I know we cant be the only ones who experience this..
Yes some Beagles are naughty
Yes some Beagles dont come back if off leads
Yes some Beagles are escape artists
But surely that goes for most breeds of dog? We certainly have learnt what Beaglisms you cant escape such as the greediness, the selective hearing and the need to bark at us and other things when they are naggy with us (or the chew thats fallen on the floor) but we have also been rewarded with a crazy amount of love from a very intelligent (but also very stubborn) little lady.
The first thing we looked to do when we brought her home was getting a trainer in to help us guide her the right way as we had heard some horror stories about the breed we wanted to make sure we nipped it in the bud straight away, we found Graham Hale from Dog Trainer Wrexham (K9 Executive) and asked him if he could come up to our home and give us some tips.... honestly it was the best money we have ever spent! Romy was making herself at home by chewing our doors, wolfing her food down and just being a little tinker (as most puppies are) and Graham soon showed us how to take control, how to be the alpha and ensured we didnt treat her like a baby... shes not a baby she is a very intelligent Beagle who could run rings around us, here is what we learnt -
Practicing Recall On Lead
Freedom!
Constant Treat Rewarding
- Feeding time - Romy was out of control (weve all seen the sleeping baby Beagle who wakes up and goes wild at a shake of the food jar) and most of the time would not even wait for us to finish filling her food bowl before she started eating, within 3 minutes Graham had Romy waiting until he said she could go near the food by simply gently pushing her away and lifting her food every time she came near it, she is very head strong so it takes her a while to give in but she soon got it.
- Food - We were feeding her Beta puppy food that we had from her breeder and we were following the bags advised amount per day... We were waaaaay over feeding her, Graham put a handful of biscuits in a glass of water and showed us how they swelled up... no wonder she had such a beagle baby belly! he also advised we changed her food as she is a hyper breed of dog anyway we should steer clear of food with additives (such as Bakers and anything under the Pedigree branch) as it would send her even more hyper but we should look at foods that keep her energy levels stable, he recommended Burns complete which is rated around a 3.9 out of 5 on alot of food sites but is the ideal balance for her as alot of the foods that are highly rated are protein rich which can leave hyper dogs seeming a bit lethargic and her being a bouncy Beagle is something we love about her.
- Who is the boss - We needed to stand our ground with Romy and not give in she is persistent but eventually she has learnt that we will win the battles 'most' of the time, from things like chewing we would gently push her away and distract her with something else, she soon got the hang of it and even now she does chew out of frustration at times but it is easing, her favourite thing was to chew our doors.. Graham advised we used Olbas oil or Vicks vapour rub as its a smell they just dont seem to like and it worked! Vicks more than olbas as olbas smell does fade quicker.
- Peeing outside - Romy from day 1 has been pretty good at going outside, we did get puppy pads which she used but would also sit on so Graham suggested we got rid of them as she could not differentiate between somewhere to pee and somewhere to sit which meant she could start using rugs, blankets anything as her toilet, he also suggested if she did pee inside that we used white vinegar to clean it up as most household cleaners will not mask the smell of it to the dogs so they will keep peeing in the same place.
- Recall - Graham said that from day 1 of taking her out we should let her off her lead so it becomes something she is used to, he did also say that hiding from your dog once wont do them any harm (as long as you can see them) as after that they should always just pop their head up to make sure they can see you... we havent tried this ourselves however we probably should have as Romy isnt bothered about where we are when she is out! We take her to a enclosed field every evening and always have done, we started off by giving a little distance and then calling her back and giving her a treat for it and built it up from there; as she is hunting breed Graham suggested we bought a dog whistle (frequency 211 for her breed) and worked on associating it with food... it started with making her wait for her food and teaching her that she could have her food when the whistle was blown, then when we were out we would whistle and call her and give her a mega treat until she just responded to the whistle... now a Beagle is a Beagle once their nose is down they are off and it does take time to get through to Romy at times, so we try to break her concentration and get her to re focus on us and the recall but if it doesnt work once she has finished sniffing (or eating poo) she will come bounding towards us, so we do judge each environment before letting her off as in a new place full of smells we cant expect her to be responsive to us as her nose takes over so sometimes its best she stays on her lead.
Post a Comment