A friend of mine is giving away her 10 week old beagle puppy. It's a female and I think pure bred. That's about all I know. Do any of you have any advice on how to train a beagle or just advice in general about raising a dog in a 800 sq ft apartment? ------------------ Ni ai chou mei!
Send it to that place on Old Katy Road....Man's Best Friend?? Let them train the dog. You'll save yourself a security deposit. ------------------ "We're having a pretty good time considering one day we're all going to die." Steve Martin, 1976
Oh and let me add that I live in Austin, TX. So I can't be taking the dog to Houston or someplace outside of the city. ------------------ Ni ai chou mei!
A beagle will be fine in an apartment, just exercise him (try to do it twice a day, morning and evening). Also your neighbors will really hate you! Beagles bark alot and they have very loud barks! I have a lab who does great inside and a beagle can make it, but warn your neighbors. For awhile she will be a very loud annoyance.
Do you really want a beagle? Have you looked into the breed and it's characteristics? All the beagles I've known are extremely barky... like, more barky than alot of other dogs I've noticed... I realize all dogs bark, but beagles... man, they're loud and barky. Also... IMO, if you send your dog off, you are losing some valuable bonding time, by letting someone else train it. 800 sq ft.... just be sure to take him out for exercise, daily. Our dogs get at least one good walk a day... Puppies need to wait till they have all their shots before going out in public. Why? Parvo and other diseases can be transmitted to pups if your dog doesn't have all its shots.. I think they usually say like after 4 months it's OK. Ultimately, it's all up to you. Here's a website with some good info: http://www.k9web.com/dog-faqs/ Here are my pets: http://epets.tripod.com good luck. rH ------------------ visit: groovehouse.org
Yes, I know they bark a lot but I just think they are the cutest dogs! I really really want a beagle. Besides I run a lot so I plan to exercise every day with her. Think she can do a marathon with me? Just kidding ------------------ Ni ai chou mei!
1. consistency in exercise. same time everyday, if possible. They love a schedule, like barking at the mailman at 11:17 am everyday. There is a great bit in The Little Prince where the fox explains how the prince can tame him. 2. If you give a puppy too many toys, you are training them that everything is a toy. They only require one toy. 3. Patient like the fox says. If the puppy is alone all day long, he will miss you greatly. Do not be overwhelmed with the urge to shower him with affection right as you open the door. The puppy has already heard you come up the steps and is sooo excited he just might pee himself. very true. Just go about your business for 5 or 10 minutes, water his bowl or something, change clothes, let him calm down, then give him affection and take him for a walk. Eventually, this is not necessary anymore, but you never now with puppies. heyschweetie had a dog that would pee a puddle on the wood floor everytime she opened the door. 4. Should your puppy chew something during the day while you are gone, you cannot punish him when you get home. I mean, you can, but he won't understand why he is being punished....and will only learn that you coming home sometimes means he gets punished. You can only punish for things while in the act. 5. Punish them anytime they run into the road without your permission. Do it. Make them sit everytime before you cross a road...everytime. Patience. 6. Punish as a mother dog would. You can grab them by the scruff of the neck and push there whittle head down to show strength. It won't hurt them. There is no need to hurt the whittle puppy, but they do react favorably to dominance. It is part of their way. Another way I punish is to slap them under the chin (not ontop of the head) to get their attention. Or just grab their chin to make them look at me. Patience. Just get their attention and change your voice. They'll know they are bad. 7. Beware of letting them jump on you. It is common courtesy in the dog owner world for everyone to prevent their dog from doing this. It is like teaching your kids to sit still in public. You may not mind your dog jumping on you, but the women with the white dress will. 8. Don't let him run under the refrigerator...oh, nevermind, that is advice for gr8-1's cat. 9. Good luck with the barking. You probably will not be able to prevent a beagle from barking.
