Hello!
My name is Julie and I am new to this lovely Beagle World. We recently adopted an 8 week-old beagle from a couple who "just didn't have the time." They purchased her at 6 1/2 weeks from a backyard breeder.
We've had her for about five days now. Housebreaking is going well; she still has accidents (a fault on our part), but as long as we get her outside every two hours or so she does her business immediately then runs off to play. She hasn't had an accident in her crate yet either! *crosses fingers*
But I digress. We are having a few behavioral issues that regular training methods don't seem to be solving.
#1 She had absolutely no bite inhibition when she came to us. I'm not sure if this is because she was taken away from her litter too early, because she's a beagle, or if it would have happened anyway. She's a fiesty little girl, a little on the willful side, not normally aggressive, but a very rough and tumble play type.
We researched the methods of training and started with the least invasive. At first we just made the puppy screech, but this would excite her, so we stopped playing with her altogether after screeching (we don't play rough with her in any way, the bites usually happen when she goes into insane mode and does laps around the house/yard and attacks our ankles/hands, whichever happens to be the most accessible).
This has mostly worked for regular times, but when she goes into insane mode (complete with growling that is ever so cute, but obviously not encouraged) all bets are off.
Our vet suggested we pinch the top of her snout into her mouth (forcing her to bite her own lips). This seemed a little cruel to me, but a vet is there for a reason. My fiance tried it and it seemed to work OK. I tried it, but it just made her very, very angry and she bit even harder and struggled and growled.
My other method is to tell her NO and hold her mouth shut until she calms down a bit, but this hasn't really worked.
Long story short, are we doing the correct thing? Is this something we just have to persevere through (continuing to use corrections), until she grows out of it? I have never raised a puppy indoors before; she's my first since moving out of my parent's house (who didn't allow indoor dogs).
#2 Crying at night
We are crate-training her. Her sleep space is in a crate in our bedroom. There is a dog bed, a blanket, a small frozen bone stuffed with few bites of dog food and peanut butter, and a couple of overnight-safe toys in the crate with her. When I put her in the crate, she plays with the toys...until I shut the door. Then she just sits, looking out at us and crying. At first she wouldn't stop, but eventually would calm down after a few minutes.
The first two night we got about an hour sleep. A friend recommended that we sleep with our heads as close to the cage as possible, so we did that. It calmed her down a bit and the third and fourth nights we got about six hours of sleep. She does really well with the initial sleeping segment, but after the first time we take her potty at 2 or 3 in the morning, she has a hard time going back to sleep.
Last night she was up almost the entire night. We tried playing the radio on a lower volume setting (which has worked before), singing to her, taking her out for a potty (once she stops crying for a few seconds), and seeing if she was thirsty. None of these things worked.
Again, are we implementing the correct methods for a beagle puppy and just have to persevere, or are we missing something? I know this must be separation anxiety somewhat, for as I type this, she is asleep in my arms, indicating she is as drained as we are. Again, I have never crate-trained a dog before, so any suggestions are welcome.
#3 Clicker Training
This isn't really an issue, I just have a few questions. I have been clicker training her, and she responds well to the treat, but doesn't seem to really *get* the clicker. Adult dogs I have clicker-trained understood what the click meant after one session. I'm assuming she just isn't mentally developed yet (shooooort attention span) to handle the bridge between the click and the treat. We work for about 10 minutes a day, so far on down, sit, and off. When should I expect her to be developed enough to start making the connection?
Sorry for the book, I just want to give as much information as possible in order to obtain accurate answers.
Thank you!
Julie
My name is Julie and I am new to this lovely Beagle World. We recently adopted an 8 week-old beagle from a couple who "just didn't have the time." They purchased her at 6 1/2 weeks from a backyard breeder.
We've had her for about five days now. Housebreaking is going well; she still has accidents (a fault on our part), but as long as we get her outside every two hours or so she does her business immediately then runs off to play. She hasn't had an accident in her crate yet either! *crosses fingers*
But I digress. We are having a few behavioral issues that regular training methods don't seem to be solving.
#1 She had absolutely no bite inhibition when she came to us. I'm not sure if this is because she was taken away from her litter too early, because she's a beagle, or if it would have happened anyway. She's a fiesty little girl, a little on the willful side, not normally aggressive, but a very rough and tumble play type.
We researched the methods of training and started with the least invasive. At first we just made the puppy screech, but this would excite her, so we stopped playing with her altogether after screeching (we don't play rough with her in any way, the bites usually happen when she goes into insane mode and does laps around the house/yard and attacks our ankles/hands, whichever happens to be the most accessible).
This has mostly worked for regular times, but when she goes into insane mode (complete with growling that is ever so cute, but obviously not encouraged) all bets are off.
Our vet suggested we pinch the top of her snout into her mouth (forcing her to bite her own lips). This seemed a little cruel to me, but a vet is there for a reason. My fiance tried it and it seemed to work OK. I tried it, but it just made her very, very angry and she bit even harder and struggled and growled.
My other method is to tell her NO and hold her mouth shut until she calms down a bit, but this hasn't really worked.
Long story short, are we doing the correct thing? Is this something we just have to persevere through (continuing to use corrections), until she grows out of it? I have never raised a puppy indoors before; she's my first since moving out of my parent's house (who didn't allow indoor dogs).
#2 Crying at night
We are crate-training her. Her sleep space is in a crate in our bedroom. There is a dog bed, a blanket, a small frozen bone stuffed with few bites of dog food and peanut butter, and a couple of overnight-safe toys in the crate with her. When I put her in the crate, she plays with the toys...until I shut the door. Then she just sits, looking out at us and crying. At first she wouldn't stop, but eventually would calm down after a few minutes.
The first two night we got about an hour sleep. A friend recommended that we sleep with our heads as close to the cage as possible, so we did that. It calmed her down a bit and the third and fourth nights we got about six hours of sleep. She does really well with the initial sleeping segment, but after the first time we take her potty at 2 or 3 in the morning, she has a hard time going back to sleep.
Last night she was up almost the entire night. We tried playing the radio on a lower volume setting (which has worked before), singing to her, taking her out for a potty (once she stops crying for a few seconds), and seeing if she was thirsty. None of these things worked.
Again, are we implementing the correct methods for a beagle puppy and just have to persevere, or are we missing something? I know this must be separation anxiety somewhat, for as I type this, she is asleep in my arms, indicating she is as drained as we are. Again, I have never crate-trained a dog before, so any suggestions are welcome.
#3 Clicker Training
This isn't really an issue, I just have a few questions. I have been clicker training her, and she responds well to the treat, but doesn't seem to really *get* the clicker. Adult dogs I have clicker-trained understood what the click meant after one session. I'm assuming she just isn't mentally developed yet (shooooort attention span) to handle the bridge between the click and the treat. We work for about 10 minutes a day, so far on down, sit, and off. When should I expect her to be developed enough to start making the connection?
Sorry for the book, I just want to give as much information as possible in order to obtain accurate answers.
Thank you!
Julie
