lonny663

We have a 2 year old beagle and it would roughly cost us about $10-$14 a week to feed him We use either Royal Canin or Eukanaba (200gms per day) and as this is a complete food, his only other requirements are a couple of raw bones and some liver treats for the week. 15 kg bag RC or Eukanaba is approx $90 depending where you buy it ........alot of money to outlay but when it only averages out to about $ 1.50 per day with bones and treats it isnt that expensive and this way gives me more time to spend with Toby without having to prepare food Im still trying to figure out the difference between brands etc.......

Hi everyone! We have been spending a bit more one on one time with Toby, increased the walks, introduced a couple of new toys and ive now got lots of bones in the freezer to ensure that he now gets 2 a week. He is definitely showing improvement and has calmed down a bit and we can now see that we just needed to spend that little bit more time with him and that it is important that we keep changing his environment (rotate his toys etc) and ive even manged to get the washing dry without it ending up in his mouth So far so good..............can anybody recommend a good book on Beagles ???? The more insight i can get into his stubborn/determined mind the better off we will all be Thanks again

Im appreciating all the thoughts and i have to agree with Haven on the concept of getting a companion to fix behavioural problems.........I dont want this to be the reason that we get a second dog. Before we got Toby we had realised that in the future we may get another dog as a companion for him but I dont think it would be fair on either Toby or the new dog if we then found we couldnt handle the two of them...........its kind of a catch 22 situation really, we are just trying to get as many thoughts as possible so we can try different things and hopefully find a good solution for all of us. As we have only had him for 3 months i guess it is a learning curve for us and Toby. He was exceptional when we first bought him home but i guess it has taken this long for him to get bored with his environment and now we have to intoduce some more things to him. When we first bought him home he didnt jump up on us and then he suddenly started it when he was still on the RC Energy 4800, then when i changed him to Eukanaba Maintainence he calmed right down and he has been on this for about 3 weeks and has started the jumping and barking and being 'hypo" again. Could any of this behaviour be food related as well ???

;) Thanks for the suggestions so -far, will definitely be introducing nearly all of them......... We were feeding him RC energy 4800 but i couldnt get it locally so i purchased some Eukanaba Maintainence to try and he bacame a much more placid dog overnight ( his coat improved dramatically as well) but about 10 days into the new food he is starting to do the mischievous things that we hadnt previously seen. The rescue dog friend is in the back of my mind, but as Toby is sort of a rescue dog as he was handed back to the breeder and then we adopted him so im a bit reluctant to take on another until we can sort out the problems we are having with the one that we have. We dont blame Toby for this radical behaviour as we understand these things are just his nature if he isnt stimulated enough, so we just need to gather as much info as possible to educate ourselves!!!!!!!! Will post a pic when i get the digital up and running........its out of action at the moment............. Toby has had obedience training and is perfect when on his lead, but when off the lead he is ok when he wants to be but will only be obedient if he thinks there is a treat involved !!!!!!!!!!!

;) Thanks for your ideas.........Toby has some toys, but I will definitely invest in a few more in particular so that i can rotate them a bit for him.......even if they are expensive it will be worth it. Will also increase his exercise to at least 5 days each week and I have only been giving him 1 raw meatless bone each week, so I will increase that to 2. He gets fed his complete food, half a cup in the morning and 1 1/2 cups at night..( we were doing it the opposite way but he just got too feral in the evening) The tobasco sauce on the clotheline thing also sounds like its worth a try (especially as its only my clothes he seems to be taking !!!!!!!!) Has anyone got any ideas for some interactive games i can play with him? He seems to get over 'tug of war' and "fetch the ball" pretty easily and as this is really our first dog we are "learning the ropes" as well... Thanks again for your support..........

Thanks for the suggestions. Roping off the line isnt really a viable option as this would reduce Toby's yard area by about 40%. Whilst he has several toys etc I do think it is an attention thing. We take him for a good walk a minimum of 3 times per week and between the kids, hubby and myself Toby gets at least 1 hour of undivided attention per day...........I think we need to think of some stimulating mind/ energy activities for him for when we are at work. He is alone for about 6 hours, 3- 4 days per week........... Any ideas anyone????????????

;) Please help!!! We adopted a 2 year old beagle (Toby, male) about 3 months ago. Have had a few minor personality differences and have changed his diet from a High energy complete food to a "regular" complete food and everything has been reasonably OK until 2 days ago............Toby started taking clothes off the clothesline............How can i put a stop to this.????????????????? Thanking you all in anticipation of your advice!!!!!!