Sunday: The averagely super beagle

[neilb]

Sunday is our 7 month old beagle. We picked her up when she was 10 weeks old and, apart from a couple of stints in the local kennels when we have gone away, she has been a permanent addition to our feet since then. I live with my wife in a 100m sq 5th floor apartment with a little terrace/balcony just outside of Bilbao, Spain.
On many levels she is a wonderful dog.
Let me tell you about her positive attributes.
1. She has only barked/howeled 3 times since we got her.
2. She is incredibly loving. She is always rolling on her back expecting a tummy rub.
3. She is loyal (unless there is food involved) and happy. A lot of tail wagging going on.
However, there are some things which I would like to change and to know about so here are my questions.
1. She cries - a lot. To get attention (particularly in the morning) and whenever she wants attention - which is always. She particularly cries when my wife and I take her out for a walk and one of us has to go somewhere else. If someone seperates from the 'pack' she REALLY cries. It turns heads in the street. any suggestions what we can do about this?
2. She jumps up a lot. We are working on it. Always pushing her down, saying 'No' and offering her a toy alternative.
3. She is still peeing in the house. I work from home so normally there is no problem. We go out certain times of the day and she does her business outside. However, if I go out and leave her in the kitchen, she thinks nothing of using the floor as a bathroom. Will she eventually grow out of this or can I do something to speed up the process? If I am leaving her for a short(ish) time I will leave her in her crate. Currently she also sleeps in a crate at night as I was getting fed up with cleaning poo and pee up from the kitchen floor in the mornings.
4. Can someone tell me how much exercise a beagle actually needs. Websites say 'moderate exercise' or something similar but I want to know in 'hours.' We go out for walks (5 min at 7.30am, 60 min at 11.30am, 15-30 min at 5.30pm and 5 min at 9.30pm). Is this enough? We all know that beagles never get tired so it's hard to say. We don't have dog parks here and I have let her of the lead for a run about with other dogs a number of times but once on the beach she escaped and run up to the busy road so I am pretty cautious about doing that.
5. Like I said, she doesn't bark... which is great. But when do beagles usually start to bark? Is she still too young? Am I getting my hopes up to early that we are going to have a mute beagle?
I think that's about it for now. Thanks in advance for any advice.
Neil

[brandypup]

Hi and welcome Neil.

. She cries - a lot.
She needs to bui.d self confidance. An obed class is very good for this. Also do not giver attention for doing it. Look away, leave the room. So much as eye contact will reinforce this. Get her used to being seperated also. Do it in small incriments and work up.

2. She jumps up a lot. We are working on it. Always pushing her down, saying 'No' and offering her a toy alternative.
By touching her you are reinforcing her getting on you. Instead do not say anything, do not touch her do not look at her. Turn your back and walk way. She jumps up for your attention, she gets it when you push her off or say no.
Work on your Sit also. Always reward her with petting for good sits. If her butt comes off the floor stopp the pets and attention, when touching the floor give the pets. (you can use 4 feet on the ground also or butt on the ground or both)

3. She is still peeing in the house.
She needs a minimum of 8 trips outside. When you go outside leash her say go potty (or whatever) give her about 2 minute, say back inside or in the house and return to the house. Keep her tied to you or crate her. Then repeat in 5 minutes. If she goes potty reward with a 15+ minute walk. If not then keep repeating steps until she does go.

4. Can someone tell me how much exercise a beagle actually needs.
Beagles were bred to run for days, litterly run. They NEED a lot of excerise. Mental excerise is imporantan as well. You can walk a beagle 4 hours but it wont tire his mind out. So walking in the woods for 1 hour could provide more mental excerise then a regular walk. Let him sniff if that gives him pleasue. Do what you can do but if your stillhaving issues with behavior up the excersie and metnal stimulation. Remember toss and throw and tug games are also very fun and stimulating to the dog.

5. Like I said, she doesn't bark...
Some bark, some dont. they genneral will bay on a sent. Mine isn't a barker unless I dont feed him. He will let loose on a sent though. Just reinforce the quiet with praise and attention.

Good luck.

Sirius Dog Training

Whole Dog Journal - Problem Solving

[neilb]

Thanks for the ideas.
I have another couple of points I would like to ask about as well.
Sunday sometimes runs around and around in circles, chasing her tail. Is this normal? She also runs away from me when I try and put her harness on to go out for a walk. If I try to tempt her with biscuits, she will make growling noises and crouch down and skip from side to side. Any idea if this is playing (for her - not me as it's pretty frustrating)? Thanks.

[brandypup]

Yea sounds like she is trying to play and be rambuntious. I call it Zoomies.

Do not hcase her as that is part of the game and reinforcing her running away.

Instead pick up the harness. Wait by the door. Say Come.. sit... and wait. yea I know totaly frustrating for the human. If you stay consistance, work on the sit it wil impove.

Now when I grab the harness they go to the door and sit-wiggle-spin-sit... Try to reward the actual sit part. With the but just starting to hit the floor. if you time it wrong you will reward her for her butt coming off the floor.

Clicker training works well with gettign the click at just the right time as the reward marker.

Instead of tempting her with biscuts, try rewarding. Probably the same thing differnt words. Again the clicker comes in handy or this becuase you do not get a treat without getting a click and you dont get a click unless you do something good.

It wont happen over night in most caes it's a long process of consistancy and repeating it.

Fifteen Tips for Getting Started with the Clicker | Karen Pryor Clickertraining

[andreab]

We attended a long term training course with Moll and we were taught that tail chasing is a sign of stress, from what you wrote it would appear that Sunday could probably use a little more stimulation in the form of exercise. We may have overdone it but at that age we were walking our beagle for an average of 2 hours a day, not necessarily far but letting her sniff her way through the neighbourhood sure tired her out.
We also had the same problem with the harness, to this day Molly hates it and dances and howls if she thinks we are even contemplating putting one on her. We eventually gave up and have used a normal collar and extendable lead since.

Good luck with Sunday she sounds gorgeous!

[neilb]

Thanks for that. Very useful.
As your advice has been so useful, I have one more thing to ask about.
I really want to be able to let her off the lead to run about. She LOVES playing with other dogs and having a good run. However, there are no fenced play areas for dogs and living in an apartment, we don't have a garden. I have let her off the lead a number of times but she NEVER comes back when I call her - even if she is being offered treats. She gets close and sometimes grabs the treat and bolts. Once, at the beach, she chased another dog about 300m up to the road. It nearly killed me trying to clamber through hedges and brambles to catch up with her.
My question is this: How do I get her to come back on command? I feel that I have to give her sometime off the lead to learn, but she is so unreliable.

I have attached a photo of my wife holding Sunday and another from a few months ago.

[brandypup]

Omg adorable!!!

[Beagler]

She is amazingly cute!!

[kutyuska]

Super big like