Small Hound, Big City: Adventures of Boswell The Beagle

Hi! I'm Lucia, and this is my beagle, Boswell. We live in Brooklyn, where I work on my PhD and make bags, and Boswell works on getting into trouble. A few times a month, we'll share our little adventures and tips for navigating city life with a dog in tow--or towing you, as the case may be. Let's start out with an introduction, shall we?

Boswell's been my best bud for just over three years now. At the tender age of twelve weeks, he, his mom, and his sister were pulled from an overflowing kill shelter in Virginia by the Animal Rescue Foundation of Southeastern Pennsylvania. I met him in his Philadelphia foster home a few weeks later and it was love at first sight. The country dog moved to the city and never looked back. We joined the Chester Avenue Dog Park as soon as Bos had his rabies vaccine at six months: if it's available to you, a park like this is a godsend to a city-dwelling dog owner. For two years we went every day, where Bos ran in circles, got socialized, learned agility, and played in the doggie pool all summer.

Then we moved to Brooklyn, and things got a little trickier. Different cities have different leash laws, and it pays to learn yours. In New York, it depends on which park you're in, the type of dog run they have--fenced or open--and the time you want to take your little beastie to run around. Our park of choice is Fort Greene, and they have off-leash hours from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. daily. (Bring your coffee: you'll need it.) I didn't let Bos go off-leash for a couple months, until he got used to being around the dogs and in the same space. He'd only been loose without a fence in the country, and that was pretty scary. Beagles are not known for their listening skills, and there are one too many sad stories about beagles following their noses into the street at the wrong time. So, to keep him safe, we trained. Hard. Boswell's favorite treat--one he always responds to--is the Dogswell Mellow Mut Chicken Jerky, and I take a strip with me whenever he'll be going off-leash. Bos already knew how to come to heel indoors and in a fenced area, so the next step was working with an extendable leash, letting him go to the end of it and come back to heel repeatedly, promptly, and with focus. Consistency is what matters with this, as with all training, and once he was good about dropping whatever scent he was on and coming back, we started going off-leash in quieter hours, when there were a handful of dogs around, for five-minute intervals. The key thing when calling a dog like this to heel is to do it when the odds are good he won't ignore you. Don't ask him to come if he's engrossed in a new dog or about looking for a spot to mark. Wait until you see him look around for you--and, if they're at all like Bos, they will--and then call. If you have a gesture associated with the command, that helps them distinguish between different reasons you're calling their name. For Bos, the command is "Here!" and the gesture is putting my hand in my pocket...to get chicken jerky. So far it's worked a treat (pun intended), and Bos is a happy, exercised, social beagle who is, most importantly, safe.

Til next time!
Lucia and Boswell