bad habits. hehee.

My dog has that gross 'poo' eating habit...I guess it's another beagle thing as my vet tells me. Has to do with their need to eat anything and everything. We don't let our dog jump or beg at the table. She actually has to be in her box while we eat and another thing that bugs the hell out of me is that she will immediately get out of the box and go under the table to see what scraps have been thrown down by the kids

This is the first dog I've ever had so I totally have to get used to lots of things but I'm not a dog person by nature. I love our dog but she drives me nuts most of the time LOL We socialized our dog from day one. She started going to work with my husband immediately. She plays outside with my BIL's dog and it's a great way for her to be around other dogs and get alot of exercise. I think my dog would be one of those FAT rolly poley beagles if she didn't do all that running around she does at Scott's work.
LOL...I don't think I can handle another beagle and two small kids...Scott is always saying he wants another dog and I keep telling him that 2 small children, 1 beagle, and him are more than enough to handle LOL

ETA: Monarch I found the thread you were talking about and MILO is adorable

 

[Mara]

my parents dog had the biggest butt for a while...they were totally overfeeding her! and she is SUCH a piggy, acts like she is STARVING so it''s impossible to tell if she is really actually hungry. she scarfs her food too. anyway they put her on a diet and she looks much better now, definitely more sleek and healthy. the vet told them it was unhealthy for her to be so chubby!

 

[Christa]

Small, my kids are a lot older, which makes a big difference. They are 8.11 and 14, so they''re old enough to play with him and take care of him and pick up backyard bombs for 10 cents apiece! Beagles are a bit active for most toddlers, I think.

The obedience class we did helped immensely, and as he''s gotten older he has really mellowed into a good boy. I did a lot of reading about beagles before we got him, too. Here''s one great book I have if anyone''s interested:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=br_ss_hs/104-0502343-3663158?platform=gurupa&url=index%3Dstripbooks%3Arelevance-above&keywords=beagle+survival&Go.x=5&Go.y=10

Monarch, I tried the choke collar, and you''re right--he just pulled along as hard as ever making strangling noises.

I was kind of afraid of the pinch collars (OK, I was mostly afraid of what people might think of me walking my dog with a mideival-torture-looking thing on his neck), but the Yuppie Puppy harness works pretty well. I couldn''t find a good picture of it, but basically it goes under his front legs and tightens up when he pulls. I got mine at Wal-Mart, but here''s all I could find online right now:
http://www.acehardware.com/sm-yuppie-puppy-dog-harness--pi-1295664.html

Bathing--I scrub him every week usually with moisturizing people shampoo, and it helps both the smell and the shedding issue a lot. He leaves so much hair in the tub he doesn''t have much left for the couch.

I scrub him with one of these:
http://www.entirelypets.com/dogzoomgrom.html to get all the way down to the skin. We also have zero issues with fleas since he''s bathed so often they don''t have time to get a life cycle going.

Hope that helps . . .

 

[Christa]

Yeah, by the way mine hates water too. My husband really wanted him to be a swimmer, but he''s so not interested. This picture is his reaction to the ocean.

He does tolerate baths, though. He will try to sneak and hide if he knows it''s coming, but once he''s in the bathroom he submits with this pathetic patient look.

 

[Christa]

Date: 9/28/2006 2:28:50 PM
Author: Small

My dog has that gross ''poo'' eating habit...I guess it''s another beagle thing as my vet tells me. Has to do with their need to eat anything and everything. We don''t let our dog jump or beg at the table. She actually has to be in her box while we eat and another thing that bugs the hell out of me is that she will immediately get out of the box and go under the table to see what scraps have been thrown down by the kids

