Beagle Behavoir

Question
QUESTION: We have a 16ish month oild small breed beagle.  Everysince we've had her, we've had house training problems.  The problem sometimes seems to get better, and then all of a sudden we're picking up several messes a day.  Our puppy also has a bit of a chewing problem.  She chews and eats everything she sees!  Here are some examples: holes in socks, holes in jeans,holes in gloves, riped up plastic bags, containers etc., shoes, children's toys, peanut butter, anything in our pantry, pillows, bedspreads. And she has plenty of dog toys, all of which are always available to her!  She also tries to grab food from the table and our counter tops.  She is notorious for butter and sandwhich stunts regarding countertops, and jumping on our laps when we're trying to eat dinner in peace.  She also jumps on us quite often.  In fact, the only thing that she doesn't do is bark.  She rarely barks.  We don't understand, we walk her and she's not often left alone during the day.  Help!

ANSWER: Sounds like your dog is bored. How often do you walk her, and for how long? Is that the only exercise she gets each day? Do you do any kind of training with her? If not, I'd recommend it. Obedience training tires the mind and is also a great way to bond with your dog.

As for her house training issues, it sounds like you've given her too much freedom too quickly. Please take the time to read what I have written about this subject at http://housetraining.angelfire.com

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QUESTION: We walk her daily, somewhere around 20 to 30 minutes. As far as training no.  We managed to teach her to sit and shake, but that is about it.  How would we do obedience training?

Answer
I have a few videos on YouTube that should help you get started teaching her the basics (scroll down for the link), but you can find a local trainer by simply opening the phone book and looking under 'Dog Training' in the yellow pages. I recommend against group classes at first, because a class setting is very distracting and you don't get much one-on-one time with the trainer. Group classes are great for dogs that already know the basics, for proofing purposes, but for dogs that are just learning, they aren't that great. Try to find a trainer that will either come to your house, or will work with you and your dog alone at his or her training facility for a few weeks before moving on to group classes. Also, stay away from the classes that are offered in pet stores. The trainers in those classes are typically not that knowledgeable, and a pet store is certainly not the best place for trying to teach your dog anything new - way too many interesting smells, sights, and sounds going on there.

The link to my YouTube album is http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=465B2A6868C739BD