You got this dog in July and we are in the end of Sept. The dog is a newbie in your home. And you work all day leaving the dog home alone with your other dog. Since you said that you have caught the dog chewing, this dog isn't chewing because he is home alone. She is a chewer. Its great that you are providing the dog with exercise. But your attempts at wearing her out will not stop her from chewing. There is no connection between exercise/tired out and chewing.

Are you walking the dog on a lead and training her to respond to commands? It is actually easier since you said that the dog will chew when you are at home. You need to spend time with the dog in your home so you can observe the dog and immediately correct the dog when he picks up anything inappropriate in his mouth. And I mean a concentrated effort of you being with the dog. Not you just floating around the house. You need to focus your attention solely on this dog and not be side tracked with anything else. Set up the environment. Leave those closet doors open and other things visible. Let the dog roam around the house with you keep watch on the dog. Watch tv with the dog and leave some tempting things in the same room off to the side. The dog may wander over to them. You want to catch the dog in the act.

For instance, if you have been working with him on a lead with basic training...if you see him wandering into a closet you should be able to vocally command him to stop and tell him that going into the closet is no. He should be taught "leave it" "drop it" whatever command you choose to use. You might have to sneak around to catch him in the act.

Depending on how well the dog has been trained in the basics, you may be able to train him on chewing just verbally. If the dog is not responding and you can set up the training in a particular room preferably a big room. Attach a long lead like 25 feet. (lead doesn't have to be tied to anything) Make sure he can't fall down any stairs. Place some very tempting items around the room. Leave the room and spy on the dog. When the dog starts to chew on something, walk in and pick up the lead section close to the dog...and give a sharp pull (pull parallel to ground not up) while telling the dog NO....leave it...drop it. If the dog doesn't respond, do it again. The dog will drop it. Keep repeating test with you leaving dog in room and you spying. You need to correct the dog while in the act. Very difficult to correct untrained dog hours later. Keep up this training day after day if necessary. Normally, one day is enough. When dog has been good and able to stay in room without chewing anything for a few hours, enter room praising dog, love and kisses. Let him know he did good.

Beagles are great dogs and highly trainable.

You can also train the dog never to put anything in her mouth unless you have expressly given it to her. Have her sit/or lie in middle of room. Place her favorite treat/cookie on the floor about 2 feet in front of her. Start by sitting so many feet back in front of her. You can make up your own commands but tell her not to touch. The goal is that she never takes it. You then walk about the room and walk in and out leaving the dog in that position with the treat there. After a while you pick up the treat and give it directly to the dog. Later on you can do this with their food. Lay food out prior to dog entering room and not let dog eat food until you say so.

This is a good thing to train your dog for as it protects them from putting unknown things in their mouth that might hurt them. You never know what is outside. Also prevents dog from eating food that has poison in it.

This will prevent the dog not only from chewing but putting anything in his mouth unless you give it to him which is for his safety. The only downside to this, if the dog is properly trained on this, the dog will not eat unless you personally give him his food.

Premier, Thanks for the input, but :

1. Being exercised/worn out DIRECTLY affects her chewing behavior. When she's been exercised well, she does not chew things up. I have seen it numerous times.

2. Re: Training her never to put anything in her mouth unless I give it to her - are you saying *every time*? Like she can't pick up one of her toys unless I give it to her?

While I agree that most dogs are very smart, trainable, and want to please, she is a BEAGLE. From things I have read, and now what I am experiencing, beagles are not quite so driven to please their master, and really march to the beat of a different drummer!

Daisy is definitely smart, and can certainly learn, but she is not motivated in the usual way that most dogs are. When she does something good, like every single time she pees outside, I do the whole excited praise thing. She couldn't care less! Any other dog I've owned would respond by running over for pets and kisses. She doesn't even look to see what I'm all excited about ;)

Another example is that she learned quickly how to sit, *because she knows she will not get petted/scratched unless she does*. She isn't sitting to please me, she is sitting so she gets what she wants. Yes, I know that I can use that to my advantage, but it's a totally different approach to training than with a dog that lives to please.