This is the first dog I''ve ever had so I totally have to get used to lots of things but I''m not a dog person by nature. I love our dog but she drives me nuts most of the time LOL We socialized our dog from day one. She started going to work with my husband immediately. She plays outside with my BIL''s dog and it''s a great way for her to be around other dogs and get alot of exercise. I think my dog would be one of those FAT rolly poley beagles if she didn''t do all that running around she does at Scott''s work.
LOL...I don''t think I can handle another beagle and two small kids...Scott is always saying he wants another dog and I keep telling him that 2 small children, 1 beagle, and him are more than enough to handle LOL

ETA: Monarch I found the thread you were talking about and MILO is adorable

No doubt! You''re nicer than I am--I told my husband NO DOG until the youngest child was 5. Here''s the really annoying thing--Frodo totally sees my husband as the alpha male and will obey him when he won''t listen to me, even though I do *all* of the work taking care of him (not complaining, I''m mostly a SAHM, but I''m not exaggerating, either).

 

[monarch64]

Milo thankfully does not eat poo.

here''s a picture of him and his friend Fred (the pit bull, I KNOW--he could gobble Milo up in one bite, lol).

 

[Christa]

Wow, all three of our beagles have that cute "eyeliner" look! I see a lot of not-so-cute beagles around here with their bellies dragging on the ground.

The PS ones are adorable, though.

Mine only eats horse poo . . . I don''t know what it is, but something about it is delicioso.

 

[Small]

LOL...that picture with your dog digging in her paws reminds me of our dog LOL She looks exactly like that on a leash when she doesn't want to go.
Chelli actually swims. She likes to go to my inlaws and get in the lake they live on. She doesn't like baths though.
My aunt still has my uncles hunting beagle and talk about FAT...OMG...those dogs are humongo

Our dog is around 32lbs. Vet says she's very healthy. My neighbors MIL/FIL has a beagle and they once told me ours was super skinny compared to theirs and when I saw her...yeah I'd say they overfeed her. HOLY COW

Our dog gets one cup of food per day. Sometimes I even think that is too much

She gets plenty of exercise running around hubby's work though so that's keeping her active and fit.
Chelli is getting better with the kids. She HATED Jenna when we first brought her home. She growled at her immediately and it never got better until we were seperated. Now my son has been a different story...she loves him. I think she just has a preference for males as she is always all over him (not to mention he's always dropping food for her so she probably likes him for no other reason than that LOL) and licks him. They really love her. But she's not into having her tail grabbed and the kids falling on her and such. She's a tad bit grouchy about that!
I've seen some very ugly beagles since being a beagle owner. We get loads of compliments on our dog. She's got a really shiny, healthy looking coat, she's not fat, and she has a very pretty tri coloring to her. The picture I posted doesn't do her justice. I swear if I could get one where she's chewing on a stick those two would look identical because when i saw it I thought 'that's Chelli' LOL

 

[Christa]

Ours gets about 1.5 cups a day, but I''m starting to think we need to cut back a little even though he gets his long walks just about every day. We had him at the vet this week and he was 32.8 pounds, which is up a pound or so from last time, and I can''t quite feel his ribs any more. You know how they say you should be able to feel a dog''s ribs but not see them?

What kind of food do you guys feed them? When we first got Frodo we did Science Diet, but he had (sorry to be graphic) what they call "loose bowels" on it. He eats Atta Boy now, which is unbelievably cheaper and was what the breeder we got him from uses, and he does much better on that. Go figure.

 

[monarch64]

Christa and Small, you are totally right about there being lots of fugly beagles out there! I have witnessed the same thing around where we live--most of them are not only downright homely, but also their owners must feed them with automatic feeders!!!

I have even seen some really strange looking beagle mixes--once I was downtown and saw this shepard/beagle mix and it was the weirdest looking dog I've ever seen.

