One Stupid Dog!?

Question

I got beagle/dashound mix from lady outside walmart couple months ago b/c I had been wanting playmate for my daughter, we had been halfway looking at dogs for months. Well, dog is STUPID, hes driving me nuts. I cant kill him or make him disappear b/c I dont have the heart & it would break my daughters. Hes still urinating & deficating on the floor (we have been rubbing his nose in it, spanking, taking him outside, crating him at night when he does it), we have hardwood floors & he randomly goes around the house eating (not chewing up and spitting out) everything he finds, & I keep my floor clean, but he finds hairs, little pieces of dirt, strings, everything & eats it, and as a result frequently spits up (sometimes on the furniture). Hes driving me nuts. Is there anything I can do to make him more easy to live with? I can live with dumb. I cant live with urine/poop smell, spitup on couch, ALWAYS taking things out of mouth. Im serious, you can look in his eyes & see theres tiny brain.

By the way, the dog is now about 8 months old.

and to the person who asked would i spank my daughter, the answer is ABSOLUTELY if she needed it, oh and by the way-kids are not dogs

Answer 1

Me and my family raised and bred German Shepards for quite a few years, and although it seems kindof mean, we've found the BEST way to potty train a dog is with a kennel. Get one of those steel bar cage kennels (they're nice.) and keep the dog in it. Don't let it run around the house, and let it out of the kennel and take it DIRECTLY outside. Your daughter can play with the dog, but make sure she puts him in the kennel AS SOON AS SHE'S DONE. ( I'm not yelling, I just can't bold stuff.)

Anyways.

If the dog starts to pee/poop, grab it and put it outside even while it's doing it! Give it a thump on the nose of a spanking on the behind to let it know it shouldn't do that in the house. I had a dog, a cocker spaniel, and it was the DUMBEST DOG EVER! We ALMOST potty trained it using that method, but the dog was inbred, and I swear it was retarded. It kindof knew what to do, and to be honest, I thought of that as a miracle.

(This dog constantly ran into the window, every single day.)

So try the kennel method. Make sure to let the dog out at the same times every day. Puppies usually go more often than adults as they can't control their bladders as much! Try to make it 3-4 hour incriments for the dog. The dog should start getting used to this habit, and have to go about the same time every day ( as long as you feed it at the same time, too!)

Eventually, the dog SHOULD learn unless it's as stupid as you think it is. I honestly don't like stupid dogs, and the German Shepard pups we raised were nearly potty-trained at about 4 months old. No kidding. I love Shepards.

Mine talks to me. She goes "Bow wow wowwwwwww". You know they're smart when they try to talk.

Answer 2

A beagle mix is a smart dog, it has everything to do with your training and desire to look after him. It sounds like you bought him on a whim and do not really want a dog or have any understanding of how to train and lead them.

They do not need their noses rubbed in their mess (which is a perfectly natural thing for them to do by the way). And they don't need to be smacked except in extreme cases. Locking him in a crate is cruel and unusual punishment!!

How old is this animal? It sounds as though he is very young still and with effor on YOUR part it is still possible to rectify the situation.

1) Take him outside evey 15 minutes. That's right EVERY 15 minutes. Wait until he urinates or defecates outside and have some FOOD with you to reward him when he does. Immediately. Make a fuss!
2) Never scold or punish him for something if you don't see him do it. Dogs are smart but they don't put 1+1 together if you don't catch them in the act.
3) Keep an eye on him for goodness sake. If you actually care about your things and more importantly HIS HEALTH then you will be conscious of his movements 24/7 and scold him when he does eat something. By scold I mean a stern, meaningful "NO". He will soon get the message
4) Have patience. Animals are for life.
5) Failing all that find a decent, loving home for him with people who actually care - unlike you.

Answer 3

The poster "Charlotte M" has the right idea. You might just consider finding this pup a new home. Your local animal shelter can at least assess this puppies real mental and emotional status and perhaps find it a suitable home while he is still young.

I am not one for getting animals and then getting rid of them, however, you and your puppy may not be suitable for each other, just like some people aren't meant to be together, dumb or otherwise.