Oh, and the part about letting her start to do something and then correcting her, so far ..... not working. I will correct her, then two minutes later she's going for the same thing I told her not to. I actually laughed out loud when you said that normally one day training on this is enough. I suspect this dog is going to take a LONG TIME to learn not to do certain things, because *there's nothing in it for her*. LOL

Seriously, this little beagle dog is a CHALLENGE!

Oh, and to preempt a possible question, she is only crated when I am at work, and as mentioned, gets let out midday to run around in the yard. She sleeps with me and has the run of the house otherwise.

It depends on how you want to structure the training. Yes a dog can be trained never to put anything in its mouth unless you directly gave it to them, or never put anything in its mouth unless it is food or their toy. Its up to you how you want the dog trained.

If you only want to train her not to go after your stuff, work with her as I first wrote about. Put her in the situation. Leave closets open and other things on the floor so it will be very tempting. Spy on her. You can also observe her through a window when you are outside. Start by devoting 4 to 5 hours. The moment she goes for the item, you appear and you discipline her. If you think she is ignoring what you say....put a choker on her (not spiked) and lead and pull on it. You won't actually hurt her. But you will immediately get her attention. As you yank, you say NO. Take the item from her and tell her bad girl. Place the item a number of feet away from her but still accessible. Give her the chance to do it again. And immediately correct her. Repeat, repeat, repeat. It will work.

I guestioned about her previous training because it is important for the dog to realize that you will lay down the rules and give commands and the dog is to respond. If you feel she is not respecting your commands, give her a refresher course by taking her out on a lead and going through the sit, down, heal, stay routine. She needs a good reminder that she is expected to listen.

Good luck.

The longer you have had the dog and the longer she has had this problem will make it harder to correct but it still can be corrected. If someone else took the dog into their home, a new owner and new environment is actually easier because the dog is so alert to the change and trying to figure out what the new rules are. So it may take a little longer, but don't give up. Stay with it.

Okay, weed. You breath. Repeat that you love that rediculosly smart, stubborn, dopey eyed little monster infront of you. And you then remove any and all possesions that you would like to keep, lol.

Okay, but seriously. Do NOT ever correct her by replacing what she's chewing on with something appropriate. Like you said beagles couldn't care any less about what you want. She chews coffee table, you give her kong, she wins.

Coda learned. Down, stay, DO NOT MOVE. If she is chewing some thing, she needs to learn she gets nothing. Beagles are reward oriented. Coda simply learned that if she did something we didn't like, like chewing holes in my carpet, or eating my underwear, eating the deck, etc etc, that all priviliges got taken away.

Down, stay, don't budge. We'd immediatley throw her in a down stay, and make her stay for a good length of time, and she could not move. Everytime she got caught chewing. She quickly realised what she was allowed to chew, and what she wasn't.

If you haven't figured it out by now, food is golden. Smear anything semi-edible, on toys you want her to chew. But don't do it infront of her. Don't let her relate you to the food and toy, let her relate to food to the toy. She will then choose to chew it even when you aren't around.

Baby gates. We only crated coda also when she was alone. But if we couldn't keep an eye on her, she got gated into the living room. Slowly she was allowed more and more free time, and each and everytime she did chew something, back to the living room.

They are incredibly strong chewers, atleast coda is. She can chew through mostly anything, make sure you get daisy solid, hard toys. I found coda loses intrest fast in anything she's able to destroy in little time. But it's almost like a challenge to her, to chew up something extremely solid, because she can't do it quickly.

I think that was part of her chewing up things like the carpet and coffee table. It was a challenge. If you don't give her something challenging, she's not happy.

Don't waste your money on anti-chewing sprays, tobasco, anything. I've learned that as much as beagles love to eat things, I don't think they have functioning taste buds. Nothing worked with coda, she loved the taste of anti-chewing sprays.

Food.food.food.food. When she chooses to chew something appropriate, give her something to eat. Coda wouldn't let us pet her for most of the first year we had her. Anytime we put our hand near her head, she checked for treats, if they weren't there, she wasn't interested. Nothing you give her will be as valuable to her as food.

Coda loves to be pet now, and cuddle, but when she does something good, she still wants food. And she'd betray me in a heartbeat for someone with a Tbone steak.

You don't need to choke your dog to get her to listen to you.