When Milo was about 1 yr. old, we had to start adjusting his food because he started to get a little chunky looking. It was after his first winter inside when we weren't walking him as much. We had been feeding him twice a day, following the directions on the dog food can for his weight. Then we took him to the vet for something routine and his body shape did not match the picture of a healthy weight doggie! (He had no waist, lol!) Their waist is supposed to go in a bit before their hips, when looking at their body from above, and not be a "U" shape. So we cut back his food to once a day, half a can of wet food and about 1/3 cup of dry. He does get maybe 2-3 milkbone treats a day, but only as a reward/positive reinforcement. He LOVES baby carrots, or basically carrots in general, so when I have those on hand that's what he gets for treats. He sometimes gets unintentional table scraps, though...DH is kind of a messy eater and even though he doesn't just hand out food from his plate, Milo hovers near his feet to make sure he gets anything that is dropped.

We all got lucky with our beagles--they are all so cute! I'm sure you guys get lots of compliments on them, especially about their eyeliner, I know I do.

I think tomorrow will be bath day for Milo!

ETA: I think we feed Milo Science Diet, but I'm not sure...DH buys his food and when I feed him I always forget to look at the can. I know it's something he buys at PetSmart/PetCo (?) and it has a white label...

 

[Christa]

We met someone with a beagle/greyhound mix a few months ago. It looked like the world''s tallest beagle--we had to ask what on earth it was! Can you even imagine the exercise that dog would need?

 

[Christa]

Date: 9/29/2006 11:18:46 AM
Author: monarch64
Christa and Small, you are totally right about there being lots of fugly beagles out there! I have witnessed the same thing around where we live--most of them are not only downright homely, but also their owners must feed them with automatic feeders!!!

I have even seen some really strange looking beagle mixes--once I was downtown and saw this shepard/beagle mix and it was the weirdest looking dog I''ve ever seen.

When Milo was about 1 yr. old, we had to start adjusting his food because he started to get a little chunky looking. It was after his first winter inside when we weren''t walking him as much. We had been feeding him twice a day, following the directions on the dog food can for his weight. Then we took him to the vet for something routine and his body shape did not match the picture of a healthy weight doggie! (He had no waist, lol!) Their waist is supposed to go in a bit before their hips, when looking at their body from above, and not be a ''U'' shape. So we cut back his food to once a day, half a can of wet food and about 1/3 cup of dry. He does get maybe 2-3 milkbone treats a day, but only as a reward/positive reinforcement. He LOVES baby carrots, or basically carrots in general, so when I have those on hand that''s what he gets for treats. He sometimes gets unintentional table scraps, though...DH is kind of a messy eater and even though he doesn''t just hand out food from his plate, Milo hovers near his feet to make sure he gets anything that is dropped.

We all got lucky with our beagles--they are all so cute! I''m sure you guys get lots of compliments on them, especially about their eyeliner, I know I do.

I think tomorrow will be bath day for Milo!

ETA: I think we feed Milo Science Diet, but I''m not sure...DH buys his food and when I feed him I always forget to look at the can. I know it''s something he buys at PetSmart/PetCo (?) and it has a white label...

Let us know how it goes.

I think it was you who said he doesn''t smell much different after baths? Definitely keep him inside until he''s completely dry. I know Frodo goes tearing around the house looking for things to rub himself on after his baths--we call it "trying to rub the clean off"--so I can imagine that if he was outside he''d be filthy again pretty quick.

 

[monarch64]

Fortunately, it looks like rainy weather for tomorrow, so I should be able to keep Milo inside after his bath, he hee...

He HATES to get his little paws wet, and spends half an hour cleaning them when he comes in from trotting around in wet grass, so I think nature is even on my side over this one! I will let you know how it goes! Thank you all for the advice!

 

[Small]

Tried to post my response earlier but I got an error message

At any rate...we feed Chelli Iams. Her coat and skin do much better for us when we feed her the more expensive food. We were giving her pedigree as it''s a bigger bag for much less and she could care less as long as you feed her something LOL but her coat was dull and her skin was really dry and flaky so we''ve gone back to Iams. Our vet recommends Iams or Science diet.

