About Me

Meet Bjorn

Status: Fostered

Estimated Age: 3-5 Years

Estimated Weight: 19-20 Pounds

UPDATE - 12 JUNE 2024: In the past couple of months, Bjorn has blossomed and really shown how he’s such a loving and goofy boy! He loves supervising your every move, especially when it happens anywhere remotely close to the kitchen. He highly enjoys curling up and snuggling with you when you take a seat in any comfortable chair, and he REALLY loves zoomies! Zoomies in the backyard, zoomies around our sectional couch, and zoomies really anywhere he can build up speed. He’s the Fastest Boy In The West™ and we’ve clocked him going Mach 3 at top speed. He must be part Whippet or Italian Greyhound. He loves patrolling our yard for chipmunks and neighbors walking by and alerting us of any/all intruders. At the same time, he is very responsive to corrections and his recall is fantastic (he responds well to his name).

He is so funny and loves goofing around with both of his foster parents. He loves playing with dog toys and stealing socks (you have to watch out for your toes!). We’ve been introducing him to guests when they come over; he is still a little shy at first, but if they have dog cookies, he isn’t afraid to take them gently from their hands. He also loves completing safety inspections of human meals - Specifically “crusties” (pizza crust) and potato crusties (french fries) - but only very occasionally and in very small quantities as a special treat.

He walks well on a leash, and loves walks, but he still gets scared of other people and loud noises; He has really come a long way and enjoys walks with his beagle pack more so than being worried about the ‘dangers’ he may see or hear.

He’s super smart and would do really well with obedience training to help him gain more courage. We think he would be an excellent candidate for agility training as he’s super fit, very active, and remarkably agile for a food loving beagle. He can jump, run, twist (we call them “twisties” when he spins once really fast when he’s excited), and we’re sure he can learn many more tricks. He’s potty trained and has done well indicating to us any time he has to go out (or needs to do a backyard sweep for chipmunks). We have had occasional accidents, but only when we were gone for longer than 4 hours or around times he would have normally gone out on his normal schedule.

He loves sleeping in bed with us, and wakes us up with lots of aggressive kissing in the morning. He loves snuggling on the couch at night to watch our shows with us. He loves being a part of the cuddle puddle puppy pile and sleeping with all our other dogs; they all love piling on top of one another.

We recommend him going to a home with experienced and patient beagle owners who have the time and energy to meet Bjorn’s needs. He would probably do best in a home without children as he’s a smaller dog who is timid with anything new, loud noises, and lots of activity. We also recommend him going to a home with another young dog that he can play with and help him work on his confidence. He shouldn’t be in a home with smaller animals as he has a high prey drive.

UPDATE - 3 NOVEMBER 2023: Bjorn and his foster brother, Chance, have become best of friends! Social Chance has been doing a great job helping Bjorn come out of his shell. Bjorn definitely benefits from having another dog in the home who can help with his confidence. Maybe someone out there would consider adopting both Bjorn and Chance? Here are a couple of very cute videos of Bjorn and his buddy, Chance:

Bjorn and Chance

Bjorn and Chance2

UPDATE - 14 SEPTEMBER 2023 (from foster family): Bjorn is a very special, shy boy who has needed a lot of time and patience getting used to new humans. Bjorn has been working on his confidence with our beagle pack over the past two months and making daily progress. He is more comfortable around men, but with time, he’s becoming better around women (but still will get spooked on occasion). It took about a month for him to warm up to us, so please be patient and understanding when you meet him. Once he’s comfortable, he can be quite silly and playful! He loves participating in neighborhood watch, tossing toys around, finding and relocating socks, and chewing on bones. Also, he’s been very playful with our other foster and enjoys playing all the classic beagles games such as “bitey face” and “your back legs taste like chicken!” He’s a little nervous on walks, but can often get the mini-zoomies when he feels a moment of confidence. When that happens, he can pull a bit, but otherwise, he’s very alert on walks and just wants to know where his human’s are to know he’s safe. We’ve had some trouble with potty training, but I think we’ve figured out his schedule and have modified our own to accommodate him (he usually likes to poop IMMEDIATELY after meals, especially after breakfast), and we think with some patience at his forever home he would pick it up quickly.

We think he would do best in a home without young children. We are unsure how he is with cats, and he would do best in a home with another dog to help him work on his confidence and become his number 1 best friend and playmate. He has moderate-high energy and would do best with a home that can challenge him with new tricks, regular exercise, and mental stimulation (like snuffle mats, puzzle balls, etc). He’s quite smart and we think he would do well with obedience training once he builds more confidence. He has shown some separation anxiety when we’ve left for a few hours without human supervision, but hasn’t been destructive, with only a couple accidents while we were away. Since he has so much energy, he definitely would thrive with lots of toys to play with and a playmate his age. He’ll make a great, loyal, beagle with the right home and a little patience.

UPDATE - 10 JUNE 2023: Shy little Bjorn joined us at today's Adoption Day and spent most of the day huddled in the back of a kennel. He was overwhelmed, but he is heading off to a foster home where he will get the human love and attention he needs to overcome some of his shyness. Stay tuned as we watch this little guy come out of his shell!

NEW - 20 MAY 2023: Bjorn is a smaller, shy guy. He will need a little time and patience. He’s food motivated and good with other dogs. He was a stray at the Amelia Animal Shelter in Virginia, so his history is unknown. He is fully vetted and available for fostering or adoption.