not sure what to do

[angieb1229]

Our Abbey will be 7 months old come the 11th of March. She is still having numerous accidents in the house (peeing and pooping) and I am not sure if this is still normal for a puppy to be having accidents or is there something we should be doing. I want to change the backdoor carpet but I am worried she's just going to destroy it with pee again.

I clean up and disinfect the spot everytime she does have an accident hoping the scent of her accident is not there, but it seems like its getting to the point where she's doing it just to do it and she doesnt run to the door.

This is my first time owning a beagle as a pup and I have never had such difficulty in training a puppy to go outside. I have had other dogs before. Any suggestions in what to do. We scould her and stick her in her kennel as a punishment. I'm not sure if we should be grabbing her and taking her outside after her accident. We're getting a little frustrated with our beautiful abbey and we want to teach her that having accidents in the house is wrong and that she needs to go outside. Out of the whole day she'll have 3-4 accidents. Some feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[Astroline]

Be consistent, like if you catch her in the act pick her up and put her outside right away. When me and my boyfriend trained our pup we pretty much would pick him up (we didn't let him walk to the door either cos we didn't want him to have any opportunity to pee or poo)and take him outside the moment he woke up after meals and after some play time. We tried to make him go in the same spot everyday. We also reinforced our pups positive behavior with treats, like when he peed outside we would say good boy happily and then follow it with a treat. Lastly we fed our pup at the exact same times daily and made him go to sleep the same time at night which established a routine. It's a lot of work but is definitely managable with a lil patience, hope this helps.

[RosCole]

Agreed, a consistent feeding, letting out schedule is best. It takes some dogs longer than others to "get it". Roscoe was a breeze so we thought, "huh, what is everyone complaining about, this was easy!" Then along came Cole. I swore he just didn't want to do it outside at all but after a year (yes a year) he got it. We still have an occassional accident but it is usually our fault when those happen.

Please be careful with the scolding and using the crate as punishment. You don't want her to be afraid to do her business, she may start hiding to do that. Also, you don't want her crate to ever be a bad place.

Be patient and consistent is the best advice.

Also, what are you using to clean up her messes? It is best to use an enzyme cleaner from the pet store. I read that some regular household cleaners only "lock" the scent in place. We may not be able to smell it anymore but the dogs can. We keep Simple Green for pet accidents spray in the house and it works and smells nice at the same time.

Good luck

[Pop_Rivit]

We've been through this with 2 beagles recently-Murphy is 14 months old and Mandy is almost 10 months old.

Both really weren't housetrained until the 6-7 month timeframe. Different dogs take different amounts of time to "get it". Be patient and consistent and you'll get there.

[Tucker]

We find that Niko and Yuki get so excited playing that they don't think about going potty. We started telling them to go and it has helped. I think it also has something to do with them being with so many owners in so short of time. I thnk they got it now. Luckily we plan on replacing the carpet when finances alow so we aren't too mad about stains. Even after using the enzyme spray, there are some stains. The carpet was stained when we moved in so it isn't a big deal.

[angieb1229]

thanks everyone for the great advise. I will not use the crate as a punshiment then....good point. Its her place and I dont want her thinking its bad to go in her home. We have been consistent in taking her out and rushing her to the door.

I have been using a product called Spray 9. They use it in hospitals with patients and cleaning up messes. So I thought it would be good with the dog since its human friendly also. It gets everything clean and I spray it on my backdoor carpet. I have all laminate in the house so I dont have to worry about stains. Thank goodness But I will just keep being on her and I'm sure in due time she'll stop having accidents in our house.

[cobismom]

We were just to the vet, and I asked the same question about my Casie. Casie was trained to use the cement run in his kennel at his "birth mother's" kennels....so potty trained, wasn't the same meaning to her as to me. So even at 2, he is still having accidents. So, the vet told me that he has used this on many dogs, young ones and older ones, and has had great success. You take them out as you want them to go...if they do something praise them, if they don't, take them inside, but put a leash or lead on them and put it either in your hand or around your waist. They have to stick with you, then when they look like or acts as if they are going to go, you take them outside immediately.....you are there with them constantly. Praise them when they do it outside, and say "NO" firmly if they do it inside. He said he takes patience, persistence and consistency with them...but they get the idea, and they don't want to be tethered to you forever so they learn in order to have roaming priviledges again. He has had beagles and bassets so knows that the breed can be stubborn, but he "thinks" my dh and I can outwit this pup.

Good luck, let me know if you find anything that truly works. We too are wearing out our carpet with scrubbings.