Beagles are well-known for their cute appearance and their affectionate characters. They also have what some may call “insatiable curiosity”, mostly because they have a remarkable sense of smell.
Since they are small in size, Beagles can be decent apartment dogs. However, there are several things that have to be considered in order to make it all work out.
One of the most factors is training. It is important to train your dog and keep its behavior in check around the apartment. But, how do you train a Beagle in an apartment?
The dog reward training system is how you give your Beagle the apartment training they need from when they are puppies. This is how you instill Beagles with the nonverbal language they need to keep quiet while still communicating their needs instead of their signature loud barking tendencies. Although Beagles can live in apartment complexes, they are incredibly noisy and often use their barking to communicate with you when they need to go out or if they hear any movements. As Beagles are naturally curious, teaching your Beagle puppy nonverbal commands alleviates the need for barking every time your neighbor’s bed squeaks.
As descendants of a hunting dog breed, Beagles often than other dogs use their loud barking to draw attention…Despite the cuteness, most pet owners often choose to get a Beagle mixed puppy instead of a purebred. So, unless you are getting one of the Beagle mixes, early training will only make your Beagle puppy a good apartment dog once you instill in them the apartment living training, Most Beagle training includes how to train your beagle to effectively communicating without making noise.
You have to admit that a dog living in an apartment and one living in a freestanding house wouldn’t be trained in the same way. So how do you train a beagle in an apartment? Let’s find out.
First of all, the training should be started while the beagle is still in its puppy stage. Training starts with some few basic commands.
You should find this surprisingly easy since the beagle is a very intelligent breed. You should consider breaking the training into distinct phases or learning.
1) Zero to 6 month-old beagle
If you start at a good time, the beagle should be able to recognize its name after 6 months of training.
At this point, you should focus on teaching him/her only the basic commands as this will be necessary for laying the foundation for future apartment training.
2) 6 to 9 months old beagle
Your puppy should be ready to learn slightly more advanced commands by the time it reaches 9 months of age.
If they are already living in an apartment by this age, start giving them more apartment-specific commands.
For instance, this could be the right time to teach them to adhere to commands without barking. Here, you want to train your pet to know better than to bark at every little thing while indoors.
3) 1 year-old beagle
By the time your puppy is a year old, it is in its adulthood, and ready to be treated accordingly. If you have not begun to train your puppy to understand how to live in an apartment, this could be the right time to so.
You don’t want to take too much time, because the longer you wait, the more difficult it will be to train your beagle. Make sure that your start the training as early as possible.
Potty Training
Potty training is another factor that your dog should be taught. Here, you want to make sure that your beagle knows not to “do your business” in your home.
However, while your Beagle probably knows where they shouldn’t do that, you’ll have to reteach them which places are okay for that “purpose” as well as those that aren’t every time you move into a new apartment.
Furthermore, there are parts of an apartment which will be new to your Beagle. If your new apartment has an elevator, lobby, etc., your dog will need to be trained to know not to go near these places- at least not without your consent, let alone “do their business” in those places.
So, make sure that you train your beagle to go to the bathroom outside and do his things in specific areas allowed to him. You can either use pee or grass pads in those moments when your dog cannot go outside, let’s say during evening hours.
Besides their personal business, you should also train your dog not to mark their territory. In fact, this is one of the first things you are bound to teach your Beagle.
Can a beagle adapt to living in an apartment?
It certainly can. After all, the beagle is relatively small. As long as you are providing the care, attention and affection towards your beagle, it will likely adapt very fast.
Lack of a Backyard
The toughest part about living in an apartment is that most of them don’t have a backyard that you can use to play and exercise your dog.
Beagles are some of the most energetic dogs you can come across, hands-down. Most of their energetic character comes from the fact that they are derived from hunting dogs.
Because of their “unlimited energy”, you always want to make sure that your dog has ample opportunity to exercise and get all that energy out.
