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3K views 14 replies 12 participants last post by  baileysmom 
#1 ·
I was wondering how everyone trained their Beagles? Did you take them to puppy school or just do it at home type of thing?
 
#2 ·
I had experience with my other dog, from when I took training lessons with him, so Chloe was "home schooled"....apart from "heel", which I understand is quite difficult for beagles, she mastered everything, plus some other tricks I taught her... we are now working on going in circles.
She already rolls over, sit, stay (for about a minute), come, shake (both hands)... so I guess we are doing good.
 
#3 ·
I got a great training book, used ideas of my own, and then we had a trainer come in twice to help with dominance a little. Most I have been doing on my own. Hubby was amazed when he went on a walk with me and Marley and saw how Marley did with me. I said see, I told you to use my commands and follow what I do! It has made Marley a much more bahaved boy but we do have some more to go. If you try it on your own, patience is key. You will have to do/say the same thing over and over but pup will get it and will enjoy it.

I want to do group training to socialize him.

I will try to teach him heel next and if it is very hard, will get help with it. I think we can do it though.
 
#5 ·
Maggie and I went to puppy class with my vet and then did all three levels of obedience at Petsmart. We work at home every day. Maggie loves the classes because of all the other dogs. We will probably take something else in the spring or summer.
 
#6 ·
We have been working with Blue at home and we will be starting classes in about 4 weeks. (He is 6 months old) He has mastered sit, lay down, shake, fist bump (yeah we watch a lot of football), high five, he is getting roll over and stay, some times we can get him to speak on demand and we are working on howl (he is very quiet for a Beagle). Our new ones are drop it and go get it (those seem difficult).

We are still working on walking on a leash, but we brought him home during our fall rain and right now it is -4 without a wind chill with about a foot of snow on the ground so that will have to wait until summer!!! Good thing we have a big yard!!
 
#7 ·
I picked up training techniques from my friends who are/were involved in rescue, fostering, and dog daycare. I want to learn new tricks to teach Spock (who knows several already) and start training Bones to do the same things Spock does, though it may all have to wait until Bones is housebroken.

Since 4 months, Spock has known sit, stay, lie down, roll over, and come when called. He also knows "leave it" for when he scavenges trash while we're out on a walk, though I have to say it a time or two before he puts it down. When we've been out lately, I've tried to teach him heel, though excursions have been rare due to the bad weather and my recent bout of flu.

The only trick I've failed to teach Spock is shake. He licks or tries to squirm away and start playing every time I try to take his paw.
 
#8 ·
Quote:Originally posted by Chloe's Mommy:
I had experience with my other dog, from when I took training lessons with him, so Chloe was "home schooled"....apart from "heel", which I understand is quite difficult for beagles, she mastered everything, plus some other tricks I taught her... we are now working on going in circles.
She already rolls over, sit, stay (for about a minute), come, shake (both hands)... so I guess we are doing good.
If your beagle can learn all of the above she can definitely learn heel!

Heel is actually very easy to teach, just start at home in a low distraction environment.

The command heel is about teaching the dog a position, it is not like sit where the dog learns a movement, teaching heel is about telling the dog to walk at your heel on certain commands.

People make the mistake that 'heel' is walking on a loose lead, but it is about your dog walking with you and focusing on you - the dog should be looking at you every time it heels (as they waiting for your next command, they need to focus on you).

With Daisy I taught her heel by firstly getting her to sit at my left side, in line with my leg. The dog must be in a sit. I got a yummy treat (I like sausage, cheese, chicken, kabana etc) and showed it to her. Once I had her attention, I held the treat in my left hand so she could sniff it and said 'heel'. You must step off on your left leg, as this acts as a signal to the dog as well as a voice command to heel.

Walk a few paces keeping the dog at your side and then come to a stop, and make the dog sit at your heel again. Praise once the dog is in the right position and say "heel, good girl" etc.

Repeat a few times and you will find your beag will quickly learn what heel is and should sit as soon as you stop walking without you commanding her to. This is an automatic sit and praise as soon as the dog does it /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif You will also find that you won't need to 'lure' the dog with the treat

An eg of heel is in this video I did when Daisy was learning basic obedience:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM_O9HJzhV0

To answer the OP, Daisy went to puppy school and then straight into dog obedience at our local dog club. It is a blast!!! And although doing obedience with a scent hound can be a challenge it is also very rewarding /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
 
#9 ·
How long did it take your puppies to learn everything? I just feel like Bailey will never learn anything.

For example, we're trying to teach him to sit. He'll get it right after about 5-10 mins and then when we try to do it during the day, or even the next day, it's as if he didn't learn anything at all!

And house training isn't going that well either. We've tried teach him to scratch at the door whenever he needs to go, but that hasn't sunk in after 2-3 weeks. He just goes wherever! The other day he was sitting on top of the couch and just peed!
 
#10 ·
How old is Bailey? If he is a baby it might take a while and a lot of repetitions. The same thing with signaling to go out. It takes lots of time and patience. As Maggie has matured a little I have noticed that she learns new things faster with less repetitions and is more cued in to me. Do you use hand signals as well as voice commands when you are teaching something like sit? When Maggie was very young she did better with hand signals. I teach everything with both and am able to use either a voice command or hand signal now. I just think it takes lots of time and patience. You might want to read some of the posts on crate training to help with the housebreaking issues.
 
#11 ·
The most important thing to teach your puppy is socialization. You can train a dog to sit at almost any age but you can't teach confidence or how to behave around other dogs, so puppy social classes are a must in my opinion.
 
#12 ·
We went to puppy school. Duke loved it and he was really good at it. We also work with him at home.

He is great on a leash and he heels perfectly on walks, even though that wasn't a huge part of puppy school. We walk fast and he keeps up.

He can also sit, stay, down, leave it (when he wants to), wait, and shake. Most of these were learned in puppy school and class was 10 weeks. But it takes time and tons of repetion. And then there are times that no matter what, he gets stubborn and won't do a thing. That's when we stop and come back to it later.
 
#14 ·
I have taken my dogs to puppy school and it has only made them worse (more or less). I am learning a new training method now that is done by Brad Pattison. I had always done treat training and wondered why my dogs weren't always well behaved. My trainers have actually caused a lot of the issues that I am having now.

If you want to check him out, his site is www.bradpattison.com He is the trainer in the TV series "At The End Of My Leash" I have been doing umbilicle training for about a week now and am AMAZED at the differences already.
 
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