It is suppose to be rainy and dreary tomorrow

Not a good day to be in downtown Chicago

I''ll be walking in the rain getting my paws wet LOL but our dog will also be inside sleeping the day away while our kids drive her nuts. Poor girl...she hates when we leave. At least my sister shows her attention and lets her sleep on the bed (which we don''t).

Chelli likes to ''rub off her bath'' as well. Hubby usually lets her outside after she''s dried as much as we can do it. She rolls around trying to get herself diry again

I noticed she smells like wet dog today (it''s rainy in Chicago today) but not near as bad as she did the other day. I often wonder what my dog gets into that makes her smell as digusting as a stinky old shoe but then I''m not really surprised by anything she does LOL
Good luck with the bath tomorrow

 

[Christa]

Speaking of disgusting dog smells (we were, weren''t we?), have any of you had trouble with, um, *anal glands*?

 

[monarch64]

Small, we are over in the west ''burbs...Brookfield, to be more exact! The weather here is supposed to be nicer Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday...from what I could tell online!

Where did you find your beagle, if you don''t mind me asking? DH got Milo for me for Christmas almost 3 years ago...from a farm in Indiana. Neither of us were concerned with pedigrees/papers, we had just agreed on a breed and he took it from there. His sister knew a couple at her church, the male half of which had a relative near Indy who bred beagles for hunting...the couple wanted one and when they went to get a puppy for themselves, brought back one for us, too. Thankfully he fit right into our home and we''ve all been happy since.

I would love to give Milo a companion, because he suffers from separation anxiety (not severe enough to require drugs, but he has always refused crate-training and hates when we leave the house--he will either spite us by going potty inside right after we leave, and also cries for almost an hour, or so our neighbors have told us.) We are never gone for more than 4 hours, though. I really think if he had a friend, he would deal with our comings and goings better. We''ve tried every trick in the book to let him know we''ll be back...nothing has worked. We just love him to death, he''s our baby since we don''t have kids yet, but we want him to be happy. He LOVES other dogs and is always amiable and happy to play with all our friends'' dogs (most of them are Labs), and he had no problem socializing when I took him to obedience classes. I think he just needs a playmate to share all his beagle joy with! I just can''t justify spending $700 on a dog, though...so I would rather not go through one of the local breeders. I guess our next move would be to get another puppy from the farm he came from. DH and I have talked about adopting a rescue beagle or similar around here, but we''re just too worried about beagle baggage, I guess. I''ve heard some bad stories about separation anxiety/mistreatment, etc. from friends who''ve gone that route and I would hate to burden our little boy''s happy heart with that. At this point we are thinking more of his happiness than our own.

Christa, I was just re-reading this thread and wanted to touch on something you said about how your beagle is totally not a "watch" dog...Milo isn''t either, it seems that he will climb up any old stranger''s leg and kiss them to death, even after he''s fiercely howled at them before they get through the door! I asked my obedience class instructor about that once and he thought that every dog can sense the difference in strangers who mean harm and those who don''t, which I found comforting. I''m fairly sure that if anyone intentionally meant to do us harm, Milo would sense that and go ballistic on them, ya know? He can be aggressive, but only as much as needs to be, and only when provoked. We''ve seen him with small children, puppies, and big dogs (his best friend is a huge pit bull), and he''s never displayed unacceptable behavior. I think they just KNOW.

 

[monarch64]

Date: 9/30/2006 1:15:48 AM
Author: Christa
Speaking of disgusting dog smells (we were, weren''t we?), have any of you had trouble with, um, *anal glands*?

Oh, I haven''t but my girlfriend who has a female beagle/bassett mix has! She says she has to either take Rosie to the vet to get them drained or do them herself. Apparently that requires some semi-intensive squeezing of the behind...I don''t know if I could handle that, but then again, I''ve cleaned up plenty of poo/pee/puke that''s come out of Milo, so I guess I could. LOL!

From what I understand, their glands fill up after a period of time and need to be purged, right? Such unpleasantness...

