Another dog Question (Beagle)

[earlyexerciser39]

We have a beagle and he is a wonderful dog, but he pees in my house. If he has access to the basement (a cement floor), he pees and poops there. If he can, he lifts his leg to my furniture, too I don't want him to be an outside dog, but I will not let him ruin my wood floors or my furniture!

He was a stray that we just recently took in. We have been trying to find his owner, but no luck. Can beagles be trained? Someone told me that Beagles can not be house trained. The kids love him, of course, but I like my house pee free!

Help!
Jenn

 

[Liann]

I'll let someone with better training experience answer your main question, but as to Beagles being house trained - yes, they can. Whoever told you they can't was misinformed. How long have you had the dog? I am NO training expert, but the first thing I would do is try to get him used to a particular potty spot, taking him out to the same spot in your yard every few hours. And rewarding him with something every time he does his business there. It's possible he isn't house trained at all, so you can't really expect him to know not to pee on your couch yet. Just keep reinforcing where you want him to go and maybe take him out a little more than you normally would at first, especially after he eats or drinks something. Eventually he will get the idea. Do you have a crate? Since he is not house trained, I would consider crating him at night to save your house from more damage. Hopefully, one of our resident dog gurus will have some more answers for you! I have three stubborn little wienie dogs, whose only trick is "sit" and "roll over", so I'm definitely not an authority.

 

[Afreet]

ALL dogs can be trained. It sounds like nobody bothered to housetrain this beagle, so now it's up to you. Prepare to exercise your patience and persistence!

I have two ridiculously stubborn dogs, and I trained them by taking them outside (on leash) and praising them when they "went" outdoors. If I caught them trying to pee (or whatever) indoors, I gave them a firm "no" and rushed them outside. They got it pretty quickly - I just had to be 100% consistent about getting the message through to them.

I didn't correct them if I didn't catch them at it though - I wasn't sure they would know why they were being punished, if the event took place hours before. "Punishment" in this case is a firm "no" and/or "bad dog", followed by ignoring/looking away.

There are lots of methods for housetraining dogs, and I'm sure you'll get lots of advice here. If you give house-training a sincere, consistent effort, you will find a technique that will work for you. And please - don't make your beagle live outside! Beagles are notoriously curious, and are good at escaping from outdoor enclosures, and besides - dogs are pack/family oriented, and nobody would want to be part of a family that made them live outside. That's no fun! Train him well and you'll be rewarded by years of happy companionship.

 

[earlyexerciser39]

Thanks for the advice! I didn't want to invest time and effort if he couldn't be trained (I have not owned a dog as an adult!).

Another question. Yes, he definitely wants to roam. What do you think about the "electric" fence that you can plug-in inside your home and it is good for something like 40 feet around your home? We live in the country and fencing is not really an option.

Those "electric" fences (not really electric, I don't think...) are about $300. Again, I don't want to spend the money on this if it won't be effective! We are really trying to keep the cutie, but I want us all to be happy!

Jenn

 

[nicolegadino]

I have a Shitzhu and when I got him it was the dead of winter and he was so small the vet said we couldn't take him outside until it got warmer, so we tried to paper train him. I would put pads down and he would search out anywhere without a pad and pee there.
Once we were able to take him outside he got used to that really quickly.
When you say you don't want your beagle to be an outside dog, what does that mean? You are using wee wee pads. Beagles are big dogs, maybe he just needs more time outside.

 

[angie_nrs]

Beagles have a tendency to be stubborn, but they are very lovable and loyal and just soooooo cute! You just can't help but fall totally in love with them. It does take persistence on your part though. The beagle I have now I had as a puppy and she was pretty easy to potty train. However, I've had beagles that were not. We had a beagle that knew to go potty outside, but if she got mad (like when another dog came to the house or if we would kennel her while on vacation) she would piddle in the house. I guess she felt she had a point to make.

You might want to try to place 'his' urine soaked paper towel in the area where you want your dog to pee. I started doing this with my beagle and it seemed to work pretty well. I just cleaned up the mess in the house and placed the paper towel in the yard where she was supposed to go. I also added in the positive reinforcement and she was potty trained in no time. I also agree with crating the dog when you can't watch them in the house so that you KNOW when the dog is mis-behaving. The more he gets away with it, the more he'll think it's OK.

I've been told that the electric fences do not work well for beagles b/c they will run right thru the fence if their nose catches a scent. Unfortunately, you can't just let a beagle wander as they will instinctively follow their nose, which will most likely lead them away from where you want them to go. We have a cable run for ours, but that is not without it's problems. We watch her very closely when she is outdoors.

HTH

Angie

 

[Gayle]

Jenn - Is your dog neutered? That *might* help with the peeing (may not always). It sounds a little like he might be marking on your furniture.

FIL had a Beagle for a long time. Yes, they can be trained, but as others have posted, they do need consistent training.

Good luck!

 

[lrayburn]

Please check out "Way to Go" by Patricia McConnell - its a small pamphlet that you can find it on Amazon for about $7. It explains how to housetrain a dog at any age and deal with marking issues. This dog is not stubborn, he simply has never been trained and is doing what makes sense to him.

Lisa

 

[hopefull]

Two questions.Is he neutered? If so, was it recently? That urge to mark things diminishes, although not completely, over time after a dog has been neutered. I just saw the lady we got Patsy from do this: She took and cut an elastic bandage down to fit around the dogs belly and then cut a feminine napkin in half and stuck it to the badage. She fastened it around the dogs belly. Serves two purposes, he wets himself if he pees, and it keeps the pee off your floor, baseboards, and furniture. For all intents and purposes its a doggy diaper. We house broke our dog by crating him. He loves his crate to this day so we must have not scarred him for life. He sleeps in it all the time by choice. If we have the door locked he will cry till we open it up and let him go in. We don't need it anymore. It's just become his bed.He's turned into a very good boy!

 

[earlyexerciser39]

I don't know if he is neutered! How can I tell? I am guessing that he is about one year old. You are right in that I don't think that he is stubborn. He is just young and not trained!

I will check out that pamphlet. We are home all the time now, so we should have the time to devote to training him properly. He really is a sweet dog! Plus, the kids named him and once you name him...

Thanks for all of the advice!!
Jenn

 

[Gayle]

I don't know if he is neutered! How can I tell? I am guessing that he is about one year old. You are right in that I don't think that he is stubborn. He is just young and not trained!

Hi Jenn - If he still has testicles, then he's not neutered. They're usually easy to spot.

 

[mesilla67]

We got a 3 yr old beagle about a year ago. She was not potty trained when she came to our house. We got a clicker. We took her outside very regularly and when she peed outside, we would click and give her a treat. She is very food motivated, so the reward really seemed to help her a lot. You can buy clickers at most pet stores. We took her out every 3-4 hours to start with and she has done really well. Just be consistent and he will get it!