Teach her leave it and drop it, if you haven't already. Thats the only time I would suggest replacing something with something appropriate. If she starts walking towards something you don't want her to have, say leave it, and give her a better toy. Once her mouth is on it though, do not reward her with a toy. She gets her attention, something to play with, and she wrecked your stuff.

Thats what we did, and coda is just now over two, and I can't remember the last time she chewed something, other than her bedding. Which we now know she does so she can climb inside and curl up. I honestly cannot remember, atleast a year ago, but it happened almost over night. One day she was a terror, next day dog of the year. So you might feel like nothings working, but one day her little hard head will get it, and you'll be amazed.

Thanks, Munkos, that was helpful and hopeless at the same time ;) You are so right about smart/stubborn/dopey eyed. I have said many times "Daisy, you're lucky you're

Actually, the bitter apple spray worked on her. One day she decided that the corner of the baseboard would be a good thing to chew/destroy. I got some of the spray the next day, and put some on. A few days later I saw her wander over and put her mouth on it. She was instantly shaking her head and tongue with disgust. She has not touched it since.

I do know about the beagle food drive. It's amazing! It's been helpful in training her on certain things. As far as the chewing, when I am around she is about 80% ok. She mostly plays with her toys. It's when I am gone that she really goes to town.

The one thing she LOVES LOVES LOVES is to be scratched. She can't get enough of under chin or belly scratching. That was how I taught her to sit...she didn't get her chin skritched unless she sat down.

I can't do the baby gate thing - I have an open floor plan, so the gates only work in my kitchen, and it's small and full of cabinet doors that I'm certain she can open given the chance. I tried blocking some 6' openings with a 3' barrier to keep her in a section of the front area, but she sailed right over them. D*mned Devil Dog! Seriously, I would have to get sheets of plywood that were 4' tall minimum to keep her in. Not the most attractive decorating theme.

One other thing she does that I find odd -- sometimes, she will not look me in the eye. Any dog I have ever owned, while getting ear skritches and kisses, will look right at me, enjoying the attention. She actually averts her head. Not that she never looks me in the eye, she does, but I have never seen a dog turn her head like this. I am certain that whoever owned her before hit her quite a bit, so maybe that has something to do with it?

Was it you who has the bad neighbor? How are things going with that?

I am 65 and only 4 years of my life have I not had a beagle. Beagles are pack dogs and they are hounds. They need to have something to do. Beagles are easily trained. Beagle mixes or not. They do love to please and will work very hard to please the alpha. If there is not one they do as they please. I have not had a lot of chewers but I have had a lot of diggers. The few chewers I have had have been rescued and nervous. My husband and I are retired and travel,of course,Sue Dog goes with us. The one comment that we get in campgrounds is does she ever bark. The answer is not unless she smells a rabbit. Actually beagles have to be trained to hunt rabbits otherwise they will chase anything and bark at anything. They can be trained to hunt anythng it does not have to be a rabbit. They just need to have something to do. Give her a job when you are at home something that she has to smell to find. The chewing will stop when she knows what she is suppose to do for you. Digging may never. Hope this helps. Just remember that she is a hound first. Watch the food. A spayed beagle gains weight easily.

ladylou, thanks for your post! Luckily, Daisy is not a digger. Given the choice, I'll take chewer over digger any day. Daisy is also very quiet until she sees a rabbit, squirrel, or another dog. I am thankful for that, because it means I can leave her out in the yard for a bit and she won't bark at 'nothing' and annoy my neighbors. (When she does bark, though, it's really....well, I guess it's a beagle bark!)

I will try hiding stuff that she has to hunt up. Occasionally I will stuff her mini-Kong with treats and peanut butter, and that keeps her busy. Maybe I will just hide treats around the house for her to find.

As far as her weight, I am doing well with that so far. She was slightly thin when I adopted her, and has since put on one pound and looks good. One pound doesn't sound like much, but she really is very small. I have never seen a beagle this small, so I am thinking she may be a 'pocket beagle' and/or a runt. She is very muscular yet has a good waistline. I feed a raw diet, so it's pretty easy to control calories while still giving a balanced diet.

Coda doesn't bark much either, and we've tried our hardest to teach her not to chase anything, rabbit or otherwise.

