6 month female beagle

Question
About 3 and 1/2 weeks ago my husband and i got our second dog (our first is a 2 year old female blue heeler), from another family. she was an outside dog only. she now is only an inside dog. her schedule is as follows: in the morning around 7A.M. she has food and water and then is taken out to pee and poop for 15 min, she is crated while we are at work, then taken out when we get home to pee and poop around 5P.M., fed and given water at around 5:15P.M., taken out again at 6P.M. for another 15 min, and then she plays with the blue heeler till bed, taken out about every 2 hours, and is taken out right before bed for 15 minutes. All water is picked up at 7:P.M. She doesn't have accidents in her crate.

I write hoping you can answer a few questions for me....

1) Are Beagles normally over eater and drinkers? She seems like she could eat the whole bag of food and drink an ocean. She had a physical last week and the vet said she was in perfect health. Is this normal for a beagle?  

2) She chews everything. I've already spent over 400 dollars on my husbands new glasses. We have tried rotating toys, new toys, bitter apple, and even a muzzle. Now shes trying to get into the trash! What do I do?

3) I know she is not housebroken, but has come a long way from when we got her, but do you have any suggestions on what we can do? potty pads don't work.

4) And she howls. We have tried telling her quiet. and she listens for about a minute. we've tried a muzzle for that too. hasn't worked. she howls for no reason. there will be no noise or anything. any suggestions?

5) And now for our biggest problem...she pees on our bed. I pick up the water by  7:30, i keep the door shut until bed, we go out right before bed for 15 minutes, I clean the comforter with natures miracle to rid it of the scent. what else is there to do?

I plan take her to a training facility that is supposed to concentrate on these areas and more soon, but until then I was hoping you could help in any way you could.

Thank you.

Answer
Hi Tara;
As far as the gluttony, I have found this a lot in mostly the runts of the litter.
The bigger kids push them away from the table and they have to struggle to get their share, and often become gluttonous eaters. Obviously you have to put down just what they need and take up the dish, or they will eat themselves into oblivion.
Sometimes they are just more active and burn more energy, so more food is needed.
A good way to kind of guage if their weight is right is, you should be able to fel their ribs when you run your hands down their sides, but should not be able to see their ribs.
One exception was a little dog we had that ate her weight in anything she could get, never ran with the other dogs and was round like a little pig, yet her Vet said sge was in good health, and for some reason that was escaping him, she was not having the problems he would expect to see in one so fat.
When she did run, she was fast as a bullet, and she lived a long life for one of her mix of breeds.
As fot the peeing on your bed. This could be a spite thing.
I have not used Nature's Miracle, so I don't know how effective it is.
I use Simple Solution.
A Beagle has a slightly more a ccute sense of smell than some breeds, because of the hunting blood born in them.
Beagles are rangers too.
They are hunters, and the hunting breeds need more room to roam and run.
They are great excape artists.
We once had a little Beagle, and she couyld get out of a locked up house, and we never did figure oput how she was getting out.
I would walk about 4 blocks to the shopping center in our neighborhood, and she would get out, track me down, sniffing, catching my scent, bugle, and run.
Neighbors got a large kick out of watching her hunt me down.
She would come in the automatic doors, catch my scent and bugle, and come to where I was.
The manager would come on the intercom and say "Somebody paging you, Charlotte".
And Mom ! It is called a bugle, NOT a howl.
Calling a Hound's bugle a howl is kin to calling Pavarotti a pretty good singer.
GEESH, MOM! LOL
She may be hearing something you can't hear, and she may just be wanting outside.
She needs much more than 15 minutes outside at a time.
If you have a fenced yard, I strongly urge you to put in a doggy door, so they can come and go as they please.
QWe have a fence the larger ones can't jumo over, and the only times we ever have an accident in the house with our 4 dogs is when it rains.
My little Lhasa will NOT go out in the rain!
That doggy door saves me many miles of walking a day, by them being able to go and come as they please.
When we are away from the house, we put in the panel so they cannot go out. We don't want them stolen.
It is very hard to control their organs on a time schedule.
Exercise will make them need to relieve themselves, and if they can't go outside, they will go in the house.
If you don't have a fenced yard available to them, I would suggest at least an hour outside to run and play at least 2 or 3 times a day, and then short potty breaks before bedtime, and in the morning before you go to work.
When you come home from work, they need a longer time out, and more of a run.
You have ben spoiled by the Blue Heeler.
We have a couple of Australian Shepoherd mixes, and they are such a wonderful personality. They just seem to go along to get along, and are so patient.
Beagles are a more stubborn breed, and they are naturally born to range, and run for long distances.
When other dogs will bark from boredom, Beagles will bugle.
There could be a dog barking far away enough that you can't hear it, or a train or vehicle with a siren, they is far enough that you don't notince itr, and she could be just wanting to go out, sniff a scent and run awhile.
Charlotte