Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I too have been surfing the Internet looking for answers, so if anyone has any suggestions, I'd be much obliged. We recently adopted a beagle from a rescue shelter. We've had her about 3 months. She is thought to be around 3 years old. When we first started leaving for an hour or two at a time, she would ocassionaly have an accident or two...once pooping, the other times peeing. We chalked it up to separation anxiety. It soon stopped and we were able to comfortable leave her, un-crated, for a regular work day. Both my husband and I would like to maintain the "no crate" situation if at all possible. Anyway, we left to go on vacation and had one of my friends come to our home to stay with Sadie because we didn't want to kennel her since she had so recently been away from that situation. Since coming back, the peeing has begun again, but this time with vigor. She has peed on the bed several times. When we closed off an area of the house, she took to peeing in the bathroom on the rug. We've tried to go through the leaving gradually again, but have found, in these instances, she's peeing within moments of us leaving. One time both my husband and I left to just visit with my parents (we were gone less that 20 minutes) and she had peed ALL over the bed. This is miraculous to us, mostly because one of us has just walked her for a minimum of 30 min prior to us leaving and she seems to be "all peed out"...but this little dickens finds it in herself to tell us she's upset. (the bed instance she hadn't been out of a couple of hours) In the past, when we initally did the crate thing, she peed in there as well and didn't really seem to mind laying in it like others have said she would. If the crate is the only way to go, we'll do it, but I was hoping for additional suggestions. I have washed all linens, rugs, etc, every time she pees, in order to get the scent out. Is that enough? Please advise, if possible. WE LOVE HER DEARLY...pee and all Thank you!

Try pee-pads. We keep them in the garage in case it's raining or when wintertime comes, they can go in the garage and not have to get cold or wet. They use them because they have a pheromone in them. Try keeping her in the bathroom while you're gone with a pee pad in one corner. Plenty of toys, too, so she doesn't get bored. Once she starts using it reliably, let her have the hallway, bedroom, whatever comes next, and gradually expand the area she's allowed. You can get baby gates to keep her out of certain areas, though I've found it's best to stack two pressure-mounted gates one above the other, because man, can my girl jump! Only expand her area if she's using the pee pads 100% of the time, and if she starts peeing on the floor or anything, go back a step. This is what I did with both my girls, who had never been house trained before we got them, and there are very few accidents nowadays.
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Kadee Sedtal
home of old lady Lucy (boxer/lab/garbage disposal), pretty girl Fancy (beagle), the rat pack- Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Pachebel, and Fillmore, and the mice- Vivaldi, Brahms, and Schubert

I also have an older beagle named "Sadie"! She was a runaway and we've had her 4 years. We moved into a new house 2 years ago and she has pee accidents ALL THE TIME! I am so angry because our carpet was brand new. She is overweight so I think that contributes to her problem. Sometimes she will trickle ALL OVER THE PLACE when she has a urinary tract infection.

Anyway, about the pee pads. Do you just leave them in your house at all times? Or did she finally start going outside to pee?

My girls usually go outside, but I do keep pee pads in the garage all the time. I live in Illinois and it rains a lot and gets cold in the winter, and I only keep the pads in the garage so they'll be used to using them and when it's cold or rainy they won't have to go out in it. After the dog uses the pee pads in the house 100% reliably you could start gradually moving them, a few inches at a time, toward the door, and eventually end up with them outside.
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Kadee Sedtal
home of old lady Lucy (boxer/lab/garbage disposal), pretty girl Fancy (beagle), the rats- Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Pachebel, and Fillmore, and the mice- Vivaldi, Brahms, Schubert, Bartok, and Rasputin