Coda was a digger however. And she still for whatever reason, will try to dig if we have a campfire. She'll get as close to the fire as she can without being too hot, and start to dig. I almost wonder if she's trying to make herself a cozy spot to lay in. But thank god she stopped digging, we had holes everywhere.

Coda also won't look at us when we're petting her, she turns her head and directs her eyes as far away as possible, and she's never been hit. With her I think it's because she's a busy body. She's always on the look out for something else to do, when she's already doing something. Watching for the cats, a bug, looking for something to eat. Etc..etc..

I tried hiding treats, and unfortunately with coda, it just encouraged her more. She'd go back to the spots treats had been in, and chew up whatever was around it, just incase she missed a cookie, or there were more hiding, I'm sure.

Although, like lady lou said, they do please. But I assume this is because they learn thats the way to get what they want. I really honestly don't know if they're as loyal as other dogs in that respect. Coda is very attentive now and will stare at us completely and totally undistracted, waiting for her next command, but I'm sure if someone were to walk in with something for her to eat, she'd be done.

We got lucky with our gating situation, as my entire house is an open floor plan, except my living room. And it's also a sunken room, so the gate is up a good foot higher for her than if it were on the same level, so she can't climb it, or clear it.

Coda was also only bad for chewing when we weren't there. But if we'd go to the washroom, or go change our clothing, or just not be in the same room as her constantly, she'd immediately get into something. So she got caught often.

I felt so bad for her the other day. She found a spare flapper for a toilet tank the other day, and for the life of her could not understand why she wasn't allowed to have it. Same material as her toys, it was on the floor (I dont know how it got there?) and she just looked heart broken when I took it away from her, haha. It was an amusing sight, though.
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And my neighbors have left me alone for a while, I suspect it's because there has been a lot of drama going on in their own house. I've almost had to call the cops a few times because of what I've heard/seen between father/son. The mother must be too busy with all that to bother us anymore, because we don't see her much at all. Thanks for asking :). And good luck!

Hey Weed, your girl is SO adorable!!

We have two hounds that we believe are beagle mixes. One is a great dog, very laid back (unfortunately, we're sure that's because he was abused). The other is, well, a handful to put it mildly. We've had her for a year and a half, and while it's getting better, we still go through trials. She is SO stubborn, and sometimes even food doesn't do the trick. She started off as a hoarder, which was fine with me...she took all kinds of stuff to her bed (she emptied a bookshelf one day), but at least she didn't chew it up. Then she progressed to chewing....

We can't leave anything that's even remotely food-related anywhere she can get it, and being a mix (that we think is beagle-greyhound), she's quite tall and easily reaches the kitchen counter. She takes things out of the sink, she's shredded napkins, destroyed the recycling bag full of plastic bottles, and we now have to keep our garbage can out on the porch...

We tried crating her for a while, but are doing the babygate thing now. We bought one of the expensive tall swinging gates that does the trick, as long as we remember to close the cat door in it. She learned she can squeeze through it, and I came home to a knocked over garbage can and trash all over my bed. She never really took to the crate, and I recently changed jobs so can't come home at lunch to get her some exercise, and she's so high strung that we didn't feel right crating her the whole day. Jack, on the other hand, is a mess if he's *not* in his crate...

So, I'm not sure that I'm offering any advice...just wanted to comisserate with you about the stubborness of beagles. We love her dearly, but she really tried our patience some times.

Ah, even the shortest of beagles are infamous for 'Counter surfing" Or atleast attempting. Coda 'gophers' as she cannot reach the counter, but she wanders the kitchen on her hind legs, nose going a mile a minute.

We've been lucky as she only ever got onto the table once, and it wasn't even for food. It was to get her new tug of war toy that we forgot to put away and just left on the table. And she's either smart enough to know not to even try the counters, or dumb enough that she's not quite sure how to try getting on the counters.

I hear that some beagles have even figured out the fridge. One story I read on a site, before I got my beagle (I havent a clue which site) told a story about a beagle that ate an entire brick of cheese, a pound of sausage and a loaf of bread, while the owners weren't home.

I'm glad codas not that smart, cause she'd definately be one to eat herself to death if the opportunity arose.

Beagles are lucky that they're so cute, for how much trouble they can be.