Since my puppy just recently died of parvo, I feel obliged to reinforce the warning. Make sure the dog gets shots for it. Until the dog is immunized, be careful of the surroundings you bring the dog into. Parvo is transmitted from dog to dog mostly through fecal matter abd body fluids. In Houston, parvo is everywhere. In Austin, where it is drier, it may not be so prevalent. If the pup shows signs of it (not eating/drinking, vomiting, bloody diahrrea) take him to the vet. The parvo shots are not 100% effective (as I found out). As for enjoying the dog while it lives, a puppy needs lots and lots of attention. To make it a good dog, it needs time with you to trust you and it needs you to spend time working with it for it to learn (though it's learning curve will be flat for the first few months). You will end up rearranging your whole life to accomodate the dog. Get a book on dog training. I'd recommend one whose name I can't quite remember. It's something like Rapport-Based Training. I'd also recommend some research on the breed. Here's UK's Beagle Club: http://www.thebeagleclub.co.uk/. It'd be a good idea to talk to a beagle breeder/enthusiast about health and behavior issue particular to the breed. ------------------ RealGM Gafford Art Artisan Cakes
Make sure you crate-train the dog. I only found about this after it was too late. This involves basically the dog living in a very small, confined space (a pet taxi, for example) until it is house-broken. The dog will be unwilling to go to the bathroom in such a small space, and will wait to be taken outside.
JV, I second that. My family had a Brettany when I was a teenager, and she contracted Paarvo. What a nightmare.
What's your work schedule ? Is it 8-5 or are you a student ? You need to have alot of time and patience. That's why I can't have a dog until I have kids to take care of it. Crate training may be hard if you are gone for 9 hours at a time. Also, don't expect to sleep alot over the next few weeks. ------------------ "norm, would you like to buy an indian scalp ? This deal isn't gonna make or break me Norm, so don't jerk me around." Harry Carey "Norm, if I had a mohawk scalp, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you."
Jetta, there is a great dog park on the South side of Town Lake there in Austin. It is on Riverside, just west of IH35 a little ways. ------------------ "We're having a pretty good time considering one day we're all going to die." Steve Martin, 1976
Lots of advice, but raising a puppy's a learning experience, and you'll learn most of it by doing it. For potty training, I think you'll find that the dog will have 1 particular place she likes to go. Try putting newspapers down there, and whenever she goes to the bathroom, take the soiled newspapers outside with the dog and let her smell it out there. That way, she associates going to the bathroom with outside. Often people think rubbing their nose in it and spanking the dog is the right way to go, but that just confuses the dog. If you catch her in the act, yell out NO! and she'll stop. Then let her outside. She'll understand. You'll also need to invest in some "Bitter Apple." When your puppy starts teething, she'll chew EVERYTHING. Spray it on your furniture (particularly on the legs), and spray it on the corners of the carpet so she doesn't rip it out. Puppies also go through withdrawl when you leave them alone when you go to work. You can expect the newspaper to be torn up, other things to be chewed on ... it's just puppy anxiety. Not much you can do about it. Same with the puppy peeing on the carpet if you leave her home alone 8+ hours a day. Try holding it that long yourself, and see how it feels! Then you just gotta clean it up, and chalk it up to love for your pet. As far as training her to sit, lay down, stay, etc. there's lots of books & online help for that. Just have patience if your puppy doesn't understand at first. It'll pay off. ------------------ Founding Father of the Refs Suck Club
Wow, thanks for all the advice! Hope this works out I've always wanted a dog to call my own. ------------------ Ni ai chou mei!
My wife and I have a 14-year-old Beagle who we love dearly. She got him as a puppy and I "adopted" him when he was about six. (As a matter of fact, a reason she married me was because the dog approved.) You can train barking out of a beagle. Bailey doesn't bark much at all. He still barks at the mailman or the guys who mow the lawn but not nearly as much as the other dogs in the neighborhood (and he barks much less now that he's so old). Despite what some people say, Beagles are very smart but they are not the most trainable of dogs because they are very stubborn. If they do a trick it’s only because they wanted to. But, if you are patient and persistent, they can be taught to do most anything. The LOVE food and keeping them slim is a big challenge. Probably the MOST important thing to understand about Beagles is that they love to follow scents. Remember they were bread as scent hounds and have an incredible sense of smell. They are used in airports to detect illegal food (the Beagle Brigade). The reason this is so important to know is that your Beagle may get on a scent and then wonder off, completely ignoring her surroundings and where she's going. The next thing you know, she's in the street or lost. So it is VERY important that you keep here on leash at all times, train her to respond to your calls (which may be useless when she's tracking) and ensure that she can't get out when you are not at home. I can’t emphasize this enough. For more info on Beagles go to http://www.beagles-on-the-web.com Good luck! ------------------
