i have two very different wonderful dogs.. one is a 5 year old lab mix and the othe is a two year old beagle mix.. bith are fixed of course but the baby is a baby ... my lab smooch can walk without a leash and will stay and heel most of the time but if i let lucy goose off of her leash she will head strait to mexico.. which is fine bc i always leash her but she tends to escape from time to time and the only way to get her to come is to get in the car and open up the door and she climbs in... any advice on what to do to train her to be more like smooch or will it just take time for her to understand.. i have no idea how to train my dogs and i know i need to get better on this or somthing might happened to her.  she has already been hit once(not too serious) bc of her escaping ways   pls help

thanks momma rachel

The Beagle is doing what beagles do. Theres an old (and bad) joke in the dog training world." If you call your beagle and it comes back 3 days later, it's acceptable"!

Off-lead training is best done with an e-collar. You need to seek someone that knows how to use one. Traditional basic obedience training is ALWAYS recommended for control and respect.

lol frank so true i have thought about the ecollar but i am always drawn back to americas funiest home videos of the humans trying it out... hillarious but yet looks cruel.. i guess i have to think of it as an electric fence.. u r spot on on her tho... nothing not even food can get her to come back but the car cuz she thinks shes going for a ride.  i appreciate ur insite

rachel smooch and goose

Frank,

I had a beagle-mix when I was 10 years old. Truer words were never spoken. She would take off for hours at a time, and  got into all sorts of trouble a result. She had her own pack of dogs that would follow her for miles and miles; my mom had fits about it. Thanks for the reminder about beagles. She was a very loving dog, overall, very loyal to her human (that would be me)

thanks everyone for the help .. i will definitly  try the e collar.. i didnt mean to trivialize it by mentioning the idiots on tv.. i was just worried it would be too much..i appreciate all input and any more input on the beagles wiley ways.

tks everyone

rachel smooch and goose

Rachel,

Good idea to try the collar. The story with my beagle has a difficult ending. We tried to solve the problem by giving her to someone who lived "in the country" where she would have more space to run. She got into even more trouble--it ended badly. Best to try to rein your beagle in--for her own safety--