stubborn beagle.also thinking of underground fence

Hello. I thought this would be a good question for the intelligent people on cpf because I can find none on usenet.

My girlfriend and her beagle recently moved in with me. Actually its a very stocky beagle mix. Its going well except the dog is very stubborn about going to the bathroom. Sometimes you have to walk it for 30 minutes or more before it will go. it does little dances squats and starts the ritual all over again. I've tried bringing the dog back inside and crating it for a while but it can hold it indefinitely and will only go where and when it pleases.

if pokie(the dog) is not satisfied where your walking her she goes nuts and tries to run away and find a better place.
she has ran across traffic and I've chased her through everyones backyard. my girlfriend has also been out at 5am chasing her around the neighborhood for over a hour.

I try to keep the collar tight and I have a retractable leash. I've gotten quite good at preventing a collar slip by never letting the leash extend all the way. that way when she tries to back out there is a little slack and i can carefully get close enough to pick her up after some trouble. I give her a firm NO NO after her failure and she rarely tries anymore except with my girlfriend.

What pokie really needs is a unleashed area she can run around and take all the time she wants to do her stuff. I've seen her try to slip under a fence while we were visiting relatives and being a beagle I doubt I could ever trust her. I'm going to give this underground fence a try Radio Fence and see how she does with it.

Whenever I ask questions about them I am either hated on and told they are inhumane and dont work or people say they work great. I know they are not that bad because I tested a friends in my hand.

The drawbacks I have found so far that make sense are if your dog escapes he is punished for returning to the yard with a shock.

Also he may not understand why other dogs and animals can pass through or may associate the shock with other dogs or people outside the boundary.

The other complaint is they dont keep anything out. But then again I've seen dogs leap over a standard 4 feet fence like it wasnt even there and animals can climb or dig right under just about any fence.

I dont intend to leave the dog out without watching it. I will probly walk out to my deck or watch from the back door while the dog takes its potty breaks. or if im outside cooking steaks the dog can roam around.

Would it still be worth it for me to install a regular fence? if I do im still using the underground to prevent the dog from digging or climbing over the real fence.

I'm kind of confused what to do. The idea of not having a fence and maintaning it is nice. but then again it would be very difficult for the dog to escape.

thanks for reading and look forward to some input on this subject.

spork

Re: stubborn beagle.also thinking of underground f

Underground fences take a lot of training, I know that much.

How smart is the dog, by the way? My neighbors have an underground fence, and both of their dogs are smart enough to have figured out where the weak points of the fence are and they escape frequently. There's really not anyplace for them to go, but chasing them usually involves getting muddy. OTOH, to fence their yard would cost mega thousands of dollars. .

Re: stubborn beagle.also thinking of underground f

Hi,
I can't say much for the fence question.

As for shock colars, I view that as a comand and control thing. True cruel is to let the animal be killed or mamed by a car.

Ive got a Jack Russel Terrier, they are fast, sneekey, tend to dig.

A normal colar is useless, they will strangle with it. We use a harness that's not rough on the dog, and the dog can't remove.

You might also consider implanting an ID chip in the dog, Ive got a quote of about 60 bucks for the job here in FLA.

As for the dog's habits. Very often a food change will quicken things up. We use "One" and it results in a reliable schedule with the dogs. Very often diet food will slide through quicker..

Yeah I know, too much information.

Lots of dog owners, someone has had your problem before.
Later dude
Jack Crow in the first world

Re: stubborn beagle.also thinking of underground f

I've got a beagle. She is the most intelligent and aggravating dog I've ever met. She is extremely motivated by food and I've had good results using food as a positive enforcement. That said, I have previously used a "choke collar" along with 1/2 a dozen different training programs (over the course of a few years). My lab is so much better behaved, but that is only because the beagle knows when she can get away with it. The lab isn't that smart.

I've not had a problem with the beagle getting out of our fence but I did have a problem with bathroom breaks. The solution which worked for me was to use a pet crate (think airport travel cage) when the dog was not being played with. Put her on a schedule - out at 6 am, eat at 6:15, out again at 7:30 before leaving for work, out immediately when whomever gets home first, again at 8:00, etc. A dog won't go in its crate unless it can't avoid it, so it will be pretty well confined to your schedule. I even got the beagle to where she used the exact same spot at the same time of day. That was when I was in an apartment - now she has free roam of a nice fenced area. She still keeps to a pretty regular schedule.

One other suggestion - get a general training book and one of those collars with the spikes/prongs facing inward. The collar looks barbaric, but is actually MUCH more humane than allowing a dog to crush its windpipe with either a flat collar or a "choke chain." I'm a big advocate of taking dogs on walks but hate to see a dog walking its owner. I've gotten so instinctual about this I've even caught myself saying "heel" to my wife and kids when crossing the street. Avoid that if you can

Re: stubborn beagle.also thinking of underground f

Crate training can be done in such a way that the critter enjoys the crate, thinking of it as their little home. You have to make it that way for them, though, and not use it as a form of punishment. Once you "Lock them up" because they were bad, they dislike the crate. My neighbor's mutt LOVES his crate, when you can't find him that's where you go to look first. .

Re: stubborn beagle.also thinking of underground f

Consider yourself lucky you're dealing with a small dog like a Beagle. We have a 9 month old St Bernard "puppy" that is close to 100 lbs already, and she has just started jumping our 4 ft chain link fence. Now we get to put in a new 5 ft fence and just hope she can't jump it, climb it, or push it over. She is rather strong willed (and just plain strong too). At least she house trained easily and doesn't bark much.

-Keith

Re: stubborn beagle.also thinking of underground f

I have a friend who has the underground fence, and we made sure the loop is complete. Happy isn't the kind of dog who is stuborn however. One of the tricks when training your dog is you put out little white flags at the fence line. The way the collar works is that as you come close to the field, it beeps, then as you get closer, it jolts the dog

Between the white flags, and the beep, the dog gets the message. Then you tun OFF the beep, and the do learns that they STILL get zapped, but no more warning. THEN you can remove the flags. Eventually, the dog gets conditioned enough that, believe it ot not, you can turn off the fence!!

Re: stubborn beagle.also thinking of underground f

There's a book on dog training, Good Dog/Bad Dog, which gives pretty good but very basic advice.

In a nutshell, what you will want to do is find a trainer you can trust, take the class with your dog, practice, practice, practice, and make very sure that everyone in the house uses the same training techniques consistently.

Pet raising and discipline (for both good and bad behavior) has to be uniform and constant. Make good training and handling a habit for you, and it will give your dog good habits, too.

Re: stubborn beagle.also thinking of underground f

AC, you are right about the crate. If it's available, the lab is in it. beagle isn't as fond of it but doesn't detest it either. both took a little getting used to it, but they see it as a welcome place now. great for traveling.

Re: stubborn beagle.also thinking of underground f

We do have a crate and I have tried that also with the potty training. I dont really like the idea of using it as punishment though.

Sometimes while at work we leave her in for the whole day and she hates it. if she sees me open the door of the crate she will run and hide under the bed. I'm sure she settles down after we leave though. We used to let her roam the house while not home but that cost us some $$ from the things she destroyed.

Now that some of the snow is melting she has been more cooperative about going to the restroom.

My backyard is very low light and i have problems with the grass growing. What would you suggest i plant there that might grow and hold up to the dog?