You don't mention whether or not you have a yard. If you really like this little guy and want to keep him, then perhaps trying the outside method, with proper shelter of course, might be more healthy for you and the dog.

But if you are just fed up, and really don't want him any more, then no amount of patience or training is going to help either one of you, because this means you have already made up your mind. Don't subject him or yourself to further frustration. The more time that goes by and the older he gets, it will be harder to find him a good home.

I know that everyone is ripping on you regarding your pet-ownership skills. Perhaps you may have made some errors out of frustration. It is not worth your sanity or the dogs health & welfare to keep him just because you don't want to break your daughters heart. Hearts are broken all the time, but once you wreck the dog, he might be ruined forever.

While I am sure that there must be some incredibly intelligent beagles out there (( no offense to beagles in general or beagle-owners )), I have never met a smart beagle, yet, let alone a cross. Just have patience, like you would with a small child, animals are smarter than humans give them credit. Given time, patience and proper training, this puppy might actually be a doggie Einstein, in the right envirnonment!

Don't be afraid to ask for professional help from local animal trainers or animal shelter, they have classes for both you and your puppy, that is, if you really want to keep him. Good Luck.

P.S. -- I raise dobermans. They are very intelligent dogs, (in my opinion), however, they are either perfect from the gitgo right out of the womb, or they are complete rotten-dog, knuckle-heads until the reach about two years old, and then all of sudden, it's like magic... they figure it out and then they are just awesome.

The trick is to have the patience to deal with the potential rambunctious, typical puppy behavior (such as digging, chewing, and possible major destruction of anything in it's path). When I have one in destructo-mode, they will generally be outdoors until they learn how to behave indoors. It is a lot of work, but well worth it. Dogs can be your best friends or your worst enemies...You just never know which dumb/knuckle-heads turn out to be the best dogs ever. :)

Answer 4

How old is your daughter? If she is old enough to care for a pet then she and the dog should go together somewhere to learn how to relate to each other.

If she is not old enough then you need to make a hard decision. Training a dog is not an easy task, especially when one or both of the parties involved are frustrated. You either need to explain to your daughter that she (and you) are not ready to train a pet and that the dog would be happier someplace else or you need to bite the bullet and do some real research (possibly including classes if that's yours style) on training.

Training a dog involves first of all, learning how to be a good master. If you don't know how to properly care for the dog, you'll never be able to earn its trust for training. If you learn how to care for a dog then training comes naturally. Psychologically it is being wise in the application of various positive and negative reinforcement techniques to achieve learning desired behaviors (by both dog and master). The answer to your question is way more involved than you can get from a hundred Yahoo answers so make up your mind where the dog is going to be best off and then do what you can to see that the dog has a good learning and training environment.

Answer 5

You should have done your research then before getting a puppy. Your mix of dogs are two of the most HYPER, STUBBORN breeds there are. Plus, everything you described is typical puppy behavior. He isn't a stupid dog, he is only doing what comes natural to him.
You seriously have no clue as to what you are doing. You should NEVER rub their noses in their mess, you should NEVER hit a dog for ANY reason. All you are doing is teaching him to be more stubborn and aggressive. It's people like you that keep my rescue shelter in business unfortunately. You get these dogs without a single thought as to training or anything else! Then decide that you can't deal with them afterward.

Have you had the dog neutered? This will help calm him down somewhat. You should also take him to obedience classes, as you do not know how to train a dog. And no one can tell you everything you need to know here on answers. But in my honest opinion, you need to turn this dog over to someone who will love and care him. Even if that means taking him in to the Humane Society or SPCA as you are not doing this dog any favors by keeping him!
Something needs to give here, obviously what you are doing isn't working. And no matter how many times you do it, it still isn't going to work. The best thing that you can do for this puppy is to be patient and consistant. If you can't watch him, then crate him. This is for his own protection, as him eating all these foreign objects is not good for him and could be fatal. Make sure that he has plenty of chew toys around the house for when he is out.

Answer 6

Yes, dogs have varying levels of intelligence, just like people who hang out in front of WalMart giving away animals because they don't comprehend "Spay or neuter."

