Beagle escaping!

Question
I have an 8 month old male beagle puppy, Cricket. After keeping him in a crate and walking him on the leash for the first few months, we installed an underground, wireless fence which seemed to work wonderfully until about 2 weeks ago.  We spent several weeks at the onset training him according to the manual.  When any of our family is outside, Cricket will NOT go near the border, he is playful and stays right around us.  When we go inside, though, he has started to run away.  We live on 2 acres, and thought the underground fence would be a great way to allow him plenty of "run time".  Once out, he will not come when called, and is just GONE- I'm at my wits end because today I had to enlist several neighbors help to get him back.  We've now decided that he'll have to be either in his crate, or on a leash until we can solve this problem.  I would appreciate any advice.  Also, he is scheduled to be neutered in a couple of weeks; is it true this will calm his behavior somewhat?

Answer
Hi, well Cricket is apparently pretty smart. In my opinion a beagle is not a good candidate for electric fencing. They will test it until they figure out that whatever shock they get isnt enough to deter them, or sometimes they will find a weak spot. Whatever it is a beagle has an inbred instinct to hit the road and follow their nose. They are very smart but this all goes out the window when ther nose picks up a scent. This is not going to be a good way to contain him. Instead of a crate which will be too punitive and confining what about fencing in a small dog run where he can be left outside but contained, It shouldn't cost too much and if you have someone that is handy might be able to do it with the help of some friends yourselves.

Hoping that a beagle wont do what a beagle does will always make you frustrated. EVen the best trained beagle is in my opinion not off leash safe and this is my favorite breed and the love of my life. But I realize the reality of they are who they are. Knowing that now can maybe alleviate some of the bad feelings that Cricket is doing this on purpose or is a bad dog, he is true to form for a beagle. Adjust the way you think about him and use some other creative ways to contain him.

Also the neutering will calm him down a little but it has nothing to do with his nose and desire to go ff and smell new things and track them. That part is inbred.

Feel free to check back anytime!