How do I train my dog, again?

Clean the hell out of the places where she's peed and pooped. As in, use bleach (assuming the floor or carpet permits that) and really get it clean. Just because you can no longer smell it does not mean the dog cannot. Essentially what is happening is, she does the deed, you either punish her (or not, it doesn't matter if you don't catch her in the act) and then that area smells like pee and so she thinks hey, this is a great place to go! And around and around (no pun intended) you go.

The other half is loudly and lavishly praising her when she does right. You say that she is out for 30 mins. Is that being out on a lead, or is that a very long walk? Dogs are social animals and like to be with the pack. So if you take her out, and stay with her (it need not be for 30 mins at a time, and you might do better to do a lot of short outings rather than only a few very long ones) and tell her what a wonderful, intelligent and good dog she is when she poops outside, that should help. Some dogs need a specific place to do their thing. I have heard of people training a dog to "do your business" on command. Personally I have not tried that but I don't discount it as a possible avenue for you to explore.

Jespah makes good sense.

Also, take her (the dog, not Jes) to the vet for a physical. Urinary difficulties could indicate a bladder infection.

Beagles are very social dogs--hunting packs and all that. Can she ride with you on the school delivery trip?

I now swear by kennel training. Each and every time the dog relieves itself on a surface that it's not supposed to it reinforces this habit and kennel training is the only way to prevent it as even a supervised dog can relieve itself in seconds if you glance away and it will be too late to stop/scold the dog. It has the added benefit of teaching the dog bladder control.

I just trained a toy dog (and small dogs are notoriously hard to potty train) in a week with kennel training and it worked like a charm.

Here's what I did:

- I bought a carrying case that was just big enough for the dog to lie down in. If it's too big the dog may relieve himself inside and then eventually lose its aversion to doing so in his "clean" areas. If it's small enough it will hold it, since it won't want to lie in its mess.
- I put a bed in there and whenever I wasn't actively watching the dog (as in not doing a single other thing) I put the dog in the carrying case.
- I'd take the case with me, and put his toys in there with him till he learned to like it. I leave it open and he'll often sleep in it. Since he doesn't want to relieve himself where he's sleeping he'd hold it. And they can easily hold it for 6 hours with no problem (though you want to make sure they have water inside or that you let them out for water).
- Whenever I caught him about to relieve himself I stopped him and scolded him. If I caught him 30 seconds later I just cleaned it up and ignored him.
- I'd take him out of his box and lead him to his newspapers outside and praise him as he predictably relieved himself.

The keys were to make the desired activity happen out of necessity. Within a week he was doing so well that when we went to visit a friend we put down newspaper and he used it there too. It's less about the location than the surface once they get used to one surface for doing it.

Any other way than crate or kennel training involves "mistakes" that re-enforce the bad behavior and it doesn't have to be as cruel as it sounds. My dog will jump into his box on command and loves being in there. By taking the box with us wherever we go he doesn't have separation anxiety and he's been a wonder ever since.

Here are some other tips I learned that I didn't need:

- Feed the dog once or twice a day. Remove any food that the dog doesn't eat after 15 minutes. This has two benefits, firstly the dog will have more of a passion for food and the person who feeds him and the dog will also relive itself more predictably. The only downside is that the dog can begin to beg if not trained not to (mainly by ignoring it and disallowing him from doing so). Feeding the dog in the morning can help with this or feeding the dog at the same times you eat. Pet dogs are spoiled and unless they are very young it won't hurt them at all to only eat once a day.
- Put toys and other things to do where they tend to make mistakes, they'll often learn to associate the spot with other things.


It's so much easier than it sounds. I tried it other ways before doing it since I didn't want to enclose him but if done right the dog doesn't mind it that much, and learns very very quickly. Just put the dog in a small kennel (like the ones you use to take a dog to a vet) with only enough space to lay on a nice soft surface that the dog never used to relive itself and after an hour or two take it to the surface it should use. Wait 10 minutes and if it goes then praise it. If not, then put it back in the kennel after a drink of water (if it wants it) and repeat.

If you can closely watch the dog let it out, when you see it in its sniffing pattern take it to the toilet area. If you can't prevent it from relieving itself it should be in the kennel till you can take it to the bathroom or babysit it again.

I began by considering it my fault if the dog ever made a "mistake" and I can't describe how well the kennel training worked in comparison to anything else I tried.

Kennel training for a small dog is also good because this is the carrying case you will use for travel, e. g. to the vet and so on. Makes vet visits a lot easier. For very large dogs, obviously it's impractical to take the crate with you as those are huge, but for a dog under, say, 50 lbs., and definitely under 25, having a carrying case kennel that the dog likes is a huge help.

I'd thought about that advantage but with a Beagle I think it could still be portable, but I admit that I don't recall Beagles' sizes that accurately.

Beagles range in size, up to about 35 - 40 lbs. or so.

I had a second kennel in the car for Pacco, and it was a big one, appropriate to his size. I did this after he tore the seat belts....

Anyway, he always cheerfully got in it. I wished the kennel had been slightly less high, re visibility in the car, but my volvo station wagon has lots of windows so I positioned the kennel for best viewing past it re rear view mirrors.

Visibility won't be a problem for Robert Gentel's dog's size of kennel. but could be for others.