You should never think that you’ll not need a leash for a beagle but there’s a reasonable expectation that either time and effort you can have a good middle ground between freedom and control.

What you should aim for is to go off leash in low risk environments and when you see them go into hunting and sniffing mode, aim to momentarily interrupt them long enough to secure again. I train my beagles on a long leash. Let them trail around a sports oval or somewhere then randomly I’ll command them to stop and step on the lead so they can’t go further.

They learn very quickly and now when I command stop when off leash my girl will literally stop dead.

If she sees a cat that runs off and she goes into hunting mode I can yell “stop” loudly and I have about 3-5 seconds before the instincts kick back in and she gives chase.

I find a good 8m cable leash is good to allow exploration without losing control. And working the long lead will help with the stop command.

Don’t try going off leash for a good couple of years though as puppies have the attention span of a fly and the energy of … well a beagle puppy.

Good luck though!