Hi All,

Just got my wife an 8 weeks Beagle puppy, we have had him home for a week now and he seems to have settled down and started to use newspaper as a toilet.  We have what seems to be usual problems, with him biting on your fingers, eating as fast as he can, at nights he settles down no problem and the snoring begins, which we both think is funny and cute.  But soon we will try to train him, he doesnt mind being on a lead when we walk, but he does sometimes go anyway he wants and is eating little stones.  So any advice you may have would be really appreciated, thanks in advance.

my advise on the toilet training would not be to put paper down as that will only teach him to toilet on the paper and make teaching him to go in the garden a lot difficult. for now ignore any little accidents in the house but watch him at all times and if he starts to sniff the floor or circle around quickly but calmly take him outside and stay there until he goes.
when he toilets in the right place say a command word ie i say business, this will teach him to recognize what you want him to do when he's outside. they pick this up pretty quickly.
also make sure you take in straight outside to toilet first thing in the morning, after feeding after playing and every hour to make sure sure you get as many toilets outside as possble, giving him the best chance of picking up what you want from him.
As soon as he toilets give him lots of praise or a treat but never shout or tell him off if he makes a mistake in the house, just pop him outside quickly so hopefully he will finish what he started in the garden.
As far as puppy biting this is normal so the best thing i've found is distraction with a toy and giving him that to chew on as soon as he tries to nibble you. Also you can a make a high pitched sound as if your hurt, remove your hand and walk away from him. this means the end of play and he'll soon realise doing this gets him no attention.
if he gets over excited and this doesn't work take him out the room and give him time to calm down.
puppies need lots of sleep and are usually more naughty when over tired so make sure he has a quiet place to go and rest.
don't expect too much to soon and your be fine, after all he'll only learn what you want by you being calm and consistant. just make sure you all stick to the same rules ie is he allowed on the sofa etc.
best of luck i'm sure he will be a joy and make sure you enroll in a good training class as soon as he's had his injections so he can have lots of socialization and reward training from the start.        

If you feel he is eating too quickly you can slow him down by soaking his food with hot water...rather like getting a Sunday dinner with gravy for him! Boil a kettle, pour over biscuit/dog food and allow it to soak in and cool--mine love it.

Our beagle pup is now 16 weeks old and is adorable, we also have an adult beagle You will need to be consistent in your training as they are incredibly headstrong. As with the other advice, we didn't use newspaper or training pads and he was fully toilet trained within 2 weeks. When we're feeding him he gets his food a little at a time. We sit with him and put small amounts of food in his bowl, we do this for 2 reasons, firstly so he gets used to hands in his bowl and near his mouth and also so he doesn't hoover all his food up in record time! On a walk I would take small treats with you, I use them as rewards and distractions when I need to. Beagles never turn their nose up at food, however that also means that dropped bits of food will also be eaten up, you'll start to walk your local streets just scanning the pavements for dropped food and trying to avoid it. Both our dogs are crate trained and this has worked really well with the pup. He can get overexcited and it's perfect for some 'time out'. He's also in there when we are out which judging by how naughty he can be, may well have saved my cupboards from being chewed!

Good luck, just don't fall for the 'butter wouldn't melt' look they have perfected so well!!

Totally agree with everything fallenangel has said lol Firstly congrat's on getting a beagle puppy they are amazing dogs so loving and loyal, but as fallenangel said very headstrong lol I have a 8 year old beagle i love him to bits but he does have a mind of his own and once they are out on a walk they get sponsored hearing if they smell anything interesting definatly keep there favourite treat on hand, they are very mischevoius but can get away with it with there gorgeous eyes !!! they are quick learners though the way to train a beagle is through food lol but dont over feed him... avoid paper though when house training take them outside to do there thing after every meal he will soon get the hang of it ..... i still have to feed my old boy twice a day as they do rush there food its a beagle thing :-) there amazing characters have fun with your beautiful beagle pup.

[url=]Boil a kettle, pour over biscuit/dog food and allow it to soak in and cool--mine love it. [/url]

If you are going to soak his dry food, dont use "boiling water" use tepid water, "boiling"  water will kill off  the nutrients in the dry kibble.

Only use boiling on foods that recommend it.. (some of the  dehydrated ones)

I believe it's only vitamin C that's destroyed by heating; if heat killed all nutrients then we'd all be dead, because we persist in heating our food! ;-)

[url=][url=]believe it's only vitamin [/url]C that's destroyed by heating; if heat killed all nutrients then we'd all be dead, because we persist in heating our food!  [/url]

I though it was most of the vitamins that is added to dry kibble, but thanks for that.

Yes  you are right we do kill some of the essential vitamins off in our foods when we over cook them, but  we have a large variety of choice, to counterbalance  one against the  other.

Dogs who eat dry kibble dont have that choice, and if the owner is unaware that by boiling  the kibble , may kill of some of the nutrients they otherwise though the dog was getting, in their balanced diet, then its worth a mention, dont  you think!

As kibble is formed from a uniformly-prepared batch and extruded into the pellets, it's clear that the vitamins are throughout the mix. Boiling water will only touch the outside (where the pellets have often been sprayed with a gravy) - by the time the water reaches inside it'll be well below boiling and the vitamins will be unharmed.

That's interesting. The rep from Skinners always told me never to use boiling water as well.

[url=]That's interesting. The rep from Skinners always told me never to use boiling water as well[/url]

So did mine, also read somewhere that by  pouring hot water onto dry kibble , can release any bacteria that  the kibble has picked up during the coating and packaging  process...cant remember where I read that though ??