Recently, there have been some pretty interesting stories about beagles in the news. This clever breed of hound has one of the best noses there is, which makes the beagle a highly useful working dog. Not only have beagles been trained around the world to sniff out narcotics and other illicit substances, making them a very useful border protection tool, but their superior sniffing ability has also made them prime candidates for other jobs.
Since the 70s, the beagle has been trained to sniff out termites, and can be one of the most effective ways of determining whether a building is infested with the destructive bugs. In fact, beagles often succeed where other detection methods have failed, and reduce the need to rip apart a home in order to find the termites. Highly trained beagles can smell the mites through the wall, and signal to their owners whether there is in fact an infestation. Termite sniffing beagles are so valuable, that one owner in Australia has his dog, Biscuit, insured for $15,000.
However, not all owners reap the benefit of their beagle having such a fantastic sense of smell, and these stories also make the news: Arnie, a 10 year old beagle in Largo, has long had a taste for cold hard cash, and has the ability to sniff it out from wallets or hiding places around the house. Recently, he managed to extract $300 from his owners wallet, and the only way his owners have been able to recover the money is to extract it from his poop.
Because beagles are so heavily ruled by their noses, it can be hard to stop them wandering once they get hold of a scent from somewhere, which can be a serious issue. Some owners use the beagles love of chasing scents to play games with their pets, purchasing scents and using them to play tracking games with the animals; this is a really good way to exercise your beagle’s brain and body, and helps them be more content in their daily life.
Since the 70s, the beagle has been trained to sniff out termites, and can be one of the most effective ways of determining whether a building is infested with the destructive bugs. In fact, beagles often succeed where other detection methods have failed, and reduce the need to rip apart a home in order to find the termites. Highly trained beagles can smell the mites through the wall, and signal to their owners whether there is in fact an infestation. Termite sniffing beagles are so valuable, that one owner in Australia has his dog, Biscuit, insured for $15,000.
However, not all owners reap the benefit of their beagle having such a fantastic sense of smell, and these stories also make the news: Arnie, a 10 year old beagle in Largo, has long had a taste for cold hard cash, and has the ability to sniff it out from wallets or hiding places around the house. Recently, he managed to extract $300 from his owners wallet, and the only way his owners have been able to recover the money is to extract it from his poop.
Because beagles are so heavily ruled by their noses, it can be hard to stop them wandering once they get hold of a scent from somewhere, which can be a serious issue. Some owners use the beagles love of chasing scents to play games with their pets, purchasing scents and using them to play tracking games with the animals; this is a really good way to exercise your beagle’s brain and body, and helps them be more content in their daily life.