Hi,

just after a bit of advice regarding toilet training a beagle puppy. Ruby is 14 weeks old now, wehave had her for 4 weeks. I know Beagles are harder to train than a lot of puppies so I guess I am more looking for reassurance that our progress is normal but advice would be great too please.

During the night she is a crate and is now 'holding it' from around 10.30pm till around 6.30am when she lets us know she needs to go. we take her straight outside and praise her and give her treats etc for going out there. She has her 1st meal about 7am and again we take her straight out afterwards so she can go again. She heads towards the door on the odd occasion when she needs to go but mostly she still just tries to go anywehere she likes. My husband was with her for the 1st two weeks during the day but is now back at work so she is alone between 6-7 hours now and in that time has 5-6 accidents. Obviously we know she can hold it as she goes all night in the crate.

She is in the kitchen during the day and we put pads/paper out but despite cleaning all accidents up with proper pet cleaners she goes anywhere and everywhere in the kitchen.

She also seems to like the lounge rug for peeing on when we let her in there often with no sign of circling or sniffing. we are considering taking it up till she is trained.

The first couple of weeks she was very unsettled with food and had dihorea (can never spell that) on and off which resulted in a trip to the vets and some prescription food and kaline (??) type medicine and all that did seem to hinder the training process but she is now settled and everything has 'firmed up' so to speak.

Any advice recommended please. Would you recommend a pen for during the day to at least restrict her to a certain area of the kitchen while we are out.

We are starting a puppy training course in a couple of weeks too.

Many thanks
Lyndsey

When I have a new puppy he is either tied to me or in a crate. Heavy duty builders polythene sheet is good for protecting carpets

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it is very unlikely that a 14 week old puppy is going to hold in their toilet during the day for 7hours. its also going to hinder the housebreaking process. is there no chance you can get someone to pop in for toilet breaks?
its different at night as its dark and puppy is tired so will probably be sleeping most of the time.

during the day, hes not going to be sleeping the whole time. so will need loo breaks. generally id be taking a pup that age, outside maybe every hour or so and hugely praising when he "goes". coz really its the only way to make them realise that outside is where they do toilet.
i also find puppy pads/newspaper a bit of a hinderance aswell, as then its giving the pup mixed signals that it IS ok to go inside.

without trying to sound rude, i hope you have done lots of research into beagles. i have had two now, and they are not a breed that likes to be left alone. they can be incredibly destructive and very vocal. i dont leave my current one alone in the house for more than 4 hours generally, but even tehn he has the company of 2 other dogs.
my first beagle ate my kitchen when left (and not for a very long time).

today, kody has chewed up 3 seperate things on the occasions he was left. even for just 10mins! though he does seem to be in a particularly naughty mood today!

i crate all my puppies, for usually the first few months until i know they are more settled and into the routine. the first beagle was always crated when we went out. (he was a single dog). i would not be leaving him in the crate for 7hours though unless through the night. even though i had a crate that would fit a german shepherd!

anyway, i ramble. basically, you have a tough few months ahead of you but you will need lots of patience and persistance. (and if possible a friend/neighbour to pop in during the day).

also, pics please and i am always happy to ramble on about beagles. their pros and their cons :P

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6th Jan 2008 - 22nd July 2009

Just briefly and only a little off topic - I can "hold it" when I'm asleep for 8 hours but even I can't make it through the 8 hours at work without having to pee at least twice - and I'm not a baby with limited baldder control!

I can't offer any beagle specific advise as I have no experience of them but this is all totally normal puppy behaviour. Your pup is unlikely to have full control over her toiletting needs yet, not to mention she is still learning about where she is supposed to go.

Being left for such a long period during the day is only making things worse - partly because she has no choice but to go in the house, and partly because the wrong behaviour is being reinforced (she gets the pleasent relief of peeing when she does it in the house, but during all that time doesn't once get any reward for doing it outside).

To be honest I think you will struggle unless you can at least break up her day a bit. Is there anyone you could ask to come round and let her out once or twice (and reward her if she pees outside) and to clean up any mess she has made (without getting cross)? Maybe a friend or neighbour - hire someone if necessary.

I'm afraid she is going to take a long time to learn if nobody is actually there to teach her.

As far as restricting her goes - personally I would say no. I have no objection to using crates or pens as housetraining aids - but as she is left alone for such long periods I think restricting her even more would be unfair. Plus, if she physically can't hold it she will have to go anyway, and is just more likely to end up walking or laying in it.

I would agree about removing that rug for now though. She may be building up an association "rug=toilet" which you could break if you remove the rug until she is reliablly house trained. Chancs are there are also some lingering smells on the rug now which will only encourage her to pee there more. I would suggest remove it for now and getting it properly cleaned before putting it back.

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"For all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams it is still a beautiful world"

I have to say i agree with the Posters above and i will even go so far as to say I wouldn't have recommended a even an adult beagle for a situation where they are left for 6-7 hours. They are incredibly social dogs and love to be in the company of humans or other dogs. They will find things to amuse themselves and with noone there to guide them that the kitchen cupboards, chairs, etc aren't appropriate things to chew they will chew them and they can be prodigious chewers.

Without someone there to take Ruby out every hour or so, of course she is going to toilet in the house. If you want her to use the pads you are going to need to train her to do that... which is going to confuse and slow down the outdoor toiletting. I think you have a long slow difficult road ahead of you. Sorry to be all doom and gloom I wish you luck

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Thanks for the advice everyone. She is already having less and less accidents since I posted this and starting to use the pads a bit and starting to head towards the back door when she wants to go so we can see some improvements.

My nieghbour is home all day and does have dogs himself so I might be calling on him to call round, otherwise I think we might look into getting some one in. I am looking at changing my hours at work which will mean there are only 3 days she is left alone but for longer so if that happens with will definately get someone in for those days.

We did do some research and knew that toilet training would be difficult with us working etc so I am feeling reassured now that we are heading in the right direction.

Thanks everyone, And I will post some pics of her tonight, she is beautiful

Some pics of Ruby.

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Hi, not here giving advice, but my daughter has a beagle, now 18 months old, he is lovely and a very social dog. Everything on here people have commented on is true about them! they love family life, he is very stubborn though. She took awhile on the toilet training issue, but got there in the end. Good luck, your puppy looks adorable