Remember when she is out that Beagles can cimb. A foster male that we had would cimb over the chainlink fence. We also got a beagle at a flea market that was expecting. The man said that if no one took her he would shot her when he got home. She had 10 puppies that had to be black and tan hounds. She was about 14 inches and these pups grow to be about 17-18 inches. They were beautiful. But she would climp out of the run that we had and leave the puppies. We had to put a top on the run. We found a great home for her and homes for all the puppies. Sue can cimb but doesn't. Sue is 11 inches. I have found with the digging that most times but no all if the beagle is allow some holes(called nests) that they stop digging unless there are moles or ants. Beagles do like nests for wamth and to stay cool. Sue has 3 in the yard. In the RV she has a place under one table that she has a pillow that is big enough to make a dent in.

God help us if Madison ever figures out the fridge!

I accidently left my gym bag where she could reach it one day, and came home to the contents strewed about, and my ziplock bag full of power bars and granola bars empty. Boy, did she have energy that day! And if that wasn't bad enough, the next day she chewed through the latch of an Igloo, and ate most of the food from in there. Never in a million years did we think she'd chew her way into the Igloo...

And just recently, she devoured an entire bag of Twizzlers and lollypops (but no sticks...the candy part was neatly chomped off the stick).

Yep, we still love her...

Haha, this thread is probably enough to turn a lot of people away from ever owning a beagle, or any hound for that matter. The scary part is I knew all this before I got mine, and I still went through with it.

Part of me thinks I must've been delusional at the time. I got lucky with coda as she doesn't do a lot of the typical beagle things, like climbing and constant braying. She's a handful on her own, and I still want more :)

Oh boy, all these posts are just making me soooo glad I got a beagle ;)

The stories are definitely funny, and I have a new one: I was trying to train her how to lay down, using some small treats as a reward. She was not doing so great, and finally she sort of did it and I gave her all sorts of praise. We started again, and after a bit she laid down again, more praise. Well then she figured out that laying down was getting her treats, so she *stayed down*, expecting treat after treat! Devil!

I got her to stand, then worked a little more. Apparently she had had enough, because she suddenly got up, ran into her crate, and sat down. Why? Because these are the same treats she gets every morning in her crate when I leave for work, so she had figured out another way to get some without any effort on her part. LOL!

I realize that I have posted the negative behavior of our beloved beagles. I just wish very strongly that everyone that gets a dog knows that breed's traits or if it is a mix all the traits good and bad. I have rehomed beagles that were discarded because they were doing what beagles do. Had a call today about a male 14" beagle that needed a home. He is so cute but he digs. We could not take him because we are leaving for a month or two. He will end up at the pound. So when people are asking you about getting a beagle please tell them what beagle might do not just about the cute eyes and soft ears.

ladylou, You are SO right! Knowing what I know now, I would not get another beagle. But I will not give up on Daisy -- I adopted her, so she's mine, the good and the bad. She really is a little cutie, she loves me, and I know that some day, she will be a good dog. (some day.......)

Hi,I have hounds but they are bassets,I was just wondering how long has it taken to house train them(not potty inside)with my oldest girl(4 1/2)it took every bit of nine months to say she was trained.Mine are very stubborn dogs..Debbie

Aw geez. Right after my last post, I turned around and Daisy had peed on the rug.

Patience....Patience.....

Weed, I swore up and down the first year, maybe a bit longer that I would never in my life own another hound. EVER. I would get any of those frufru dogs I dislike so much before another hound.

And now, well, if I could, I'd have 30 beagles. Like I said, with some patience, a few deep breaths, and a considerable amount of time and some very repetitious training, you'll be amazed.

And weed, coda learned the training tricks, too. You should see her now, anytime I go near the cookie cupboard, she starts doing tricks, like nothing else. And I had to untrain her, after I trained her new tricks.

Like paw, I'd tell her to sit, then give her a paw. So after that, when we told her to sit, she'd just give us her paw. Or roll over, if we told her to lay down, she'd just roll over instead. Figuring she was being smart by just cutting to the chase, when really we just wanted her to LAY DOWN! haha.

I actually prevented a couple who we're friends with, from getting a beagle. The girlfriend still really wants one, just not now. They live in a small apartment on a top floor. In a very small space, and I just don't think a dog with that much energy, combined with all the bad beagle traits, is a good match for an apartment.