 

[pricescope]

Date: 9/30/2006 1:32:40 AM
Author: monarch64

Date: 9/30/2006 1:15:48 AM
Author: Christa
Speaking of disgusting dog smells (we were, weren''t we?), have any of you had trouble with, um, *anal glands*?

Oh, I haven''t but my girlfriend who has a female beagle/bassett mix has! She says she has to either take Rosie to the vet to get them drained or do them herself. Apparently that requires some semi-intensive squeezing of the behind...I don''t know if I could handle that, but then again, I''ve cleaned up plenty of poo/pee/puke that''s come out of Milo, so I guess I could. LOL!

From what I understand, their glands fill up after a period of time and need to be purged, right? Such unpleasantness...

If you never did that and were never taught how - please don''t try it at home. Short visit to a good groomer will do, not even nesseseraly to a vet.

 

[Christa]

Date: 9/30/2006 1:32:40 AM
Author: monarch64

Date: 9/30/2006 1:15:48 AM
Author: Christa
Speaking of disgusting dog smells (we were, weren''t we?), have any of you had trouble with, um, *anal glands*?

Oh, I haven''t but my girlfriend who has a female beagle/bassett mix has! She says she has to either take Rosie to the vet to get them drained or do them herself. Apparently that requires some semi-intensive squeezing of the behind...I don''t know if I could handle that, but then again, I''ve cleaned up plenty of poo/pee/puke that''s come out of Milo, so I guess I could. LOL!

From what I understand, their glands fill up after a period of time and need to be purged, right? Such unpleasantness...

Yeah, this is what we learned last year after we kept encountering the worst smell known to mankind--sort of a cross between dog poop and rotten fish.

If everything is working right the glands are supposed to empty themselves in the normal course of pooping and all that (isn''t this a GREAT conversation?), but sometimes they can build up and then get released on the couch or your pillow . . . gaa. I did learn how to take care of it myself (can''t believe I''m admitting that on the internet), but fortunately we figured out that the problem we were having was related to lack of exercise at the time (he had dislocated his elbow and was on "light duty").

 

[monarch64]

PS admin (L. or I.?), thank you for the disclaimer--I agree it would not be a good idea to try to care for that type of problem if you don''t know what you''re doing!

Christa, so the problem is possibly caused by lack of usual exercise, then? Milo''s been fortunate enough to have made it through life so far without any injuries, and we have never noticed any seriously funky odors emanating from his back end (well, unless we pick him up from his grandpa and grandma''s and he''s been given too many treats, he hee). We have noticed before that sometimes he "scoots" his behind on the ground after going potty--is that their way of cleaning themselves, or does he itch, or what? This may require a google search.

I do know that females sometimes spread their scent that way, but since Milo''s a male I wonder why he does that. We''ve never noticed any swelling in that area... sorry for the illicit nature of this convo., I''m trying to keep it clean, lol!

 

[Small]

Never had problems with the anal glands...knock on wood

My mom has a small dog and he's got anal gland problems...has to get them drained every so often...poor little guy!

We got our dog for free in Indiana. My aunt had the dogs and gave us one when my uncle passed away. We got very lucky LOL. Hubby is not into paying for dogs...says there are many at the shelters we could adopt and be happy with so we just lucked out that my uncles dogs accidently were left together and mated and then my aunt needed to get rid of them...right place right time. I think if your dog does suffer from seperation anxiety getting another dog would be very good for him. Our dog is rarely seperated from us

if she is seperated she's with someone else

so I can't say we have that problem but even if we did...LOL>..I know I sound mean and not to repeat myself but with 2 kids under the age of 3, one beagle, and a husband I couldn't handle anymore pets/dogs/men LOL so anyone else wanting/needing to join our family would have to find a new mommy LOL

Brookfield huh...I'm familiar...I live about 10 minutes from the state line of Indiana. It's nice but I think I'd much rather live north. But I also know its expensive to live there so I'm basically stuck south of the city LOL