We have a dog at our shelter who is certifiably retarded. He poops and pees anywhere, chews the edges of furniture, and eats electric cords. He is unable to learn any commands, like stay down, come back, stop, nothing. It does not compute.

But he is also one of the sweetest dogs we've ever had here. If we have a litter of puppies (and usually do, thanks to irresponsible people like the idiot you encountered at WalMart), he plays very gently with them. Same with kittens, they crawl all over him and sleep with him. He is very enthusiastic and will maul any visitors in his joy to meet them.

Because of his inability to grasp indoor manners, he has to stay outside, but is just as happy there. That's the great thing about a "simple" dog--he's happy with the little stuff.

If you are unable to keep the dog as an outside dog, then take it the pound or a shelter. You are not being evil. From your letter, it sounds like you are frustrated and have tried everything you can think of.

Crating, spanking, spraying and rubbing his nose will make no impression on this dog, except to make him unhappy at the moment. He doesn't have a clue what he's doing or what he did five minutes ago.

You state you can live with dumb. Well, then you have to live with what dumb does or doesn't do. You can't fix dumb!!! Some dogs simply aren't smart. If you want to keep him, he has to go outside.

Our Special Boy is two years old, and is not up for adoption because we don't want someone getting frustrated with him and punishing him for what he can't help. My volunteers have decades of experience with animals, and they couldn't come up with any solution but for this guy to enjoy the great outdoors.

Please do the right thing for the dog, and you will all be able to breathe a sigh of relief again. And stay away from those idiots with the six snot-nosed kids at WalMart with the "Free Puppies" signs. To them, inbreeding is a way of life, for animals and humans.

Good luck to you and the Special Guy.

Answer 7

he is still a puppy!! maybe the others are right, you are just not ready for a dog, so find another home for him,,, my dog can be very dumb at times too and he's 2 & 1/2 years old, my dog still eats crap off the floor that he's not suppose to, every once and a while he still pees indoors too!! its just a part of having an animal... it will take him a while to get potty trained, try the training pads maybe that will work for him.... just calm down and have patience or give him away to someone that can care for him!

Answer 8

First off do not give the puppy free roam of the house, start small with like one or two rooms (it's a good idea for them to have hard floors at this stage). Then as it matures let it slowly gain access to the entire home.
Second be sure to scold (NOT HIT! Scold, there's a difference)him when you catch him in the act of being naughty. If he happens to be going make sure to carry him outside (even while he's doing it). Dogs generally like to please people. Reward him when he does something right. Having puppy sleep in a nice metal crate during the night or while you are out of the house is always a good idea. It's not cruel my dog actually likes hers, we have her comfy bed in there and we'll just tell her to go to bed and she'll go. You see they won't go to the bathroom where they sleep. When you take him outside to be sure to name what he's doing (ie "go potty", or simply "go") eventually they understand. Most importantly I think you should talk with your local pet store they have lots of good potty training tips and they are just wonderful.

Answer 9

Your dog is just a pup and rubbing it's nose and spanking it is only causing him to be more nervous. He isn't comfortable with you yet either. Petsmart has a training class you should take him to. Be patient with your pup and quit calling it stupid because it's not...personally I don't think you deserve an animal and I don't think he likes you. You have to gain the love and respect of an animal.

Answer 10

Neither Beagles or Dachshunds are a what I would call highly trainable, they are HOUNDS! They are certainly not stupid, they are just Hounds and have their own agenda. Hounds are often too smart for their owners which sounds like the case here.

Spanking or rubbing his nose in it does nothing to housetrain him. Crate train him and leave him in it when he can't be supervised. Crate - outside - playtime - outside - eat - outside

Try treated/praising him for pottying outside and train him to go on command. Use a word like potty and treat/praise as he is going.

Naughty dogs are not dumb, they are usually the very smart ones, as a hound he just has his own ideas about things and is not going to be as trainable as other breeds.




Bugboy - " Locking him in a crate is cruel and unusual punishment!!"

Dogs are DEN animals! They usually learn to like their crates and it keeps them SAFE when they can't be supervised.