The fact that apartments don’t have a backyard will make it harder for you to ensure your Beagle gets the exercise it needs. But then, you don’t want to skip out on giving your Beagle a chance to exercise.
As such, if you choose to keep a Beagle in an apartment, you are going to need to take it or a lot of walks. A daily walk around the block accompanied with physical and mental exercises will be enough to burn off that extra energy.
If, in this case, your beagle doesn’t have the chance to run around a backyard (since it is apartment-bound), you may have to walk it a lot more frequently. A beagle should be taken for a walk at least 3 times a day.
The other form of exercise you’ll want to include in your exercise routine are cardio exercises. Here, you could play fetch, Frisbee, and going for runs together. Your beagle will keep up.
You have to Train your beagle to bark only when necessary
One of the disadvantages to living in an apartment, unlike living in a house, is that you have less privacy and say over what goes in your boundaries. Living spaces in an apartment are packed closer together, which makes it a lot easier to hear what’s going on inside each one.
As such, you have to train your dog to bark less, or only when necessary. But how can you do that?
As we mentioned before, Beagles are were bred as hunting dog does.
This means that they are naturally inclined to barking, and you shouldn’t expect the dog to remain quiet each time.
If there is any disturbance in the home, it barks to draw your attention since you are its leader. That being said, you should make sure that your dog understands that you are the alpha.
If you are unable to establish yourself as the Alpha, your dog won’t bother to alarm you about the disturbance. Instead, he will try to get rid of this “disturbance” by himself. In most cases, the Beagle barks nonstop until it feels the problem is resolved.
Just as you train your dog to listen to verbal commands, consider training the Beagle to follow several non-verbal commands instinctively as well.
How can you help your Beagle adjust to Apartment Life?
It is import to make sure that your beagle is at ease with their new surroundings. It shouldn’t be territorial in your apartmentAs such, you have to help you beagle to adapt to their new surroundings. Here’s how you can help
1) Allow them to explore their environment
Here, you have to give them a bit of free reign to see and sniff out their new environment. But they must be supervised of course.
Letting them explore their new place will help them become familiar with all the smells and corners faster, which will then help ease their stress in due course.
2) Giving them attention
Being in a new location is one of the most stressful things for a dig. So they’re going to need the safety of knowing that they can still count on you.
3) Giving them treats
Make sure that you give them treats for good behavior in this new environment. Just make sure that you don’t go overboard with the treats.
To make the training easier
Here are some tips that will simplify your apartment training:
1) Don’t teach them so many commands at once
When you are training your dog, do not use so many commands in one session. Being in an apartment is already new to your beagle and teaching them so many commands at the same time will just become stressful.
This is especially important when training puppies. Younger beagles should be taught less commands per training session, and they will easily remember if they are not given so many commands. One or two should be enough.
2) There shouldn’t be anything around which could cause a distraction.
Intelligent and curious breeds like the beagle can be hard to train if you are in an area that is surrounded by a lot of things that may distract you dog from the training.
For instance, if you are training your Beagle in an apartment setting, make sure that all surrounding noises, such as the sound of traffic and talking neighbors, are minimized.
3) Reward your dog
When your dog is remembering the commands that you are training him, make sure that you reward him for it with treats. In this way, you dog will know that it is on the right track, and it will know what to do in order to get a reward. Also, use treats to reward your dog for good behavior.
Conclusion
All things considered, beagles can adapt very easily to an apartment setting and they are small enough not to pose too much of a size problem in an apartment. Also, it is relatively easy to train your beagle in an apartment.
Apartment training should start while your beagle is still a puppy. This training should be broken up into phases, based on the dog’s age and the progress that you have made with your training.
From the moment you get them to 6 months, your puppy should be able to recognize its name, with a few other simple commands in order to set the right foundation for future trainings.
When they reach 9 months old, you should start teaching him some advanced commands, preferably the ones that are apartment-specific. When it reaches a year old, you can then move on to the more advanced commands.
